How Maryland became the Free State

How a Georgia congressman and a Baltimore Sun editor gave Maryland its Prohibition-era nickname, the Free State.

Our night is named after one of Maryland's oldest jokes, and it began in a Baltimore newsroom.

In 1923, at the height of Prohibition, a Georgia congressman named William D. Upshaw denounced Maryland as a traitor to the Union. Maryland's offence: it had refused to pass a state law to enforce Prohibition, and showed no sign of changing its mind.

Hamilton Owens, editor of the Baltimore Sun, answered with a satirical editorial titled "The Maryland Free State," arguing that Maryland should leave the Union rather than give up its drink. He decided the joke was too subtle and didn't print it at first. He kept using the name in later editorials anyway, and Marylanders kept repeating it. A century on, the nickname is still around.

So when you raise a glass behind a door with no sign, you're keeping a very old Baltimore tradition: doing exactly as you please, with style, and with no particular interest in what Georgia thinks.

Source: Maryland State Archives, Maryland Manual On-Line, "Maryland at a Glance: Nicknames."