Legend has it that the first umbrella raised in the United States was opened in Baltimore in 1772. Depending on the source, some guy either bought it from a ship in the harbor or had just returned from travels in India with a parasol as his souvenir.

When he carried it on the streets of Baltimore, horses were spooked. Women ran in horror. Children threw stones. “He was mobbed and his umbrella torn to shreds,” The Chicago Tribune claimed in 1931.

Despite this inauspicious beginning, Baltimore eventually became the world’s leader in umbrella manufacturing. A German immigrant named Francis L. Beehler opened an umbrella factory downtown in 1828, the nation’s first.

Others followed suit: Gans Brothers, whose ingenious slogan was “born in Baltimore, raised everywhere.” Their luxurious, often frilled and very stylish wares traveled to Europe and the Philippines. Yet another company, Polan Katz & Co., would become one of the largest manufacturers in the world.

By 1922, a Sun headline declared: “BALTIMORE CENTER OF UMBRELLA TRADE.” The city was manufacturing around 2 million umbrellas each year, produced from a variety of fabrics, often with finely crafted handles.

“There was a time when the umbrella was a joke, the object of derision,” the author wrote. But those days were over. “The umbrella of today is not only a necessity but a thing of beauty.”

ctkacik@baltsun.com