In Key Bridge collapse, Baltimore lost a piece of its cultural identity

Generations of Maryland workers — longshoremen, seafarers, steelworkers and crabbers whose livelihoods depend on Baltimore’s port — watched in disbelief this week as an iconic symbol of their maritime culture crumbled into the Patapsco River. The deadly collapse of the historic Francis Scott Key Bridge has shaken Baltimore to its core. Baltimore was a port long before it was incorporated as a city — and long before the United States declared its independence from Britain.