The Inner Harbor is a historic seaport, tourist attraction, and iconic landmark of the City of Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Described by the Urban Land Institute in 2009 as “the model for post-industrial waterfront redevelopment around the World.” The Inner Harbor is actually the end of the Northwest Branch of the Patapsco River and includes any water west of a line drawn between the foot of President Street and the American Visionary Art Museum. The name "Inner Harbor" is used not just for the water but for the surrounding area of the city, with approximate street boundaries of President Street to the east, Lombard Street to the north, Greene Street to the west, and Key Highway on the south. The harbor is within walking distance of Oriole Park at Camden Yards and M&T Bank Stadium and has a water taxi that connects the Inner Harbor to Fells Point, Canton, and Fort McHenry.
While Baltimore has been a major U.S. seaport since the 18th century, the historically shallow water of the Inner Harbor (prior to manipulation through dredging) was not conducive to large ships or heavy industry, most of which was concentrated in Locust Point, Fell's Point, and Canton.
In the first half of the 20th Century, Baltimore shared the disastrous decline of central cities around the World – dragged down by urban sprawl and the abandonment of the old harbors by the arrival of container ships after World War II. Then, in the second half of the Century, the old harbors were rediscovered as focal points where public space, tourism, business and housing could create mixed-use economic engines for revitalization.