The Equitable Building

Historical marker location:

Downtown Baltimore, Maryland

( Marker is at the intersection of North Calvert Street (Maryland Route 2) and East Fayette Street, on the left when traveling north on North Calvert Street.)

Maryland was home to the first African American woman to hold a patent: In 1885, Sarah E. Goode, an African American woman from Baltimore, became the first African American woman to hold a U.S. patent. Her invention was a folding cabinet bed, which was designed to save space in small apartments.