The area of present-day Catonsville was not inhabited by large numbers of Native Americans, rather serving as a hunting ground or a means of transit. However, Native American arrowheads found in the area signal a presence in small numbers. The Patapsco River itself, forming the southern boundary, bears a Native American name. They would have disappeared long before the first settlers encroached on the area, however.[5] The Native Americans had left behind a number of trails, some of which the earliest settlers adopted them for their own purposes.

The Ithaca Hotel at North Aurora and East State Streets was the second structure of that name to occupy the site. The original Ithaca Hotel was built in 1809 by Luther Gere. When it burned down in 1871, it was quickly replaced by a four-story brick hotel in then-contemporary style, which opened in 1872. Designed by Ithaca architect A. B. Dale, the hotel could accommodate 200 guests and 175 diners. The building was demolished in 1967.

Freethought Trail

Lithographic print of the Carrollton Hotel, which once stood on St. Paul Street near Baltimore Street in Baltimore, Maryland. The hotel was destroyed in the great fire of 1904 and never rebuilt.

Maryland Center for History and Culture

View showing the section of the hotel expanded from the neighboring La Pierre House hotel originally built in 1853 after the designs of John McArthur Jr. A horse-drawn carriage passes on Sansom Street, individuals walk on the sidewalk in front of and enter the hotel, and a man on horseback is haulted at the intersection. Also shows the entrance to the "ladies restaurant", a neighboring building on Sansom Street, and a partial view of the original La Pierre House. An American flag adorns the roof of the building.