in february, 1904, a major fire destroyed much of the central part of the downtown business district of the city of baltimore. in response, the municipal government established a city-wide congress to develop a master plan for the city's recovery and future growth and development. the congress, headed by dr. a.r.l. dohme, decided that a major deficiency of the city was the lack of an art museum. this decision led to the formation of an 18-person committee on the art museum, with art dealer and industrialist henry h. wiegand as chairman. ten years later, the museum was officially incorporated on november 16, 1914. along with minneapolis and cleveland, baltimore's museum was "modeled after two prominent 1870s predecessors, the metropolitan museum of art in new york and the museum of fine arts, boston". according to a booklet published at the time of incorporation, it was stated that baltimore lagged behind other cities “in regard to matters of aesthetic interest.”