Baltimore is the largest city in the U.S. state of Maryland, and the 29th-most populous city in the country. It was established by the Constitution of Maryland and is not part of any county; thus, it is the largest independent city in the United States, with a population of 621,849 as of 2015. As of 2010, the population of the Baltimore Metropolitan Area was 2.7 million, making it the 21st largest in the country. Founded in 1729, Baltimore is the second largest seaport in the Mid-Atlantic. Baltimore’s Inner Harbor was once the second leading port of entry for immigrants to the United States and a major manufacturing center. After a decline in major manufacturing, industrialization and rail transportation, Baltimore shifted to a service-oriented economy, with the Johns Hopkins Hospital (founded 1889), and Johns Hopkins University (founded 1876), now the city’s top two employers. With hundreds of identified districts, Baltimore has been dubbed “a city of neighborhoods”. Famous residents have included the writers Edgar Allan Poe, Edith Hamilton, Frederick Douglass, and H.L. Mencken ; jazz musician James “Eubie” Blake ; singer Billie Holiday ; actor and filmmaker John Waters ; and baseball player Babe Ruth. In the War of 1812, Francis Scott Key wrote The Star-Spangled Banner, later the American national anthem, in Baltimore. Baltimore has more public monuments per capita than any other city in the country and is home to some of the earliest National Register historic districts in the nation, including Fell’s Point (1969), Federal Hill (1970) and Mount Vernon Place (1971). More than 65,000 properties, or roughly one in three buildings in the city, are listed on the National Register, more than any other city in the nation. Annapolis is the capital of the U.S. state of Maryland, as well as the county seat of Anne Arundel County. Situated on the Chesapeake Bay at the mouth of the Severn River, 25 miles (40 km) south of Baltimore and about 30 miles (50 km) east of Washington, DC, Annapolis is part of the Baltimore–Washington metropolitan area. Its population was measured at 38,394 by the 2010 census.The city served as the seat of the Continental Congress in 1783–84 and was the site of the 1786 Annapolis Convention (which called for the Constitutional Convention held the following year) and the Annapolis Peace Conference, held in 2007. Annapolis is the home of St. John’s College as well as the United States Naval Academy. Columbia is a principal city within the Baltimore metropolitan area, located in Howard County, Maryland. It is a planned community consisting of 10 self-contained villages. It began with the idea that a city could enhance its residents’ quality of life. Creator and developer James W. Rouse saw the new community in terms of human values, rather than merely economics and engineering. Opened in 1967, Columbia was intended to not only eliminate the inconveniences of then-current subdivision design, but also eliminate racial, religious, and class segregation. Columbia has consistently ranked in the top ten of CNN Money’s Best Places to Live in America. Columbia proper consists only of that territory governed by the Columbia Association, but larger areas are included under its name by the U.S. Postal Service and the Census Bureau. These include several other communities which predate Columbia, including Simpsonville, Atholton, and in the case of the census, part of Clarksville. The census-designated place had a population of 103,683 according to 2013 Census estimates, making it the second most populous community in Maryland after Baltimore.