The Ellicott City flood of 1868 as depicted in Harper’s Weekly. A flash flood destroyed dwellings and warehouses, claimed lives, and nearly shipwrecked a tugboat. Image from author’s collection taken from original edition.
Ellicott City flood of 1868 devastated town
David Healey author 
Are you able to identify the precise location or the buildings? They don’t look familiar to the modern eye.
Thank you for your note, Hans. Offhand, I’m not sure about the precise location or that the image represents what the buildings actually looked like. It is likely that the artist based his drawing on descriptions of the event rather than local knowledge. There may be a Martinet’s map that gives some idea of the locatons, but I don’t have a copy handy.