It has been generations since the home of the Preakness Stakes was the “beautiful Pimlico” that a Virginia newspaper once called it. But Baltimore’s Pimlico Race Course, which opened its doors in 1870, is filled with history.

The 150th running of Preakness will be its last at the original “Old Hilltop” (which hasn’t had a hill in some 90 years). Shortly after the horses pound around the oval track for two minutes on Saturday, demolition begins.

But first, the preservationists get their run of the place — the nation’s second-oldest thoroughbred racetrack behind Saratoga Race Course in New York.

Officials at the Maryland State Archives have already carried out boxes of historic documents and will soon carefully remove and preserve seven 50-year-old murals.

“As archivists, we‘re accustomed to sometimes going into old buildings and recovering artifacts and manuscripts,” said Elaine Bachmann, the Maryland state archivist. “This is the first time we‘ve had a racetrack to explore.”

Here’s a look at the venue that — beyond its broken elevator, condemned grandstand and perpetually chipped paint — is chock full of history:

What to save

Among the items to be looked after: documents and scrapbooks dating to the 1870s, a bronze emblem of the Maryland Jockey Club from 1873, and portrait paintings of jockeys, including nameplates that were distorted by a fire in 1966.

Murals painted by the late Raoul Middleman in the 1970s, depicting various aspects of horse racing, will also be safely removed from the track before demolition begins.

Each of the seven paintings spans five separate Masonite panels, which can be removed without being physically cut out of the building. Those panels will be wrapped for safe transport and stored at a climate-controlled facility by professionals, said Chris Kintzel, director of the Maryland Commission on Artistic Property.

“It‘s really cool,” Bachmann said. “It‘s been a neat thing to be in that building when it‘s all empty and just look around.”

Although plans remain in flux, Bachmann said she hopes elements of the old Pimlico will be included in the new structure.

The fate of the track’s historic wooden barns remains to be seen. The Maryland Historical Trust, a state agency, determined last year that Pimlico was eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places.

A long-overdue glow-up

Described as “beautiful Pimlico” by the Richmond Times-Dispatch in 1942, the track has often been criticized for its haggard appearance over the last several decades.

“Pimlico has been allowed to fall behind more modern tracks,” Maryland’s horsemen said in a 1952 statement. “Many improvements are needed if Pimlico is to maintain its proper place.”

The track was renovated in the 1950s, but in the decades since, the venue has steadily worn down as various plans to improve it have hatched and then withered.

But Maryland acquired the venue last year from The Stronach Group, also known as 1/ST, which had owned Pimlico since 2002.

The Maryland Thoroughbred Racetrack Operating Authority has said there is “in excess of $500 million” in state money available to rebuild Pimlico and construct a training track in Carroll County.

Demolition — which will require excavators, but not explosives — is expected to begin about six weeks after the running of the Preakness.

The goal is to have the overhaul complete in time for the 2027 Preakness.

Longest-running sporting event

The first jewel of the Triple Crown — the Kentucky Derby, held annually since 1875 — is considered to be the longest continuously running sporting event in the U.S.

The Preakness, its second jewel, is even older, dating to 1873. It has been run every year, including through World War II and the COVID-19 pandemic, for more than a century.

But a brief gap in the 19th century means Kentucky gets that continuously running title.

In 1890, the Preakness moved to a track in New York. It was not held at all from 1891 to 1893. And then it found a home at a different New York track until 1908.

Preakness returned to Pimlico that year because New York had soured on horse racing.

At least one former Pimlico official, the late Joe Hickey, suggested that the race could have indeed been run somewhere from 1891 to 1893, which would make the Preakness the longest-running American sporting event.

“If someone dug long enough into the right places, I’m betting they’d find Preaknesses,” Hickey said, according to a 2006 Baltimore Sun article.

Racing was well covered in that era, and articles detailing the results of those would-be races have never been discovered. Bennett Liebman, who has studied racing history at Albany Law School, said there were “clearly” no Preakness races held from 1891 to 1893.

That makes Hickey’s contention an unlikely — but not impossible — bet.

What’s in a name?

The Preakness Stakes is named after the colt which won one of the first races ever held at Pimlico in 1870. Had Preakness lost that prestigious two-mile dash for 3-year-olds, perhaps the race would have been named for the second-place finisher: Ecliptic.

The other five entries: Foster, Finesse, Susan Ann, Lida Grisson and My Maryland.

Pimlico, meanwhile, takes its name from what English settlers called the area in the mid-1600s, according to the race course’s website. Those colonists were from London, and perhaps had fond memories of “Olde Ben Pimlico’s Tavern” when they arrived in the area.

Hill-less ‘Old Hilltop’

Long known as “Old Hilltop,” Pimlico has not boasted its namesake knoll for nearly 90 years.

The track’s infield had a small rise where fans could perch and more easily watch the races. However, it blocked the view of some patrons and so in 1938 (at the expense of about $58,000), “steam shovels” made “dirt fly” as they flattened the hill.

“Yesterday’s big news was that a guy could stand in front of the grandstand and see clear across the track,” according to a Baltimore Sun article at the time. “This proves the age of miracles still marches on.”

On to Laurel Park

For the first time since 1908, when the race was run in Brooklyn, New York, Pimlico will not host the Preakness next year.

As the venue is renovated, the event will take a one-year hiatus (provided the construction timeline holds) and be run at Anne Arundel County’s Laurel Park in 2026.

During early iterations of the renovation plans, some proposed running the race at a larger, out-of-state venue, such as Saratoga in New York.

But Laurel Park, just 20 miles from Pimlico and, crucially, in Maryland, won out.

1/ST considered permanently relocating the Preakness from Pimlico to Laurel, located between Washington and Baltimore, several years ago, but government officials pushed for the race to remain at Pimlico.

First opened in 1911, when there were several tracks in Maryland, Laurel has stood the test of time. Until now.

That track will cease operation once Pimlico is rebuilt. What will come of that land, owned by 1/ST, is to be determined.