Twelve years ago, I was asked to write a history of the market, so I know that Lexington Market has survived and even flourished after suffering far worse fates than its current condition. In 1949, when it consisted of three ramshackle wooden sheds with slap-dash sanitation and jerry-rigged electricity, a fire ripped through the market in the pre-dawn hours of March 25. The market was destroyed, and only the energy and commitment of the city's mayor at that time, Thomas D'Alesandro II, prevented 150 years of Baltimore tradition from going up in smoke as well. Before the last flame was extinguished, "Tommy" stood among the tangled hoses and soggy ashes and vowed to rebuild.