The Municipal Museum (commonly referred to as the Peale Museum) was established in 1931 following a public protest against the sale and possible demolition of the old Peale Museum building. The building was constructed in 1814, the first dedicated museum building in the United States, when Rembrandt Peale created "The Baltimore Museum and Gallery of Paintings." This museum flourished until 1829, at which point its contents were sold and moved to a different building at the northwest corner of Calvert Street and Baltimore Street, known as the Baltimore Museum. The original Peale Museum building was consequently used as Baltimore's City Hall (about 1830-1875) until construction of the current City Hall building was completed. After that, it served as a public grammar and high school for Black students (1876-1887), City offices, and finally the site of stores and business offices. The building was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1966.

After 1931, the Municipal Museum collected paintings, prints, photographs, furniture, and decorative arts related to Baltimore, meanwhile sponsoring lectures, publications, exhibitions, and other educational programs on the city's history. In the mid 1950s and through the 1960s, the museum was a driving force for the beginning of a historic preservation movement in Baltimore. The museum also operated the Carroll Mansion (1966), the Washington Monument (1967), and the Old Town Meeting House (1968). This group expanded to be known as Baltimore City Life Museums in the 1980s, announcing a new branch of several rowhome exhibits that displayed various period interiors.

In 1992, the BCLM separated from City administration and all employees transferred to a non-profit organization that continued to operate the several museum sites, including four floors of interactive exhibits and galleries at its new 33 S. Front Street headquarters. Financial problems continued to affect the museum, and it closed in 1997. The Baltimore City history-related collections were transferred to the Maryland Historical Society, now known as The Maryland Center For History and Culture (MCHC). The MCHC still has custody of these collections, including thousands of photographs.

Further references about the Municipal Museum include the following articles by Wilbur Harvey Hunter: "The Story of America's Oldest Museum Building," Peale Museum Historical Series, no. 8 (Baltimore: Peale Museum, 1964); The Peale Family and Peale's Baltimore Museum, 1814-1830, (Baltimore: Peale Museum, 1965); "The Tribulations of a Museum Director in the 1820s," Maryland Historical Magazine 49 (September 1954): 214-22; and "Peale's Baltimore Museum," College Art Journal 12 (Autumn 1952): 31-36. Other related studies include Thomas S. Eader, "The Carroll Mansion in Baltimore," Antiques 109 (February 1976): 336-44; John C. Schmidt, "Cheek by Jowl with the Real World," Baltimore 60 (February 1967): 24 ff., an interview with Hunter, the Director of the museum from 1946 to 1978; and Helen Straw Whitmore, "The Carroll Mansion, 800 East Lombard Street, Baltimore, Maryland: An Historical and Architectural Study, "M.S., University of Maryland, 1969.