The history of the University of Maryland, College Park began in 1856, when the Maryland Agricultural College was chartered. The state took complete control of the school in 1916, and consequently the institution was renamed Maryland State College. In a massive 1988 restructuring of the state higher education system, the school was designated as the flagship campus of the newly formed University of Maryland System and was formally named
University of Maryland, College Park
The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of Mary ...
.
Early history
On March 6, 1856, the forerunner of today's University of Maryland was chartered as the Maryland Agricultural College. Two years later,
Charles Benedict Calvert
Charles Benedict Calvert (August 23, 1808 – May 12, 1864) was an American politician who was a U.S. Representative from the sixth district of Maryland, serving one term from 1861 to 1863. He was an early backer of the inventors of the ...
, a
slaveowner
Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...
, descendant of the
Barons Baltimore, fervent believer in agricultural education, and a future U.S. Congressman, purchased of the
Riversdale Plantation in College Park for $21,000. Calvert founded the school later that year with money earned by the sale of stock certificates. On October 5, 1859, the first 34 students entered the Maryland Agricultural College, including four of Charles Calvert's sons, George, Charles, William, and Eugene. The keynote speaker on opening day was Joseph Henry, the first Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution.
![Charles Benedict Calvert - photo portrait seated](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c2/Charles_Benedict_Calvert_-_photo_portrait_seated.jpg)
In July 1862, the same month that the Maryland Agricultural College awarded its first degrees,
President Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation throu ...
signed the
Morrill Land Grant Act
The Morrill Land-Grant Acts are United States statutes that allowed for the creation of land-grant colleges in U.S. states using the proceeds from sales of federally-owned land, often obtained from indigenous tribes through treaty, cession, or se ...
. The legislation provided federal funds to schools that taught agriculture or engineering, or provided military training. Taking advantage of the opportunity, the school became a
land grant college
A land-grant university (also called land-grant college or land-grant institution) is an institution of higher education in the United States designated by a state to receive the benefits of the Morrill Acts of 1862 and 1890.
Signed by Abraha ...
in February 1864 after the Maryland legislature voted to approve the Morrill Act.
Civil War
A few months after accepting the grant, the Maryland Agricultural College proved to be an important site in the
Civil War
A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country).
The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...
. In April 1864, General
Ambrose E. Burnside
Ambrose Everett Burnside (May 23, 1824 – September 13, 1881) was an American army officer and politician who became a senior Union general in the Civil War and three times Governor of Rhode Island, as well as being a successful inventor ...
and 6,000 soldiers of the Union's Ninth Army Corps camped on the MAC campus. The troops were en route to reinforce General
Ulysses S. Grant
Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant ; April 27, 1822July 23, 1885) was an American military officer and politician who served as the 18th president of the United States from 1869 to 1877. As Commanding General, he led the Union Ar ...
's forces in
Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...
.
Later that summer, around 400 Confederate soldiers led by General
Bradley T. Johnson
Bradley Tyler Johnson (September 29, 1829 – October 5, 1903) was an American lawyer, soldier, and writer. Although his home state of Maryland remained in the Union during the American Civil War, Johnson owned and traded slaves, and accordi ...
stayed on the grounds while preparing to take part in a raid against Washington. A local legend claims that soldiers were warmly welcomed by university President Henry Onderdonk, a Confederate sympathizer, and that the cavalrymen were thrown a party on the campus nicknamed "The Old South Ball." The next morning the soldiers rode off to cut the lines of communication between Washington and Baltimore.
Financial problems forced the increasingly desperate administrators to sell off of land, and the continuing decline in student enrollment sent the Maryland Agricultural College into bankruptcy. For the next two years the campus was used as a boys preparatory school.
![UMD Morrill Hall](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d9/UMD_Morrill_Hall.JPG)
Following the Civil War, the Maryland legislature pulled the college out of bankruptcy, and in February 1866 assumed half ownership of the school. The college thus became in part a state institution.
George Washington Custis Lee
George Washington Custis Lee (September 16, 1832 – February 18, 1913), also known as Custis Lee, was the eldest son of Robert E. Lee and Mary Anna Custis Lee. His grandfather George Washington Custis was the step-grandson and adopted son of G ...
, son of Confederate General
Robert E. Lee
Robert Edward Lee (January 19, 1807 – October 12, 1870) was a Confederate general during the American Civil War, towards the end of which he was appointed the overall commander of the Confederate States Army. He led the Army of Nort ...
, was appointed president of the college by the Board of Trustees, but due to public outcry declined the position. By October 1867, the school reopened with 11 students. In the next six years, enrollment continued to grow, and the school's debt was finally paid off. Twenty years later, the school's reputation as a research institution began, as the federally funded Agricultural Experiment Station was established there. During the same period, a number of state laws granted the college regulatory powers in several areas—including controlling farm disease, inspecting feed, establishing a state weather bureau and geological survey, and housing the board of forestry.
In 1888, the college began its first official intercollegiate baseball games against rivals
St. John's College and the
United States Naval Academy
The United States Naval Academy (US Naval Academy, USNA, or Navy) is a federal service academy in Annapolis, Maryland. It was established on 10 October 1845 during the tenure of George Bancroft as Secretary of the Navy. The Naval Academy ...
. Baseball, however, had been played at the college for decades before the first "official" games were recorded. The first fraternity chapter at Maryland, the Eta chapter of
Phi Sigma Kappa
Phi Sigma Kappa (), colloquially known as Phi Sig or PSK, is a men's social and academic fraternity with approximately 74 active chapters and provisional chapters in North America. Most of its first two dozen chapters were granted to schools in ...
, was established in 1897, and
Morrill Hall Morrill Hall may refer to (all are buildings named for Justin Smith Morrill):
*Morrill Hall (Cornell University), the building at Cornell University
*Morrill Hall, a campus building located at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign
*Morri ...
(the oldest instructional building still in use on campus) was built the following year.
The Great Fire of 1912
On November 29, 1912, around 10:30 pm, a fire, probably due to faulty electric wiring, broke out in the attic of the newest administration building, where a
Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving is a national holiday celebrated on various dates in the United States, Canada, Grenada, Saint Lucia, Liberia, and unofficially in countries like Brazil and Philippines. It is also observed in the Netherlander town of Leiden and ...
dance was being held. The approximately 80 students on the premises evacuated themselves safely, and then formed a makeshift bucket brigade. The fire departments summoned from nearby
Hyattsville
Hyattsville is a city in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States, and also a close, urban suburb of Washington, D.C. The population was 21,187 at the 2020 United States Census.
History
Before Europeans reached the area, the upper An ...
and Washington, D.C., arrived too late. Fanned by a strong southwest wind, the fire destroyed the barracks where the students were housed, all the school's records, and most of the academic buildings, leaving only
Morrill Hall Morrill Hall may refer to (all are buildings named for Justin Smith Morrill):
*Morrill Hall (Cornell University), the building at Cornell University
*Morrill Hall, a campus building located at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign
*Morri ...
untouched. The loss was estimated at $250,000 (about $5.8 million in 2012 U.S. dollars) despite no injuries or fatalities. The devastation was so great that many never expected the university to reopen. University President Richard Silvester resigned, brokenhearted.
However, the students refused to give up. All but two returned to the university after the break and insisted on classes continuing as usual. Students were housed by families in neighboring towns who were compensated by the university until housing could be rebuilt, although a new administration building was not built until the 1940s.
A large brick and concrete compass inlaid in the ground designates the former center of campus as it existed in 1912. Lines engraved in the compass point to each building that was destroyed in the Thanksgiving Day fire. The intersection of the lines on the compass are known as "The Point of Failure". A well-known legend holds that any student who walks upon the "point of failure" will not graduate from the University of Maryland in four years.
Modern history
The state took complete control of the school in 1916, and consequently the institution was renamed Maryland State College. Also that year, the first female students enrolled at the school. On April 9, 1920, the college became part of the existing
University of Maryland
The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of M ...
, replacing
St. John's College, Annapolis
St. John's College is a private liberal arts college with dual campuses in Annapolis, Maryland, and Santa Fe, New Mexico. St. John's is one of the oldest institutions of higher learning in the United States as the successor institution of Kin ...
as the University's undergraduate campus. In the same year, the graduate school on the College Park campus awarded its first PhD degrees and the University's enrollment reached 500 students. In 1925 the University was accredited by the
Association of American Universities
The Association of American Universities (AAU) is an organization of American research universities devoted to maintaining a strong system of academic research and education. Founded in 1900, it consists of 63 universities in the United States ( ...
.
During World War II, Maryland was one of 131 colleges and universities nationally that took part in the
V-12 Navy College Training Program
The V-12 Navy College Training Program was designed to supplement the force of commissioned officers in the United States Navy during World War II. Between July 1, 1943, and June 30, 1946, more than 125,000 participants were enrolled in 131 colleg ...
which offered students a path to a Navy commission.
By the time the first black students enrolled at the University in 1951, enrollment had grown to nearly 10,000 students—4,000 of whom were women.
Elaine J. Coates was the first African American student to graduate from the University of Maryland in 1959. Prior to 1951, many black students in Maryland were enrolled at the
University of Maryland, Eastern Shore
University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES) is a public historically black land-grant research university in Princess Anne, Maryland. It is part of the University System of Maryland. It is classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High r ...
, which was almost shut down in 1947 due to lack of access, low quality education, and the fear among some black and white leaders that Eastern Shore was allowed to remain a college by the Regents of the University of Maryland solely to keep black students in segregated, inferior institutions.
In 1957 President Wilson H. Elkins made a push to increase academic standards at the University. His efforts resulted in the creation of one of the first Academic Probation Plans. The first year the plan went into effect, 1,550 students (18% of the total student body) faced expulsion. Since then, academic standards at the school have steadily risen. Recognizing the improvement in academics,
Phi Beta Kappa
The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal a ...
established a chapter at the university in 1964. In 1969, the university was elected to the Association of American Universities. The school continued to grow, and by the fall of 1985 reached an enrollment of 38,679.
Like many colleges during the Vietnam War, the university was the site of student protests and had curfews enforced by the
National Guard
National Guard is the name used by a wide variety of current and historical uniformed organizations in different countries. The original National Guard was formed during the French Revolution around a cadre of defectors from the French Guards.
Nat ...
.
In 1970 the
Maryland General Assembly
The Maryland General Assembly is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Maryland that convenes within the State House in Annapolis. It is a bicameral body: the upper chamber, the Maryland Senate, has 47 representatives and the lower chamb ...
established a five-campus University of Maryland network comprising
University of Maryland at Baltimore
The University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) is a public university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1807, it comprises some of the oldest professional schools of dentistry, law, medicine, pharmacy, social work and nursing in the United States ...
,
University of Maryland Baltimore County
The University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) is a public research university in Baltimore County, Maryland. It has a fall 2022 enrollment of 13,991 students, 61 undergraduate majors, over 92 graduate programs (38 master, 25 doctoral, ...
, University of Maryland, College Park,
University of Maryland Eastern Shore
University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES) is a public historically black land-grant research university in Princess Anne, Maryland. It is part of the University System of Maryland. It is classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High r ...
, and the
University of Maryland University College
The University of Maryland Global Campus (UMGC, formerly University of Maryland University College) is a public university in Adelphi, Maryland. It is the largest of the University System of Maryland campuses. Established in 1947, UMGC focuses on ...
.
In a massive 1988 restructuring of the state higher education system, the school was designated as the flagship campus of the newly formed
University of Maryland System
The University System of Maryland (USM) is a public higher education system in the U.S. state of Maryland. The system is composed of the eleven campuses at College Park, Baltimore County, Baltimore, Princess Anne, Towson, Salisbury, Bowie, Fro ...
(later changed to the University System of Maryland in 1997) and was formally named University of Maryland, College Park. All of the 5 campuses in the former network were designated as formally distinct campuses in the new system. However, in 1997 the
Maryland General Assembly
The Maryland General Assembly is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Maryland that convenes within the State House in Annapolis. It is a bicameral body: the upper chamber, the Maryland Senate, has 47 representatives and the lower chamb ...
passed legislation allowing the University of Maryland, College Park, to be known simply as the University of Maryland, recognizing the campus' role as the flagship institution of the University System of Maryland.
The other University System of Maryland institutions with the name "University of Maryland" are not satellite campuses of the University of Maryland, College Park. The
University of Maryland, Baltimore
The University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) is a public university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1807, it comprises some of the oldest professional schools of dentistry, law, medicine, pharmacy, social work and nursing in the United States ...
, is the only other school permitted to confer certain degrees from the "University of Maryland". This is because the Baltimore school offers primarily graduate degrees in disciplines not taught in College Park, such as nursing, dentistry, law, and medicine. The relationship between the University of Maryland, College Park, and the University of Maryland, Baltimore, is akin to the relationship of the University of California, Berkeley, to the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), which also primarily offers graduate programs that Berkeley does not provide.
In 1994, the
National Archives at College Park
The National Archives at College Park (also known as "Archives II") is a major facility of the National Archives and Records Administration of the United States which is located in College Park, Maryland. The facility serves as the primary base ...
completed construction and opened on a parcel of land adjoining campus donated by the University of Maryland, after lobbying by President
William Kirwan
William English "Brit" Kirwan (born April 14, 1938) is an American university administrator and mathematician who is chancellor emeritus of the University System of Maryland (USM) and professor emeritus of mathematics at the University of Maryla ...
and congressional leaders to foster academic collaboration between the institutions.
21st century
![UMD McKeldin Library](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/01/UMD_McKeldin_Library.JPG)
On September 24, 2001, a
tornado
A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the Earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. It is often referred to as a twister, whirlwind or cyclone, altho ...
struck the College Park campus, killing two female students and causing $15 million in damage to 12 buildings. That same year brought the opening of the
Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center
The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center is a performing arts complex on the campus of the University of Maryland, College Park. The facility, which opened in 2001, houses six performance venues; the UM School of Music; and the UMD School of The ...
, the largest single building ever constructed by the State of Maryland, which replaced
Tawes Theatre as the premier fine arts center on campus.
In 2004, the university began constructing the "M Square Research Park," which is the largest research park inside the
Capital Beltway
The Capital Beltway is a Interstate Highway in the Washington metropolitan area that surrounds Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States, and its inner suburbs in adjacent Maryland and Virginia. It is the basis of the phrase "inside th ...
, and includes facilities affiliated with the
U.S. Department of Defense
The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD or DOD) is an executive branch department of the federal government charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government directly related to national secur ...
,
Food and Drug Administration
The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA or US FDA) is a List of United States federal agencies, federal agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Health and Human Services. The FDA is respon ...
, and the new National Center for Weather and Climate Prediction, affiliated with The
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (abbreviated as NOAA ) is an United States scientific and regulatory agency within the United States Department of Commerce that forecasts weather, monitors oceanic and atmospheric conditio ...
(NOAA).
The university launched its 7-year campaign to raise $1 billion via private donations, called "Great Expectations," in 2006. The university published a new 10-year strategic plan in 2008, which includes plans for the East Campus Redevelopment Project which would bring, among other things, on-campus graduate student housing and a state-of-the-art music and entertainment center to campus.
In May 2010, ground was broken on a new $128-million, Physical Science Complex, including an
ARRA-funded advanced quantum science laboratory, which the university hopes will be the premier facility for such research in the world.
The university's administration has recently become embroiled in the debate over the construction of a
light-rail line through campus which would give the University another link to the
Washington Metro
The Washington Metro (or simply Metro), formally the Metrorail,[Google Books search/preview ...](_blank)
system.
On August 16, 2010,
Wallace Loh
Wallace Dao-kui Loh ( zh, c=陸道逵, p=Lù Dàokuí; born 1946) was the president of the University of Maryland, College Park, a position assumed November 1, 2010. He retired from the presidency on June 30, 2020 and was succeeded by Darryl ...
, the Provost of the University of Iowa, was named President of the University effective November 1.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:History University of Maryland, College Park
.H
College Park, Maryland
University of Maryland, College Park
The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of Mary ...
University of Maryland, College Park, History
University of Maryland, College Park, History