University of Maryland School of Medicine - Terrae Mariae Medicus (Baltimore, MD)

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niversity Hospital began in 1823 as the Balti- more Infirmary, erected on the Southwest corner of Lombard and Greene Streets to house the patients attended by the surgeons and physicians (a total of 7) of the College of Medicine of Maryland. Since funds were not available for construction of the in- firmary, the Baltimore legislature passed a law authorizing the holding of a lottery for the express purpose of raising money to build a hospital. A total of $10,000 was raised by this lottery, and after more fund raising, much bickering, and a great deal of red tape, the infirmary was finally opened. This school was one of the first to have its own hospital for clinical instruction and it was here that intra- mural residency for senior students was first es- tablished. It soon became apparent that the small capacity was not enough to meet the increasing demands placed upon it. Initially, additional wards were added to the original building, but even this could not satisfy the need for hospital beds, so new build- ings were added. By 1875, University Hospital consisted of the original infirmary, one building South of it, but still the available facilities were overtaxed. In 1896, a “Lying-in-Hospital” was built on the site of the original infirmary. This formed what is now the Lombard Street section of the old hospital building, and it, plus the two buildings constructed between 1823 and 1875 make up the old hospital building as it is today. The University of Maryland School of Medicine also enjoys a rich heritage bequeathed by two other medical schools and their affiliated hospitals. Merg- ers with the Baltimore Medical College in 1913 and the College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1915 provided the University of Maryland School of Medicine with greatly expanded faculty and clinical facilities. In 1934, the present University Hospital was opened, making it possible to convert the old build- ing into an out-patient department. Wards and offices have become clinics; walls have been moved; details have been changed; but the basic pattern of the original University Hospital still remains and can be recognized. With the opening of the new North Hospital Building in the early 1970’s, now under construc- tion, the present clinical in- and out-patient facil- ities will be doubled.

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-I - ack in 1807, two prominent Baltimore physicians, who had been giving private lectures in Anatomy and other medical subjects since 1802, decided to found a Medical School. Chartered by the State and called the College of Medicine of Maryland, they located the anatomical theater of the new school near where Saratoga and Liberty Streets cross today. However, the citizens of that day were horrified at the thought of human dissec- tion and by no means friendly to a medical school in which this was rumored to be practiced. In fact, feeling ran so high they took the first building by storm and by the time the mob was finished, the school was destroyed, the second of such incidents in twenty years and would seem to underline the Baltimoreans’ attitude towards medical schools. Dr. Davidge and Dr. Potter, the two pioneer medical educators, however, were not discouraged and the first class of five was graduated in 1810, medicine in those days being a two year course, although the second year’s lectures were the same as the first. A new building — the present Davidge Hall — was built in 1812 on ground donated by Colonel John Eager Howard.

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