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

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$£• H0 % ♦owe jttmnn™ 7 BALTIMORE It ' s Not So Bad When You Get to Know the City | | L 1 H ' 1 1 ■

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Davidge Hall Is Built . . . Pantheon in Rome and consisted of an upright dome-topped barrel surrounded by a square box. The barrel design included two lecture halls capable of seating over 500 students. The design required strangely curving halls, triangular clos- ets and dark winding stairs which, according to student legend, were designed as a means of escape from mobs protesting dissection. Con- struction of the $45,000 structure began in May, Colonel john Eager Howard, a noted philan- thropist, had offered the physicians a lot at the corner of Lombard and Greene Streets. It was then on the outskirts of town, with the surround- ing fields affording a clear view to the Patapsco River. True to his promise and asking no security or time limit for payment, Howard offered the lot for $10,000 considerably below its market value. He made the first payment of $1,000 and failed to receive further contributions. The chief method of financing the infant school was by lottery, a favorite means of raising money during this era. The general assembly licensed the drawings carefully. In 1808 the assembly granted the College permission to con- duct such a drawing. The lottery was well-publi- cized with about 35,000 tickets sold netting the College slightly over $18,000. The faculty chose a design for the building by Robert Carey Long which was modeled after the 1812 with John Eager Howard laying the corner- stone. In October of 1813 Cocke was to have delivered the dedicatory address but became ill a few days before the ceremony, and as orators of that romantic generation like to recall he died at the moment his address was to have begun. Not only was it one of the finest buildings in the city, but it was probably the finest medical school structure in the world. The new building gave permanence to the medical school, attract- ing for the first time students from other states. The War of 1812 served only to increase enroll- ment. On that morning in 1812, when Francis Scott Key peered toward Baltimore to see if the flag was still there, at least 50 students were attending classes at the corner of Greene and Lombard Streets. 10