page_title: University of Maryland, Baltimore County
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: University of Maryland, Baltimore County / Campus / History
caption_attribution_description: English: A panorama of the center of campus of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County
context_page_description: The University of Maryland, Baltimore County is a public research university in Baltimore County, Maryland. It has a fall 2019 enrollment of 13,602 students, 61 undergraduate majors, over 92 graduate programs and the first university research park in Maryland.
  Established as a part of the University of Maryland System in 1966, the university became the first public college or university in Maryland to be inclusive of all races. UMBC has the fourth highest enrollment of the University System of Maryland, specializing in natural sciences and engineering, as well as programs in the liberal arts and social sciences. Athletically, the UMBC Retrievers have 17 NCAA Division I teams that participate in the America East Conference.
context_section_description: In 1840, the state of Maryland purchased the land that the university is located on today. At that time, it was known as the Stabler Estate, owned by the prominent Stabler family of Baltimore County. James P. Stabler, the chief engineer and superintendent of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was connected to the estate. The Baltimore Trade School, an orphan's home located on present day Giffen Hill, was established in that same year. The school continued to operate and farm the surrounding acreage up until World War II. The state later added the property to Spring Grove State Hospital, who farmed the land until the university's establishment. A few of the original structures were still in use by UMBC for some time, including the Hillcrest Building and a farmhouse. Located off of Walker Avenue, the Hillcrest Building was originally built in 1921 to house patients of Spring Grove State Hospital. The building was historically significant for it was the "first building constructed specifically for the care and treatment of mentally ill prisoners to be built at a state psychiatric hospital anywhere in the United States". In 1965, the structure was used as UMBC's administration building, and later used as the office of residential life and a student union. A common campus urban legend claims that the man that Hannibal Lecter was based on lived in a basement cell of the building. Hillcrest was demolished in 2007 due to toxicity concerns, leaving the farm silo on UMBC Boulevard to be oldest surviving structure on the university's campus.
  Opened for enrollment in 1966, UMBC was created to serve the overflow of students from the Baltimore area seeking admission to University of Maryland, College Park. From its beginning, the new commuter campus faced a surfeit of problems. Sited on free land taken from a state hospital, the campus was not sponsored or protected by any political constituency. There were already nine other campuses in the metropolitan area. Located a few miles from the University of Maryland, Baltimore campus, there was no chance UMBC could develop the array of professional schools common to research universities. Its County name, an afterthought, was more consistent with two-year schools than a Ph.D. - granting institution. Yet as UMBC continues past its 50th anniversary, it has become a national role model for new American universities. The book Improbable Excellence: the Saga Of UMBC chronicles this development.
caption: Panorama of the central quad looking south.
  From left to right: Public Policy and Physics Buildings, The Commons and the Kuhn Library & Gallery
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