Public Higher Education in Maryland 1961-1975 (Baltimore: Commission for the Expansion of Public Higher Education in Maryland, 1962)
During the 1940s into the 1950s, dramatic increases in the number of Marylanders seeking a university education motivated State officials to begin planning for expansion of the University of Maryland. Beginning in 1955, a series of state commissions studied the need for expanding publicly supported higher education. Each recognized that the number of Maryland students attending college was greatly increasing. The Warfield Commission, appointed by the governor in 1959, issued its report in February 1960. Titled A Plan for Expanding the University of Maryland, the report suggested expansion of UM by bringing Towson, Frostburg and Salisbury Universities under the UM administration and creating regional campuses in various areas of the state for commuting students. The Curlett Commission, also appointed by the Governor, focused on the growing demand for college education in Maryland. The report recommended expansion in public higher education as well as a tripartite organization (community colleges, state colleges, and the University of Maryland).
Curlett, John N.
Albin O. Kuhn papers, Collection 44
06/1962
reports; 9 x 6 in.
50UMBC-019
Spring Grove Site for U of MD Campus, The Sunpapers
After a long process, with many different opinions expressed, the Board of Regents finally approved plans to build a University of Maryland branch on a 425 acre tract of mostly State-owned land near Catonsville in Baltimore County. An article in The Evening Sun newspaper announced the selection of Catonsville for the new campus site and specified that the tentative site plan shows a large parking lot…"
News of the selection of the Catonsville site for a new UM campus was covered by the Baltimore dailies as well as the local County newspapers. The Times, headquartered on Sulfur Spring Road in Arbutus, naturally covered more detail about the site and the rationale for the location of the campus. It reproduced a graphic that showing the campus having a business and public administration program which was never realized. Reasons for selecting the Catonsville site included: the site was adjacent to I-695 and not too far from College Park; it was large enough to allow for future development of the campus; the state already owned most of the land. The photograph shows a view from Hilltop Building looking toward the Spring Grove Farm. The road running right to left in front of the barns is Walker Avenue.
Baltimore sun
Baltimore Sun Photographs
10/14/1963
gelatin silver prints; black-and-white photographs
P2014-01-0090
Land Acquisition from the Stabler Family
Not all of the land on which the new campus was going to be built was already owned by the state. One parcel was owned by the Stabler Family, 13 acres along Walker Avenue approximately where the Library & Gallery is now situated. The State acquired the land in 1965 through an Option Contract. The letter from Albert P. Backhaus, Director of the Department of Public Improvements for the State Department of Public Works, sent the signed Option to Edmund Stabler.
Backhaus, Albert P.
Stabler family papers, Collection 27
5/26/1965
correspondence; 10.8 x 8.1 in.
50UMBC-006