History of Baltimore City College - Early Years

Early Years

The creation of a male high school "in which the higher branches of English and classical literature only should be taught" was authorized unanimously by the Baltimore City Council on March 7, 1839. A building on what was then Courtland Street (now Preston Gardens at St. Paul Place) was acquired to serve as the new high school. The school opened its doors on October 20, 1839 with 46 students. Enrollment was restricted to white, male students of Baltimore who had completed grammar school and passed an entrance exam. Those enrolled were offered two academic tracks, a classical literature track and an English literature track. The sole instructor for both tracks was the educator and poet, Nathan C. Brooks, who also served as principal. To accommodate the two tracks, Brooks split the school day into two sections: one in the morning from 9 am to 12 am, and another in the afternoon from 2 pm to 5 pm. During the morning session, students studied either classics or English; however, the afternoon was devoted to English.

In its first three years, the school was housed in many locations before returning to the original building on Courtland Street. In 1843, the city council allocated $23,000 to acquire a building for the school at the northwestern corner of Fayette and Holliday Streets. The building was the former Assembly Rooms, built in 1797 by architects Robert Cary Long and Nicholas Rogers to accommodate social events for Baltimore's elite, and the site of the first private library company of Baltimore. The school was next door to the Holliday Street Theatre, where the Star Spangled Banner was first performed in 1814, following the British attack on Baltimore. Although it was not designed to house an academic institution, the school would occupy this building for 30 years.

The school went through the first of a series of name changes in 1844. Known as the "High School", it was renamed the "Male High School" because of the establishment of two schools for females—Eastern and Western High Schools.

In 1849, after a decade of service, Brooks resigned as principal of the school, which had grown to include 232 students and 7 teachers, excluding Brooks. Rev. Dr. Francis G. Waters, who had been the president of Washington College, succeeded Brooks. The following year the city council renamed the school "The Central High School" and granted the commissioners of the public schools the right to confer certificates to the school's graduates. Exercising that new authority, the school held its first commencement ceremony in 1851 with philosopher, author and civic leader Severn Teackle Wallis as the guest speaker. This bolstered enrollment in the school, as students were drawn by the prospect of receiving a certificate attesting to their level of education. That year 156 students applied to the school—an increase of 50 students.

The growing enrollment necessitated a reorganization of the school. Under the direction of Waters, the school day was divided into eight periods lasting forty-five minutes: four sessions were held in the morning and four in the afternoon. In addition to reorganizing the schedule, he divided the courses into seven different departments: Belles-letters and history, mathematics, natural sciences, moral, mental, and political science, ancient languages, modern languages and music. Each of the seven instructors was assigned to a distinct department and received the title of "professor".