The University of Maryland traces its history to 1856, when the General Assembly chartered a state agricultural school. The Maryland Agricultural College was established on ancestral land of the Piscataway tribe, which it purchased from a slaveholding farmer and agricultural education advocate, and three years later opened with 34 students.
It eventually grew to encompass new disciplines in engineering, science and the liberal arts, welcomed trailblazing women and people of color, survived the Great Fire of 1912, re-emerged as a public college and boomed following World War II. Today, the university is a national powerhouse in research, academics, the arts and athletics; committed to embracing diversity in its campus community of 50,000; and tackling the grand challenges of our time.