Baltimore Medical College
Baltimore, Maryland
1881-1913
E-Travel
Digital copies of all Baltimore Medical College catalogs have been placed on Internet Archive. HathiTrust has the Flexner Report. The Baltimore Sun reported on school events--especially sports.
History
Baltimore Medical College was founded by a group of seven Baltimore physicians headed by Dr. Harvey L. Byrd, who served as president, and Dr. William. R. Monroe, who served as dean during the first years. The school advertised itself as a “practical Christian medical school.” Among the twenty graduates in 1883 were four women, the last to be admitted to the school. In 1885 the Maryland General Hospital was added to the college. In 1895 B.M.C. added a dental department. Then in 1904 the Baltimore Law School was merged with the college. The 1907-08 catalog shows that B.M.C. attracted 425 matriculates from 22 states and 8 foreign countries.
Flexner lists an enrollment of 392 in 1909, taught by a faculty of 63. His report was highly critical of the admissions processes of the school. It noted that requirements were “much less than a four-year high school education.” The report was especially critical of the fact that the school had accepted and given advanced standing to students that had failed at other medical schools.
B.M.C. organizations were headed by a chapter of the Y.M.C.A. and four chapters of Medical fraternities—Theta Nu Epsilon, Chi Zeta Chi, Psi Omega, and Alpha Omega Delta. Newspapers noted an annual "smoker" for all students.
In 1913 Baltimore Medical College merged with the University of Maryland Medical College, with the ownership of Maryland General Hospital being a determining factor in the merger.
The 1895 B.M.C. building. The building to the rear is the Maryland General Hospital.(<archive.org/stream/baltmed00unse#page/n1076/mode/1up>) Accessed 1-29-2018.
Bricks and Mortar
The original offices of the college were in the Y.M.C.A. building. It then occupied the building at 93 North Paca Street, described as a central location. By 1888 B.M.C. had completed the purchase of property on North Howard Street, just north of Madison Street. By 1895 a new five-story college building at the NE corner of Howard Street and Linden Avenue had been built. This contained a 600-seat lecture hall, a 500-seat amphitheatre, the dispensary, and four laboratories. Adjoining was a five-story hospital building called Maryland General Hospital, Part of that hospital was a maternity ward.
In 1909 Flexner found the laboratories “new and very attractive.” However, he was critical of the "poorly kept" dispensary and of the facilities for teaching physiology and bacteriology.
When the University of Maryland acquired the college, its building remained with the B.M.C. Foundation. Part of the old Maryland General Hospital building remains as a part of a new Maryland General Hospital.
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Sports
Team name: “Meds”
Early catalogs carried the statement, “The faculty encourages athletics for those who care to participate in such exercises.” One mentions “base ball, football, and hockey.” The Football team is first mentioned in the Sun in 1887. B.M.C. quickly became one of the stronger football schools in the Baltimore area. The 1900 team compiled a 6-2 record with wins over Gettysburg, Gallaudet, Fort Monmouth, Portsmouth AC, Druid AC, and Maryland. Losses were to Navy and Princeton.
B.M.C. suspended football in 1905—even after a schedule had been made. The faculty, which shared the costs of the program with the students, had had to raise $1,000 to pay off expenses from 1904. And since B.M.C. had no practice facilities, faculty felt that the time expended in travel for practice had a detrimental effect on student grades. Football was resumed in 1906.
The “Meds” also played intercollegiate basketball, baseball and hockey. Even roller polo and indoor baseball were intercollegiate sports.
Two B.M.C. graduates played major league baseball. Philadelphia A's infielder Bert Daly (left) received his M.D. degree in 1905. The Bayonne, New Jersey native later served four terms as Bayonne's mayor. (Free Public Library and Cultural Center of Bayonne, <cdm16095.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15335coll3/id/82>) Accessed 1-29-2018.
James "Doc" Casey (right) graduated from the dental school in 1903, in the middle of a ten-year career as player/manager. (<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doc_Casey#/media/File:Doc_Casey.jpg) Accessed 1-29-2018.
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