18 MARYLAND MANUAL

Years of Peace

Between the end of the war and the beginning of the
next century, the boom in industry and commerce brought
business to Baltimore and the state, an increase in rail and
water facilities, and made large philanthropies possible.
Three of these, the gift of more than $1,000,000 by a
quondam Baltimore resident, George Peabody, who had
made a fortune in England; the endowment of a university
by the merchant, Johns Hopkins (1876); and the gift of
a public library by Enoch Fratt benefited the State as well
as its largest city. Notwithstanding the setback of the
fire of 1904, Baltimore's progress and population increased
with every decade.

Later History

The story of the twentieth century in Maryland is largely
one of detailed statistics. As Baltimore forged ahead to
be the seventh city in the country, the State ranked only
twenty-eighth in point of population.

In World War I approximately 75,000 of its citizens
represented the State's service in the conflict. The martial
activities of the United States also appeared in the many
Federal establishments on Maryland soil, of which the
United States Naval Academy (Annapolis), opened in 1845,
is the oldest. Fort George G. Meade occupied over 7,500
acres near Odenton; the United States Army had a proving
ground at Aberdeen and an arsenal at Edgewood.

Between wars, Maryland assumed a forward-looking atti-
tude. Legislation was enacted to create old-age and mother's
pensions, to give aid to dependent children and to assist the
needy blind.

In World War II about 250,000 Marylanders served.
More than ever before, state industrial power.particularly
that devoted to the building of ships and aircraft.fought
the "Battle for Materials". Fort Meade was enlarged and
rebuilt; at Port Deposit the Navy placed its extensive
training center, Camp Bainbridge; Andrews Field in Prince
George's County and the United States Naval Air Station
at Patuxent were set up. The beginning of the post-war era
found Maryland in the midst of a period of rapid industrial
expansion. The increased wealth of the people has made
possible the projection of a great road and bridge-building
program, including a bridge over the Chesapeake Bay, a
greatly increased budget for educational purposes, and a
reorganization and expansion of mental hospital facilities.