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 in 1857 of $1,400,000 by a one-time
Baltimore resident, George Peabody, who had made a for-
tune in England; the endowment of a university by the
merchant, Johns Hopkins (1876), and the gift of a public
library in 1882 by Enoch Pratt benefited the State as well
as its largest city. Even the $125,000,000 fire which began
February 7, 1904, did not retard Baltimore's progress; the
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 sixth city in the country, the State ranked only
twenty-fourth in point of population.

In World War I approximately 76,000 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 of Materials." Fort Meade was enlarged and
rebuilt; at Port Deposit the Navy placed its extensive
training center, Camp Bainbridge; Andrews Air Force Base
in Prince George's County and the United States Naval Air
Station at Patuxent were set up.

The first airway access (1919) to Baltimore was at Logan
Field; the first passengers by air came twelve years later.
By 1941 a Municipal Airport was in full operation. Such
attempts were dwarfed by an ambitious plan for a large
airport, work on which commenced May 1, 1947. On June
24, 1950, the Friendship International Airport opened, a