Morgan State University's Site

Morgan State University

North of Argonne Drive between Hillen Road and Herring Run is the campus of Morgan State University. This property on Hillen Road was purchased at the end of World War I when an earlier location in West Baltimore proved to be too small. The original Morgan College was established as the Centenary Bible Institute by the Methodist Conferences of Baltimore, Washington, Wilmington and Delaware in 1867. It was first located on East Saratoga Street. Its mission was to train young men as Methodist ministers. In 1880 when the student body of 125 had outgrown the Saratoga Street building, Dr. and Mrs. John F. Goucher donated a lot at Fulton and Edmondson Avenues along with $5,000 towards a new building. Through hundreds of donations from black Methodist churches, an additional $13,000 was raised to complete a building in 1881. Additional donations in 1890 from Dr. Lyttleton F. Morgan, for whom the college is named, enabled the school to offer general collegiate courses. At that time the institution became known as Morgan College.

In 1935 the Federal courts ordered the State of Maryland to provide equal college education for blacks or accept them into the state-run white colleges. To meet this need the state purchased from the Methodist Church for $250,000 Morgan College which had now moved to its present location on Hillen Road.

Today the campus covers more than 30 acres and services almost 3,000 students. A compact educational community of twenty-six academic buildings, service facilities, and residence halls, it is bisected by Cold Spring Lane into a north and south campus.

The conversion from college to university took place in the 1970s with the rapid expansion that resulted from the post-World War II "Baby Boom." Although now completely integrated, it is still predominantly a black institution. Morgan State is today continuing to expand its quality programs at the graduate level.