Baltimore College was a secular college in the city of

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the List of United States ...

, founded in 1804. It was a private non-sectarian institution, although the president of its board of directors when it was formed also happened to be the

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

bishop of Baltimore, John Carroll (1735-1815, served 1790–1815), first ordained Roman Catholic bishop and archbishop in America in 1790. It was located in a structure on West Mulberry Street, near Cathedral Street, (rear of Old St. Paul's Rectory, for the nearby Episcopal church, facing south towards West Saratoga Street and Liberty Street) just south of and across the street from the new Baltimore Cathedral for the Roman Catholic Church and Archdiocese of Baltimore, then under construction 1806-1821 (now the

Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary The Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, also called the Baltimore Basilica, is a Catholic cathedral in Baltimore, Maryland. It was the first Catholic cathedral built in the United States after the nat ...

) The institution struggled to operate for several years. In the early 1820s, L.H. Gerardin, a native of France, was the principal of the institution. It merged with the

University of Maryland The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the Univ ...

, founded 1807 with a

School of Medicine A medical school is a tertiary educational institution, professional school, or forms a part of such an institution, that teaches medicine, and awards a professional degree for physicians. Such medical degrees include the Bachelor of Medicine, ...

, becoming the (undergraduate) college of arts and letters of the University of Maryland for several decades until the 1830s.

Footnote

Educational institutions established in 1804 Educational institutions disestablished in 1830 1804 establishments in Maryland 1830 disestablishments in Maryland 1800s in Baltimore Defunct private universities and colleges in Maryland University of Maryland, Baltimore {{Maryland-university-stub