112 Years Young!

In the 1890’s, the Faculty, as it was then known, bought a building on Hamilton Terrace, a small block off of Eutaw Street. After bouncing from place to place for the past 100 years, the Faculty finally thought they had their forever home. 

But they didn’t count on the combined forces of Marcia Noyes and Dr. William Osler. Marcia was a former librarian at Baltimore’s Enoch Pratt Free Library, and Dr. Osler was a bibliophile of the highest order. Together, they built one of the leading medical libraries of its time. 

When the Faculty moved into Hamilton Terrace, the books had been randomly boxed up for the move, so they were completely disordered when they were unboxed. Marcia quickly put them into order, and Osler began acquiring additional and up-to-date medical volumes. 

Within a year or so, they realized that they were running out of room for a permanent library at Hamilton Terrace, and began searching for a property to build their permanent home!

In 1905, Osler left Baltimore for the position of Regius Professor of Medicine at Oxford, but he continued to advocate for a new building. Finally, a property was located just a few blocks away, the architects Ellicott & Emmart were engaged and in 1908, construction began.