Farmland that would eventually become The Glen.
Photo courtesy of Special Collections and Archives.
One hundred years ago this week, the groundbreaking for the campus of Towson University took place on what was then mainly farmland, according to the TU Special Collections and Archives blog.
On Jan. 28, 1913, a banker named John Nelligan officially sold a parcel of land to the State of Maryland that would become the campus of Towson University, then named the Maryland State Normal School and located in Baltimore City. Since then, the campus has expanded by more than 250 acres and 50 buildings.
From the blog:
The area surrounding Towson at that time was farmland. The houses that now cluster along either side of York Road were mostly built during the population and housing boom following World War II.
The parcel of land that would make up the almost 75-acres of the Maryland State Normal School at Towson campus was pieced together from acres of a number of different farms.
John J. Nelligan, a prominent banker with the Safe Deposit and Trust Company and owner of 22 acres of property, had acquired land from his neighbors. … In turn, Nelligan sold those parcels along with his own land and house to the State of Maryland for $83,735—almost $1.9 million in today’s money.
See historic photos of the campus and read the full story here.
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