The University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) is a 71 acre state-of-the-art teaching, research and clinical care complex. UMB enrolls 6300 students and employs 6500 scientist/researchers, faculty members and administrative staff. The campus currently has 68 building comprising 7.5 million square feet and a $3 Billion annual economic impact in Baltimore and surrounding metro area. UMB is known as the Founding Campus within the 12 campus University System of Maryland; unique in the fact that of the other universities within the system it is the only campus without a liberal arts undergraduate program. UMB’s seven professional and graduate schools train the majority of the state's physicians, graduate nurses, dentists, lawyers, social workers, and pharmacists.
Of UMB’s seven professional schools, the School of Medicine is, by far, the largest school on the campus and occupies the majority of the buildings on campus. These caches will take you on a tour of the campus, stopping at some of the more prominent locations within the School of Medicine.
There is plenty of parking on the UMB campus. You can choose to park in one of the campus garages (for a fee) or at any of the various on-street metered parking spots. All of the caches in the UMB SOM series are within a reasonable walking distance.
This is a VERY busy campus all hours of the day and evening. Difficulty rating compensates for the high muggle activity
The cache is at Davidge Hall. It was constructed in 1812 and is named after the first dean of the University of Maryland School of Medicine, Dr. John B. Davidge. It’s noted for its unique classical appearance, and is the oldest building in the country used continuously for medical education.
The medical school was established in 1807 by the Maryland general assembly and became the fifth founded, but the first public medical school in the United States. Following mergers with Baltimore Medical College, 1913, and the College of Physicians and Surgeons, 1915, the school became part of the state university system in 1920. The medical college in the early 19th century commanded an unbroken view of the Patapsco River. It is said that from the porch one could watch the British bombardment of Fort McHenry in 1814. The building was very large for its day, but no matter how elegant, life inside for medical students and their mentors often left much to be desired. The building, heated by stoves close to the ceiling, was dank and drafty in the winter. It was poorly illuminated and polluted by the stench from poor embalming practices of the period as well as from the chemical experiments performed in the lower lecture hall. However, it did provide refuge from the angry mobs that would riot outside and protest against dissecting cadavers, as medicine was not truly understood and the general public opposed the teaching of anatomy.
Its acclaimed design comes complete with hidden corners and cubbyholes for sequestering cadavers stored in whiskey barrels and secret exits to afford students and faculty safe escape from local mobs angered by their dissection practices. Davidge Hall was designated as a National Historic Landmark by the U.S. Department of the Interior in 1997i, and is recognized as the founding building of the University System of Maryland, the twelfth largest university system in the nation. The cache is not in any of the gardens or on the ground.