On March 6, 1856, the forerunner of today's University of Maryland was chartered because the Maryland Agricultural school. 2 years later, Charles Benedict Calvert, a future U.S. legislator, purchased 420 acres (1.7 km2) of the Riverdale Plantation in school Park. Calvert based the varsity later that year. On October five, 1859, the primary thirty four students entered the Maryland Agricultural school.{the school|the varsity|the school} became a assignment college in Gregorian calendar month 1864.During the war, money issues forced the directors to unload two hundred acres (81 ha) of land, and therefore the continued decline in enrollment sent the Maryland Agricultural school into chapter 11. For ensuing 2 years the field was used as a boys middle school. Following the war, in Gregorian calendar month 1866 the Maryland assembly assumed 0.5 possession of the varsity. the school so became partially a state establishment. By October 1867, the varsity reopened with eleven students. within the next six years, enrollment grew and therefore the school's debt was paid off.
Twenty years later, the federally funded Agricultural Experiment Station was established there. throughout a similar amount, state laws granted the school restrictive powers in many areas — together with dominant farm illness, inspecting feed, establishing a state administrative body and geologic survey, and housing the board of biological science. Morrill Hall (the oldest educational building still in use on campus) was designed the subsequent year.