Isaac McKim's Free School

More Than Meets the Eye: History of Maryland Through Prints, 1750-1900
Room 1: Immigrants in Maryland

Maryland Historical Society
Library of Maryland History
201 W. Monument Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
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Maryland History In Prints: 1752-1900
by Laura Rice

Isaac McKim's Free School

Drawn by J[ohn] Penniman
Engraved by A.W. Graham
From The Baltimore Book, 1838, frontis

1838

Engraving

When John McKim died in 1819, he left a bequest of six hundred dollars to provide a school for children whose parents were unable to pay for their education. Under the direction of his son, Isaac, trustees selected from the Friends Meeting on the east side of the Jones Falls organized a school they hoped would "prove the basis of extensive and lasting benefits to the poor, and to the interests of society, by the diffusion of useful knowledge, and moral instruction among a class of society who have not the means of procuring these advantages for themselves."

Baltimore architects William F. Small and William Howard designed the school in a style then popular with American architects. A departure from the heavily embellished style of European royalty, it reflected a democratic society free from the excesses and corruption associated with the monarchy. In addition, the allusion to ancient Greek society provided an aura of antiquity appealing to members of a new nation with an untested government. As a representation of republican ideals in physical form, Greek Revival was a particularly appropriate design for a school intended to create republican citizens from children of the lowest ranks of society.

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Room 1: Immigrants in Maryland
Room 2: Evangelical Religion and Reform
Room 3: Rowdies and Riots
Room 4: Changes in the Land
Exhibit Home Page
CONTENTS for Room 1
1. Baltimore Schuetzen-Park
2. The Great Fight, between Tom Hyer & Yankee Sullivan, for $10,000
3. Asking if I would ever dare to be 'sassy' to the Sisters again
4. Isaac McKim's Free School
5. [Little Joker Smoking Tobacco]
6. The Oddfellow's March
7. Masquerade Ball of Harmony Circle
8. Church of St. John the Evangelist