1902. Compulsory school attendance law passed.
1904, Feb. 7. Baltimore fire. Seventy blocks in heart of business district devastated.
1909, April 6. Matthew Henson, of Charles County, reached North Pole with Robert Peary.
1910, Aug. 30. First statewide primary election in Maryland.
1915, Nov. 2. Referendum and County Home Rule amendments adopted.
1916, Nov. 7. Executive budget process established by Constitutional amendment mandating balanced State budgets.
1917. Aberdeen Proving Ground, first testing center of U.S. Army, established.
1920. Merit system established for State employees.
1920, Nov. 2. Women voted for the first time in Maryland.
1931, March 3. "Star-Spangled Banner" adopted as national anthem.
![[color photograph of Thurgood Marshall statue]](/msa/mdmanual/01glance/images/i005006a.jpg)
1935. In Murray v. Pearson et al., Baltimore City Court orders integration of University of Maryland Law School. Represented in the case by Thurgood Marshall, Donald Gaines Murray registered September 1935.
Thurgood Marshall statue before State House,
Annapolis, Maryland, June 2000.
Photo by Diane F. Evartt.
1937. State income tax instituted.
1937, June 1. City of Greenbelt chartered, a New Deal model community.
1938, June. National Institutes of Health established in Bethesda.
1941, Dec. 7. U.S.S. Maryland among naval ships attacked at Pearl Harbor.
1944. Blue-baby operation developed at The Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, pioneering heart surgery era.
![[color photograph of the World War II Memorial]](/msa/mdmanual/26excom/defunct/images/i002514a.jpg)
1948. Montgomery became first Maryland county to adopt charter form of government.
1950, June 24. Friendship International Airport - now Baltimore/Washington International Airport (BWI) - began operation.
1952, July 31. Chesapeake Bay Bridge opened.
1955, Sept. Desegregation of public schools begun.
1956. Voting machines used for elections throughout State.
1956, Dec. Baltimore urban renewal begun.
1957, Nov. 30. Baltimore Harbor Tunnel opened.
1959, May. Goddard Space Flight Center opened in Greenbelt.
1962, July. Baltimore Beltway (I-695) opened through Baltimore County, encircling Baltimore City.
1963, June 11. Cambridge riots. National Guard remained through May 1965.
1964, April 7. Public accommodations law enacted.
1964, Aug. 16. Capital Beltway (I-495) opened, encircling Washington, DC, by passing through Maryland's Prince George's and Montgomery counties, and Virginia.
1967, June 21. Opening of Columbia, a planned community incorporating one-tenth of the land area of Howard County.
1967, July 25. Cambridge riots.
1967, Sept. 12-1968, Jan. 10. Constitutional Convention of 1967-1968.
1968, May 14. Proposed State Constitution rejected by voters.
1969, Oct. 5. Maryland Public Television first broadcast from Owings Mills (Channel 67).
1970, Spring. Student rebellion at University of Maryland College Park.
1972, Nov. 7. First general election in Maryland where lowering of voting age to 18 years of age or older applied.
1973. Second parallel Chesapeake Bay Bridge opened.
1973. Urban "homesteading" begun in Baltimore. City sold abandoned houses for $1 each to encourage renovation.
1974, Nov. 5. Both houses of General Assembly elected, for the first time, on the basis of equal representation by population.
1975, May. Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant began operation in Calvert County.
1976. Maryland Science Center opened in Baltimore.
1976. Washington Metro, rapid transit system for national capital area, opened to link stations in Maryland, Washington, DC, and Virginia.
1978. Sept. 5-17. Camp David Accords negotiated at Camp David, Frederick County, between President Jimmy Carter, President Anwar Sadat of Egypt, and Prime Minister Menachem Begin of Israel. Signed in Washington, DC, March 26, 1979.
1980. Maryland and Virginia established Chesapeake Bay Commission to coordinate interstate legislative planning and programs to restore Bay resources.
1980, July 2. Harborplace, a 3-acre center of restaurants and shops, opened in Baltimore City, signaling revitalization of the City's Inner Harbor.
1981. National Aquarium opened in Baltimore.
1983, Dec. 9. Chesapeake Bay Agreement to improve water quality and living resources of Bay signed by Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, District of Columbia, Chesapeake Bay Commission, and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
1985. Pennsylvania joined Chesapeake Bay Commission.
1985, Nov. 24. Fort McHenry Tunnel opened.
1987, Dec. 14. Chesapeake Bay Agreement to restore and protect Bay signed by Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, District of Columbia, Chesapeake Bay Commission, and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
1992, April 6. Orioles Park at Camden Yards, a stadium for the Baltimore Orioles baseball team, opened in downtown Baltimore City.
1992, May 18. Central Corridor Light Rail Line opened through Baltimore City.
1993, Sept. 10. Chesapeake Bay Partnership Agreement, to reduce pollution in Bay's tributaries by the year 2000, signed by Governor, Maryland's 23 counties, and Baltimore City.
1995, May 31. Baltimore Metro extension opened from Charles Center to Johns Hopkins Hospital.
1998, Oct. 15-19. Wye Summit. Middle East Peace Talks between Israel and the Palistine Liberation Organization were held at Aspen Institute's Wye River Conference Centers, Queen Anne's County. The Wye River Memorandum, resulting from the talks, was signed in Washington, DC, Oct. 23, 1998.
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