Then & Now, #8: The First UMBC Buildings, 1967 & 2016

by David Hoffman and Craig Berger

As UMBC has celebrated its 50th anniversary by looking back on its earliest years, the names of the original buildings have been invoked repeatedly. The original academic building (now part of Biological Sciences) once was called Academic I. The original student gathering space, with a gym and a cafeteria, was called Gym I. And the classroom between them was Lecture Hall 1.

Except ... that's not what any of those buildings were called in 1966-1967! All of those names betray a knowledge of events (specifically, the construction of newer facilities) that were, in 1966-1967, still in the future. You don't call something "1" until there's a "2" (see, e.g., World Wars, Super Bowls, movies with sequels, etc.). On opening day, the original buildings were simply the Academic Building, the Lecture Hall, and the Multi-Purpose Building.

You can see those original facilities (left to right) in the 1967 photo below. Compare that image with the photo below it, taken from the same spot in 2016.