Maryland Institute College of Art history

Unfortunately, the Athenaeum was destroyed by a fire in 1835 and the Maryland Institute stopped offering programs for twelve years.

The “New Maryland Institute” reorganized in 1847 and, two years later, established the Night School of Design to meet the growing city’s demand for skilled technical artists and designers.

The first annual exhibition was held at "Washington Hall" in October 1848, followed by two more.

The Institute was reincorporated by the state legislature at their December session in 1849 and was endowed by an annual appropriation from the State of Maryland of five hundred dollars.

In 1851, the Institute moved to its own building, built above the old Centre Market on Market Place (formerly Harrison Street) between East Baltimore Street (to the north) and Water Street (to the south) alongside the western shore of the Jones Falls.

In 1852, it hosted both of the National political conventions to nominate presidential candidates Winfield Scott and his opponent Franklin Pierce (who was later elected 14th President of the United States).

In 1854, a Day School of Design opened for women—one of the first US arts programs for women.

On April 18, 1864, President Abraham Lincoln gave his famous speech known as the "Baltimore Address" (or "Liberty Speech") during a "Sanitary Fair" held in the Great Hall to benefit Union soldiers and families.

During this period the Institute added a School of Chemistry, thanks in part to a bequest from philanthropist George Peabody, (1795–1869), (for which the Peabody Institute and George Peabody Library is named) and B.& O. Railroad President Thomas Swann, along with a School of Music.

By the beginning of the twentieth century, the Maryland Institute boasted over one thousand students and a new mission (adopted in 1879): “diffusing a knowledge of art… fostering original talent… and laying a permanent foundation for a genuine school of high art in Baltimore.”

On February 7–8, 1904, the Centre Market and the Maryland Institute burned down along with 1,500 other buildings in downtown Baltimore during the Great Baltimore Fire.

Michael Jenkins donated the future site of the "Main Building" on Mount Royal Avenue near the new Bolton Hill neighborhood in the northwest, which opened in 1908.

In 1923, the Institute's galleries hosted the first known public showing of Henri Matisse's work in the United States, brought from Europe by sisters Claribel and Etta Cone.

In 1928, the new Centre Market building, now known as "The Market Place" building, offered a course in Aeronautics theory and drafting following the great excitement and increase in interest in the industry following Charles Lindbergh's flight over the Atlantic Ocean to Paris.

The 1948 officers were John A. Rodgers – president, Adam Denmead – first vice president, James Milholland – second vice president, John B. Easter – recording secretary, and Samuel Boyd – treasurer.

In 1959, the school adopted a new name, the Maryland Institute, College of Art, and, over the past few decades, the campus has grown to include a converted train station, an old firehouse, and a former factory.

In 1968, MICA was forced to close due to the Baltimore riot of 1968, which broke out two days after the April 4 assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. in Memphis, Tennessee.