A comparison of these two aerial shots (top, 1939; bottom, 2004) shows the changes that have come to the Annapolis campus and its environs over the past six decades. Still to be built, as the historic photo shows, were Campbell Hall, a dormitory, and Mellon Hall, also home to the Francis Scott Key Auditorium. The Carroll Barrister House had not yet been moved from downtown to the campus. The turrets still graced Pinkney Hall. The ungraceful stack looming high above the trees was part of the college’s heating plant, torn down in 1950.

Shortly after the older photograph was taken, major changes were made along College Creek: trees were cut down and the shoreline was filled in. The college’s neighbors have also changed. State office buildings and housing now flank the campus on the west, and the rail lines are long gone, replaced by Rowe Boulevard. And of course, the Liberty Tree—aligned with the south face of Pinkney in the older photo—is missing from the contemporary shot.

Yet even this more contemporary aerial photograph is now outdated: Spector Hall, nearly identical to Gilliam Hall (shown here on back campus) and just south of the building, is now complete and occupied.

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