Maryland Terrapins
An unofficial football team composed of Maryland Agricultural College students played games against local high schools in 1890 and 1891. The following year, the school lent its support, which marked of the Maryland football program in 1892. The football team has continued to the present day with the exception of a brief hiatus in 1895. In 1894, former Maryland coach and player William W. Skinner spearheaded the formation of the Maryland Intercollegiate Football Association, which served to award the state football championship. Maryland hired D. John Markey as its first paid football coach in 1902. H. C. "Curley" Byrd, who eventually served as the university president from 1936 to 1953, began his playing career on the team in 1905. In 1911, Byrd was appointed as the head football coach, and he served in that position through 1934. During his tenure, Byrd was instrumental in growing support of the program, and in 1915 successfully requisitioned funding for the school's first stadium. In his position as university president, he was also responsible for building the school's current football facility, Maryland Stadium.
University of Maryland College of Agriculture and Natural Resources
The history of the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources at The University of Maryland is simply the history of the University itself. The University of Maryland was chartered in 1856 as the Maryland Agricultural College. Charles Benedict Calvert spent $21,000 to purchase 420 acres in College Park, Maryland, and later that year founded the college. The school opened on October 5, 1859 with a total of 34 students. In 1864, the state legislature designated it as a land grant college under the Morrill Act of 1862, which made federal funds available. 
By the end of the Civil War, the University, having been hit hard by financial problems and a decline in student enrollment, found itself bankrupt. The state legislature assumed half ownership of the school in 1866, which pulled the college out of bankruptcy, and made the college, in part, a state institution. Enrollment slowly increased at the University, and over the next 26 years Maryland gained a reputation as a strong research institution. The federally funded Agricultural Experiment Station was established under the Hatch Act of 1887, and new state laws granted the college regulatory control over several areas of agriculture and public safety. The school has grown over the years, adding several other academic departments. However, it still remains a land grant university, and continues to have a strong college of agriculture and natural resources.