10/24/1866
The Peabody Institute, begun nine years before and now operating as the significant intellectual core of Baltimore, was formally inaugurated in the presence of its benefactor, the American-born British banker George Peabody, back in the United States on a visit. Governor Swann of Maryland gave a speech of welcome and Peabody himself spoke, making a plea for Baltimore to become a "daystar of political tolerance and charity" turning its back on the divided past and becoming an example of reconciliation after "the ravages of war." (By John Osborne)
Source Citation:
"Maryland," The American Cyclopedia and Register of Important Events of the Year 1866 (New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1873), 469.