George Peabody founded the Peabody Institute in Baltimore, Maryland's Mount Vernon Square on February 12, 1857. His donations for the Institute amounted to $1.4 million. The Institute included a library, courses of lectures, an academy of music and an art gallery and became the model for many of his later philanthropies.
George Peabody statue
Baltimore, Maryland
The Institute's academy of music, later renamed the Peabody Conservatory of Music, was the first in the country. The school was a pioneer in performing contemporary compositions
and promoting American music. Over the years, the Institute has expanded and grown. It officially began its affiliation with Johns Hopkins University in the 1970s although the two schools had partnered for over fifty years. The Institute continues to promote the arts in Baltimore by working closely with the Baltimore Opera and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.
