The history of The Baltimore City College began in March 1839, when the City Council of Baltimore, Maryland, United States, passed a resolution mandating the creation of a male high school with a focus on the study of English and classical literature. The Baltimore City College was opened later in the same year on October 20, with 46 pupils under the direction of Professor Nathan C. Brooks,(1809-1898), a local noted classical educator and poet, who became the first principal. It is now considered to be the third oldest public high school in the nation. In 1850, the Baltimore City Council granted the school the authority to present its graduates with certificates of completion. An effort to expand that academic power and allow the then named "Central High School of Baltimore" to confer Bach