Maryland. Board of Public Works

The Board of Public Works is an agency unique to Maryland. Its duties have changed dramtically since its first incarnation in 1825; the original nature of the board bears no resemblance to its current one. The board created by the General Assembly in 1825 grew out of the desire for "internal improvements" to the state, such as making the major rivers and streams navigable and connecting them by canals. This board, which lasted only three years, was designed to look for potential projects, and little else. By the time of the Maryland Constitutional Convention of 1851, the state decided that enough improvements projects had been undertaken, many of which had left the state nearly insolvent during the 1840s.

The Constitution of 1851 set up a Board of Public Works composed of four elected commissioners to manage the state's investments in railroad and canal companies and to make those investments as profitable as possible, an undertaking which met with mixed success. By 1861, the board had become factious, a situation that was further complicated by the outbreak of the Civil War. The Constitution of 1864 sought to remedy this by abolishing the old board and creating a new one composed of the governor, the treasurer, and the comptroller. The new board had many of the duties of its predecessor, but was authorized to begin disposing of the state's interest in the railroad and canal companies, which took nearly fifty years to complete. The Constitution of 1867 left the agency essentially untouched, only clarifying a few ambiguities. The view of its functions, however, changed not long after that Constitution's adoption. It continued to manage the state's interest in private companies, but became responsible for the acquisition and construction of public properties and for the basic fiscal affairs of the state.

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