The first Free School of Anne Arundel County was established by an Act of the General Assembly of colonial Maryland in 1723.

It was built somewhere between its contractual date of 1724 and 1746 when it was under full operation with John Wilmot as schoolmaster.

It remained in operation until 1912 when the movement toward consolidation forced the closure of many early school buildings.

[2] It may have served a prominent role in history as Johns Hopkins likely attended the school from 1806 to 1809.

Later, when Hopkins's abolitionist parents freed their slaves, he was forced to quit school and work in their tobacco fields.