38.986°N 76.942°W
McKeldin Mall is a nine-acre area in the heart of the campus of the University of Maryland, College Park

University of Maryland, College Park

The University of Maryland, College Park is a top-ranked public research university located in the city of College Park in Prince George's County, Maryland, just outside Washington, D.C...

. Named after Theodore McKeldin

Theodore McKeldin

Theodore Roosevelt McKeldin , a member of the United States Republican Party, was the 53rd Governor of Maryland in the United States from 1951 to 1959....

, the former Governor of Maryland

Governor of Maryland

The Governor of Maryland heads the executive branch of the government of Maryland, and he is the commander-in-chief of the state's National Guard units. The Governor is the highest-ranking official in the state, and he has a broad range of appointive powers in both the State and local governments,...

, McKeldin Mall is the largest academic mall in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

.

Description

McKeldin Mall is book-ended (east to west) by the Main Administration building and McKeldin Library (the main library on campus) and along the north and south borders by various academic buildings, which are the homes to many departments in the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences, College of Arts and Humanities, and the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources. A 16-foot-by-250-foot rectangular fountain features prominently on the eastern half of the mall, honoring the university's members of the Omicron Delta Kappa

Omicron Delta Kappa

Omicron Delta Kappa, or ΟΔΚ, also known as The Circle, or more commonly ODK, is a national leadership honor society. It was founded December 3, 1914, at Washington & Lee University in Lexington, Virginia, by 15 student and faculty leaders. Chapters, known as Circles, are located on over 300...

 society. A sundial, honoring Dutch

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

 astronomer

Astronomer

An astronomer is a scientist who studies celestial bodies such as planets, stars and galaxies.Historically, astronomy was more concerned with the classification and description of phenomena in the sky, while astrophysics attempted to explain these phenomena and the differences between them using...

 Uco van Wijk

Uco van Wijk

Uco van Wijk was a Dutch astronomer and educator who founded the astronomy program at the University of Maryland and was instrumental in bringing Gart Westerhout from Holland to become Department Head.-Honors:* The crater Van Wijk on the Moon is named after him.* The astronomy library at the...

 (who founded the university's astronomy program) sits in the center of the mall, at the edge of the ODK fountain. Looking across the mall from the front entrance of McKeldin Library towards the Administration Building sits Testudo, the mascot of the University of Maryland.

The mall underwent a substantial renovation in 1990.

Academic Buildings

Northern end (from east to west):

• Symons Hall
• Holzapfel Hall
• H.J. Patterson Hall
• Jimenez Hall

Southern end (from east to west):

• Marie Mount Hall
• Woods Hall
• Francis Scott Key Hall
• Tydings Hall
  University of Maryland College of Behavioral and Social Sciences
  The University of Maryland College of Behavioral and Social Sciences is one of the 13 schools and colleges at the University of Maryland, College Park. With nine departments, it is the largest college at the university, with three in ten University of Maryland undergraduates receiving their degree...
  
  
• Journalism BuildingFormer home of the Philip Merrill College of Journalism
  Philip Merrill College of Journalism
  The Philip Merrill College of Journalism is a journalism school located at the University of Maryland, College Park. The college was founded in 1945 and was named after newspaper editor Philip Merrill in 2001. The school has about 600 undergraduates and 70 graduate students enrolled.The school...
  
  . The Merrill College has since moved to the newly-constructed Knight Hall and the Department of Government and Politics will be moving offices into the to-be-renamed Journalism Building after renovations.

The Peace Garden

Sitting in between the Main Administration Building and the ODK Fountain on McKeldin Mall is the Peace Garden. The Garden was created to commemorate the victims of the September 11th terrorist attacks. Flowers had been placed along the ODK Fountain on September 12, 2001 as a memorial; the Garden marks the location where those flowers were later buried. A plaque on the site explains the history of the Garden and includes the phrase, "May Peace Prevail on Earth."

Images