Renovating a historic building with a painful and controversial past for modern use requires care and sensitivity, and that is the plan for transforming the historic Ellicott City Jail, a landmark that has stood for more than 170 years.
Statewide nonprofit Preservation Maryland and the University of Maryland, College Park (UMD) announced a partnership to breathe new life into the historic site, with Preservation Maryland leading a multimillion-dollar renovation of the long-vacant property. The goal is to turn it into a center for preservation, education, and community engagement.
The UMD School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation will collaborate on the project and have space in the rehabilitated building of its own. The school will use the new space for research and creating and expanding a pipeline of talented, versatile practitioners.
“Revitalizing the Ellicott City Jail site is about more than preserving a historic building—it’s about creating a place for community, research, reflection, and renewal,” said Nicholas Redding, president & CEO of Preservation Maryland, in a statement. “The project represents a unique collaboration between state, county, nonprofit, and academic partners to breathe new life into one of Ellicott City’s most significant historic landmarks while addressing contemporary challenges.”
The Ellicott City Jail was built in 1851 and expanded in 1878. It held enslaved people seeking freedom, along with people encouraging them to run away or revolt against their enslavers until the end of slavery in Maryland on Nov. 1, 1864. It is also included in the National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom series list. The jail’s history includes being the site of both documented and narrowly prevented lynchings.
The jail served Howard County until the 1980s and has been vacant since 2008.
The project for historic preservation and renovation involves adapting and reinterpreting the site to create new public and nonprofit spaces for the community. The site will include collaborative office and research space for UMD faculty and students, community meeting and event space, historical interpretive exhibits acknowledging the site’s past, green space designed for reflection and healing, and it will also house the headquarters for Preservation Maryland.
Michele Magalong, assistant professor of historic preservation at UMD, will lead development of a research hub connecting experienced practitioners with students, technology, and resources to advance publications and fieldwork. Magalong hopes to expose students to a variety of skills and techniques to build their skills. These include traditional and ancient preservation methods along with AI-aided research and documentation, aiming to equip students with modern tools while ensuring underrepresented trades are not lost to time.
“I’m excited to work with them to envision the future of preservation and how can we strengthen our workforce— from academics to practitioners on the ground,” Magalong said of Preservation Maryland. “We hope to create a more just pipeline into preservation by amassing a variety of people, skills and knowledge.”
Funding for the project is coming from a Howard County ARPA grant, Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development, State Legislative Bond Bills, and other federal and philanthropic sources.
“Given its multifaceted history, the former Ellicott City Jail serves as an ideal place where we can preserve and bring forth our county’s past, while breathing new life into a once vacant historic structure and giving it purpose once again,” Howard County Executive Calvin Ball said in a statement. “I thank Preservation Maryland for their partnership on this effort and commitment to moving this project forward and I look forward to seeing what the future holds for our historic town.”
Michael Graves Architecture will lead the design for this project. Preservation Maryland expects to break ground in spring 2026.
