---
title: Ask Anne
date: 2014-06-10T03:00:00-04:00
author: University of Maryland
canonical_url: "https://terp.umd.edu/ask-anne"
section: Articles
---
# Ask Anne

*June 10, 2014* — by [Anne](/authors/anne)


- *PHOTOGRAPH BY John T. Consoli*

> Questions for Anne Turkos, the university archivist

*Anne on campus*

**Q: I’ve passed this spot in front of montgomery hall many times, and I was wondering, what is it? Or, what was its original purpose?**—JIM BAXTER

A: Today, it’s known primarily as an “echo spot.” Orientation groups often stop there, and if you stand in just the right spot in the middle of it, you can hear your own echo. Originally, it was the base for a proposed statue of Charles Benedict Calvert, founder of the Maryland Agricultural College, UMD’s predecessor. The base was built in the early 1970s before objections were raised about having a statue of a slaveholder on campus, which stopped the process and left just the “echo spot” today. It’s unclear whether the statue was actually created and not erected, or if it was never created.


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**Q: Is it true that Eleanor Roosevelt visited the university twice?**—NANCY CHOW ’09

A: Yes, though under very different circumstances. In 1938, she became the first first lady to visit campus, when she addressed a crowd of 6,000 students at Ritchie Coliseum, speaking about education, civic responsibility and community engagement. Her second visit, during World War II, was a surprise. The United Nations had set up its Relief and Rehabilitation Administration on campus to train relief workers, and in 1944, Roosevelt unexpectedly dropped in on a Serbo-Croatian language class at the Rossborough Inn.


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*bird*




**Issue:** [Spring 2014](https://terp.umd.edu/editions/spring-2014)


**Types:** [In Brief](https://terp.umd.edu/category/in-brief)