Local health administration preceded the organization of a State health department by nearly a century, when, in 1793, Baltimore City established a health office to stop an epidemic of yellow fever. The first county health department was formed by Allegany County in 1922. Each Maryland county by 1934 had established its own health
department. State oversight of local departments was conducted within the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene by the Local Health Services Administration formed in 1969. The Administration reorganized by 1973 as the Local Health and Professional Support Services Administration and, by 1977, as the Local Health Administration. The latter reformed into the Local and Family Health Administration in 1989. That administration was renamed the Community and Public Health Administration in 1997.
