Storer College

Storer College was a historically black college located in Harper's Ferry, West Virginia. The Home Mission Society of the Free Baptist Church founded it in 1867 to educate former slaves. The school closed in 1955 after the 1954 Supreme Court desegregation decision led to the end of state and federal funding.

From the description of Storer College programs 1920. (Western North Carolina Library Network). WorldCat record id: 58836927

Storer College

In 1867 John Storer proposed the founding of a college in West Virginia with no distinction as to race. His donation of $10,000 was to be matched by the same amount from other consenting members of the free Baptist denomination. Others credited with the early activities of the school are Dr. George H. Ball of New York and General Oliver O. Howard. Government property at Harpers Ferry was donated as the site. Storer College represented the first higher educational institution for Black Americans in the state. It also served for many years as the only teacher-training school for West Virginia Blacks. In 1938 Storer dropped the high school department from its curriculum and became a degree-granting college with its first degrees awarded in 1942.

With the Supreme Court's decision that segregated schools were unconstitutional, West Virginia discontinued its subsidies to the school. Financial loss eventuated in the school's having to close its doors in June, 1956.

From the guide to the Storer College Collection, 1917-1955, (Moorland-Spingarn Research Center, Howard University)