Alabama A&M University (Original Site)

ALABAMA A&M UNIVERSITY
former names

1873 – Colored Normal School at Huntsville

1885 – The Huntsville State Colored Normal and Industrial School

1896 – The State Agricultural and Mechanical College for Negroes

1919 – The State Agricultural and Mechanical Institute for Negroes

1948 – Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical College

1969 – University status achieved

ALABAMA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION – 1974

 

Original site of
ALABAMA AGRICULTURAL AND MECHANICAL UNIVERSITY
(now located at Normal, Alabama)

Legislature approved 9 December 1873 “a normal school for the education of colored teachers” in Huntsville. Ex-slave William Hooper Councill founder and first president. Classes began May 1875 with sixty-one pupils and two teachers; held in rented buildings until moved 1881 to this site – the first school-owned property. Land-grant funds received 1891 for training of Negroes in agriculture and mechanic arts enabled school to enlarge and re-locate on present campus north of the city.

ALABAMA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION – 1974