From Union hospital to NAACP birthplace: Harpers Ferry’s Lockwood House

Nathan Brackett’s Revolutionary Integrated School at Harpers Ferry

In 1865, a Baptist minister took a war-torn building with holes in its roof and made it a school for freed slaves.

Nathan Brackett ran this one-room school in Harpers Ferry’s old Lockwood House, once a Union hospital. Soon, he had 16 teachers helping 2,500 students across the valley.

Then came a game-changing gift in 1867.

Maine businessman John Storer gave $10,000 with one bold rule – the school must take all students, no matter their race or gender.

President Johnson later added four buildings and land, while Frederick Douglass joined as trustee. The school went on to host W.E.B. Du Bois and the birth of what would become the NAACP.

Today, Harpers Ferry National Historical Park stands as a monument to this groundbreaking experiment in American education.

Shell Holes Welcomed First Black Students at Lockwood House

In 1865, Nathan Brackett started teaching freed slaves at Lockwood House, once a fancy home in Harpers Ferry. Built in 1847-48 for the Armory paymaster, the building later served as a Civil War hospital.

When Brackett moved in, the roof had a big hole from artillery fire, windows were missing, and the upstairs was unusable.

He personally taught reading to former slaves who couldn’t read. His first class included 19 formerly enslaved children who needed basic reading, writing, and math skills.

Teachers Faced Violence While Teaching Thousands

Brackett and his wife worked with four teachers to spread education throughout eastern West Virginia.

Using Lockwood House as a base, they opened schools across the Shenandoah Valley. By 1867, they had 16 teachers helping about 2,500 students.

Schools quickly filled with eager learners.

Local whites fought against these schools through mob attacks, property damage, nasty newspaper stories, and political pressure to shut them down.

Maine Businessman’s $10,000 Gift Came With Bold Conditions

John Storer, a rich businessman from Sanford, Maine, offered Reverend Dr.Oren Burbank Cheney, head of Bates College, $10,000 to start a school that would grow into a college.

His offer included groundbreaking rules: the school must accept everyone regardless of race or gender, and the Freewill Baptist Church had to match his money within a year.

The church started a huge fundraising effort, collecting donations, mortgaging property, and seeking government help.

They reached the $10,000 goal just one day before Storer’s deadline. Storer died of typhoid fever in 1867 before seeing his dream come true.

October 1867 Marked Start of West Virginia’s First Mixed-Race College

Storer Normal School opened on October 2, 1867, with two teachers and 19 students.

The school’s charter stating education would happen “without distinction of race or color” caused heated debate in the West Virginia Legislature, delaying approval until March 1868.

That same year, the Legislature gave $10,000 to the school, the first state money for Black education above elementary level in West Virginia.

Until the state opened West Virginia Colored Institute in 1891, Storer remained the only college in the state that accepted non-white students.

Future President Helped Get Former Armory Buildings

James Garfield, who later became President and had studied at a Free Will Baptist school himself, helped Storer College grow in 1869.

With his help, Congress gave four buildings at Camp Hill to the War Department, which passed them to the Freedmen’s Bureau, which then gave them to Storer College.

These buildings, once used for housing at the Harpers Ferry National Armory, were in bad shape after Civil War damage.

The college spread across Camp Hill, adding three more government buildings and buying more land to create a proper campus.

Colored Students Found Peace Inside Campus

Storer’s teachers faced constant hatred. One teacher wrote, “It is unusual for me to go to the post office without being hooted at and twice I have been stoned on the streets at noonday.”

Yet inside the campus, students found safety. Nathan Brackett’s daughter, who later taught there herself, noted fifty years later:

“Though storms of misunderstanding might rage outside the gate, within the campus all was calm and quiet. It was a little heaven.”

The college helped 75% of Harpers Ferry’s Black citizens buy property by using funds and selling extra land to graduates and their families.

In 1892, the school newspaper stated that when Southern Black people owned homes, farmed their own land, and voted freely, “there will no longer be a race problem.”

Frederick Douglass Talked About John Brown at 1881 Graduation

Frederick Douglass came to Storer College on May 30, 1881, as both a trustee and main speaker.

His Memorial Day speech focused on John Brown, the fighter against slavery whose attack on Harpers Ferry helped start the Civil War.

Douglass told graduates, “If John Brown did not end the war that ended slavery, he did at least begin the war that ended slavery.”

He felt so strongly about this speech that he let the college sell printed copies to raise money for a “John Brown Professorship.”

No records show how much money came in or where it went, but college files show money problems after building Anthony Memorial Hall that likely stopped the professorship.

Civil Rights Leaders Met Where John Brown Once Fought

The Niagara Movement, which grew to 170 members across 34 states by 1906, picked Storer College for its first public meeting on American soil.

From August 15-19, 1906, civil rights activists gathered on campus, drawn by Harpers Ferry’s powerful meaning. This was where John Brown’s 1859 attack against slavery had struck a blow for freedom.

The Niagara Movement members, now more than 50 strong, arrived with passion and hope that their voices would bring real change.

W.E.B.Du Bois later called this gathering “one of the greatest meetings that American Negroes ever held.

Activists Took Off Their Shoes at John Brown’s Fort

People at the meeting walked from Storer College to the Murphy Family farm, where John Brown’s Fort had been moved.

This small building was where Brown’s attempt to end slavery reached its bloody end.

When they arrived, the civil rights activists removed their shoes and socks to honor what they saw as holy ground and held a ceremony to remember what happened there.

Women played a big role in this historic gathering, and on August 17, 1906, they got full and equal membership in the group, a forward-thinking move for that time.

W.E.B. Du Bois Demanded Full Rights for Black Americans

Reverend Reverdy Ransom delivered what scholar Dr.Benjamin Quarles called “the most stirring single episode in the life of the Niagara Movement” with his speech about John Brown.

The conference concluded on Sunday, August 19, with W.E.B.Du Bois’ powerful “Address to the Country.”

Du Bois wrote, “We will not be satisfied to take one jot or title less than our full manhood rights. We claim for ourselves every single right that belongs to a freeborn American, political, civil and social; and until we get these rights we will never cease to protest and assail the ears of America.”

He added, “The battle we wage is not for ourselves alone but for all true Americans.”

Brown v. Board Decision Led to Storer’s Closure After 90 Years

The 1954 Supreme Court ruling in Brown v. Board of Education ended legal segregation in public schools.

The following year, West Virginia’s Board of Education recommended cutting Storer’s $20,000 annual stipend.

After nearly 90 years of education, Storer College closed in 1955, having provided education to more than 7,000 students.

The Niagara Movement that met at Storer continued until 1911, when most of its members formed the backbone of the newly created National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

Today, much of the Storer campus remains preserved as part of Harpers Ferry National Historical Park, a lasting reminder of this pioneering educational experiment.

Visiting Harpers Ferry National Historical Park, West Virginia

Harpers Ferry National Historical Park charges $15 for vehicle entry, good for three days. The park opens at sunrise but facilities run 9 AM to 5 PM daily.

You’ll need to take a shuttle from the main Visitor Center on Route 340 to reach historic Lower Town.

Check out the Storer College exhibit on the first floor of Mather Training Center with photos and artifacts.

Rangers offer seasonal programs about Lockwood House where the college began.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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