The First Building

Map with the first Lincoln School building marked, 1887

Crawfordsville's Lincoln School for Colored Children operated from 1882 to around 1922 in this first building. The school remained open until 1947 when the Crawfordvsille School Board closed the school, and many of the Black students began attending another elementary school down the street. 

First Lincoln School building, 1894

The first Lincoln School building about one decade after opening.

In September 1882, the Lincoln School for Colored Children opened its doors with 42 students. Located in the largely-Black neighborhood known as “Northend” located on the near-northwest side of downtown Crawfordsville, the two-story red-brick building stood down the street from the Crawfordsville Bethel African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church. Before Lincoln School, the Church’s congregation operated a school for Black children that at one time accommodated over 120 students.