The National Park Service (NPS) turned 100 years old this year. Over the past century, the organization has grown from 35 national parks to more than 400 sites under the protection of the NPS today. From national seashores, monuments, heritage and historic sites, trails and military parks, the variety is as vast as the history they contain. There are nine National Park Service sites in Alabama that drew 790,000 visitors with a $31 million economic impact last year. Alabama NewsCenter is spending the rest of this centennial year highlighting each Alabama site.

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Tuskegee Institute National Historic Site

George Washington Carver Museum. The building originally served as a laundry for the Tuskegee Institute and was converted into a museum in 1938. (Erin Harney/Alabama NewsCenter)

Tuskegee University was founded on July 4, 1881, as the Tuskegee Normal School for Colored Teachers (later called the Tuskegee Institute). The school first held classes in a one-room building, but later relocated to a 100-acre abandoned plantation, which “became the nucleus of the present 5,000 acre site,” according to Tuskegee University.

The Tuskegee Institute was approved as a National Historic Site in 1974. It is the only university campus in the country with a National Historic Site designation by the National Park Service (NPS).

Brief history of the Tuskegee Institute

In 1880, former Confederate Col. W.F. Foster sought a position in the Alabama Senate and needed Macon County’s African-American vote to help him secure the election. Foster approached Lewis Adams, a former slave and successful tradesman, to assist him in gaining their support.

In return for the African-American vote, Adams requested that the “Alabama Legislature pass a bill to establish a Normal School for colored teachers at Tuskegee,” said the NPS. Following his election to the Senate, Foster and his colleague in the Alabama House of Representatives, Arthur Brooks, pushed the Legislature to approve the bill, which authorized an appropriation of $2,000 for the teachers’ salaries.

A board of commissioners, including Adams, was formed to organize the school. “The initial space for the school was provided by Butler Chapel AME Zion Church, not far from the present site” before it was moved to the site of a former plantation, said Tuskegee University.

Utilizing his contacts, board commissioner George W. Campbell contacted the Hampton Institute, a Virginia school for African-Americans, to request a teacher for the new Alabama institute. Booker T. Washington was named principal of the school in 1881.

Old Administrative Building, 1902. “For almost 75 years Tuskegee’s administrative work was carried out here. It also housed the school’s first post office and bank,” NPS. (Erin Harney/Alabama NewsCenter)

Milbank Hall, built in 1909. “This building housed the Agriculture Department’s classrooms and laboratories and George Washington Carver’s personal laboratory,” NPS. (Erin Harney/Alabama NewsCentery

The clock tower was added to White Hall in 1913. The school’s campus, including White Hall, was designed by Robert Robinson Taylor, the first African-American to graduate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). As part of the curriculum, students built many of the original campus buildings, with bricks they had made themselves. (Erin Harney/Alabama NewsCenter)

The Oaks, home of Booker T. Washington. “Here students applied their skills to one of the most visible structures at Tuskegee. From designing the house to making the bricks to crafting the furniture, students and faculty helped build The Oaks,” NPS. (Erin Harney/Alabama NewsCenter)

George W. Carver statue at the Carver Museum. (Erin Harney/Alabama NewsCenter)

The Moveable School, designed by Washington and Carver. (Erin Harney/Alabama NewsCenter)

Museum display at the George Washington Carver Museum. (Erin Harney/Alabama NewsCenter)

History class at the Tuskegee Institute, 1902. (Library of Congress)

Tuskegee Cemetery, with the gravesites of Washington and Carver. (Erin Harney/Alabama NewsCenter)

Washington utilized his training from the Hampton Institute to “implement a program of industrial and vocational education to teach former slaves how ‘to live on the farm, off the farm.’ He believed that by teaching students practical jobs, and training those who worked on farms to master agricultural skills, the economic conditions for African-Americans would improve,” said the NPS.

During his tenure, “Tuskegee gained institutional independence from the state of Alabama in 1892, and rose to national prominence,” said Tuskegee University.

George Washington Carver, 1906. (Library of Congress)

Washington recruited a number of distinguished faculty, including George W. Carver, who joined Tuskegee in 1896, serving as head of the Agriculture Department. “Carver taught farmers and their wives to master skills in agriculture and also about nutrition, home construction, food preservation and hygiene,” said Tuskegee University.

In 1906, Washington and Carver initiated the Moveable School, a Jesup wagon with machinery and supplies to reach out to farmers who were unable to attend classes at the school.

While the first graduating class contained only 30 students, by 1915, when Washington died, there were over “1,500 students, a $2 million endowment, 40 trades, 100 fully equipped buildings and about 200 faculty,” said the NPS.

Today, there are over 3,000 students enrolled in undergraduate, graduate and doctoral programs at Tuskegee University. According to the university, “Tuskegee has one of the oldest baccalaureate nursing programs in the country and is the only historically black college and university (HBCU) in the nation designated as the location for National Center for Bioethics in Research and Health Care.”

In addition, “Tuskegee is the top producer of African-American aerospace science engineers in the nation, a leading national producer of African-American engineering graduates in chemical, electrical and mechanical engineering, and the only HBCU with a fully accredited College of Veterinary Medicine that offers a doctoral degree, and produces over 75 percent of the African-American veterinarians in the world.” This year, U.S. News and World Report ranked Tuskegee 4^th among HBCUs.

Visiting the Tuskegee Institute National Historic Site

Parking for the Tuskegee Institute National Historic Site is available at: 1212 West Montgomery Road, Tuskegee, AL 36088 (next to Booker T. Washington’s home) or at 1 Booker T Washington Blvd, Tuskegee, AL 36088 (behind the Kellogg Conference Center).

The NPS recommends beginning your tour at the George Washington Carver Museum, where site information, maps, restrooms, museum displays and a gift shop are available. The museum is open Monday through Saturday, 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and is closed on Sundays, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Day.

While at the George Washington Carver Museum, visitors can sign up for a guided tour of Booker T. Washington’s Home, known as The Oaks. The interior of the home is only accessible by guided tour. For tour times and additional information about the site, call 334-727-3200.

Many of the original Tuskegee Institute buildings are still in use by the university. Only the Carver Museum and The Oaks are open to visitors. Visitors to the campus are asked to respect the privacy of the students.