Last updated: September 6, 2023
Place
Charles P. Adams House
Photograph by Patricia Duncan, courtesy of the Louisiana State Historic Preservation Office
Quick Facts
Location:
549 Main St., Grambling, Louisiana
Significance:
Agriculture, Black
Designation:
Listed in the National Register - Reference number 96000145
MANAGED BY:
The Charles P. Adams House on the campus of Grambling State University in Grambling, Louisiana was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1996. The property is significant as the longtime residence of Charles Philip Adams, the founder of Grambling State University. Grambling State is one of seven HBCUs in the state of Louisiana.
Charles P. Adams was born in Brusly, Louisiana in 1873. As a young man, he became a prosperous sugar cane grower. With the money he earned from sugar cane, he enrolled in Booker T. Washington's Tuskegee Institute, where he completed a course of study in vocational work. While he planned on attending Howard University after graduating, Booker T. Washington instead tapped him to help a fledgling school for Black students in Northern Louisiana. Conflict between Adams and the school's founders led Adams to leave the school, and start his own.
In 1905, Adams opened the North Louisiana Agricultural and Industrial School, with 152 pupils and seven teachers. While the school was initially funded entirely by private sources, the school became semi-public in 1912 or 1913, which was around the time the residence for the Adams family was constructed. In 1928, the school became a state institution, fulfilling the state's need for a collegiate-level teachers training school for Black teachers. After achieving this support the school was renamed the Louisiana Negro Normal and Industrial Institute. However, the school's industrial focuses were increasingly less prominent as the state emphasized the school's education programs.
Due to further disagreements with leaders at the school, Adams was forced to retire in the 1930s. He and his family continued to live in the residence at the school until his death in 1961. In 1946, the school was renamed Grambling College to reflect new curricula in sciences, liberal arts and business; with the addition of graduate programs in 1974, the school was once again renamed to Grambling State University.
Charles P. Adams was born in Brusly, Louisiana in 1873. As a young man, he became a prosperous sugar cane grower. With the money he earned from sugar cane, he enrolled in Booker T. Washington's Tuskegee Institute, where he completed a course of study in vocational work. While he planned on attending Howard University after graduating, Booker T. Washington instead tapped him to help a fledgling school for Black students in Northern Louisiana. Conflict between Adams and the school's founders led Adams to leave the school, and start his own.
In 1905, Adams opened the North Louisiana Agricultural and Industrial School, with 152 pupils and seven teachers. While the school was initially funded entirely by private sources, the school became semi-public in 1912 or 1913, which was around the time the residence for the Adams family was constructed. In 1928, the school became a state institution, fulfilling the state's need for a collegiate-level teachers training school for Black teachers. After achieving this support the school was renamed the Louisiana Negro Normal and Industrial Institute. However, the school's industrial focuses were increasingly less prominent as the state emphasized the school's education programs.
Due to further disagreements with leaders at the school, Adams was forced to retire in the 1930s. He and his family continued to live in the residence at the school until his death in 1961. In 1946, the school was renamed Grambling College to reflect new curricula in sciences, liberal arts and business; with the addition of graduate programs in 1974, the school was once again renamed to Grambling State University.