Tag Archives: Freedmen’s Bureau

The incorporated in 1859, two short years before the Civil War began and destroyed much of its nascent commercial district. Development was a long and slow process for the remainder of the century, often driven more by outside capital than the local sawmill and lumber trade. In 1868, local citizens successfully lobbied the to construct a school for black youth. Stanton Institute opened the following year. The Board of Trustees christened it “the best school building in the state.” At the same time, northern capitalists financed the construction of the , the fanciest of several downtown hotels catering to a …