Lincoln Normal School, Civil War era school building in Marion, Alabama.
Lincoln Normal School was founded in Marion, Alabama, in 1867 and operated until 1970. Most campus buildings were lost to an 1887 fire; the Phillips Memorial Auditorium, built in 1939 by alumni and friends in honor of principal Mary Elizabeth Phillips, survives and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Lincoln High School Gymnasium was added to the Alabama Register on February 29, 2005.
Founded in 1867 shortly after the Civil War, the school was established through the collaboration of a Union soldier and nine formerly enslaved people. It became one of the first educational institutions to provide structured learning to African Americans in the South during the region's rebuilding period.
Cecil and Fran Thomas established a choral program at Lincoln Normal School, and under their direction its choirs toured across the Southeast and Midwest. The school's name honours Abraham Lincoln, and its 1939 Phillips Memorial Auditorium, built by alumni and friends for principal Mary Elizabeth Phillips, still stands on the campus site.
The building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and can be viewed from the exterior. Visitors should check ahead to learn which parts of the complex are accessible to the public, as not all structures may be open.
In 1885 Lincoln School was voted the top school for freed slaves in the South, and it later drew notice for how many graduates went on to earn advanced degrees. Its choirs, trained by Cecil and Fran Thomas, toured the Southeast and Midwest. The campus closed in 1970 when it merged into the integrated Marion High School.
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