The Elmore Bolling Foundation

Evans Family Donates the School on August 13, 2011

Evans Family Donates the School on August 13, 2011

The Elmore Bolling Foundation Board Visits the School

In August 1868, a contribution was made by the Southern Aid Society through the Freedman's Bureau to help buy a building that had been built by Daniel Alexander and Mansfield Tyler to serve as a school and church for the "colored people of Lowndesboro." A resident of Lowndesboro, Mansfield Tyler, D.D., was President of the Board of Trustees of the Baptist Normal and Theological School (now Selma University) and President of the Colored Missionary Baptist Convention of Alabama. On May 8, 1883, Dr. Mansfield Tyler and wife Amanda deeded the school property, formerly known as the Male Academy, to the trustees of the Lowndesboro Colored Educational Association. Dr. Mansfield Tyler was a black reconstruction legislator who represented Lowndes County in the Alabama House of Representatives, 1870-72. The school ceased operation in 1967.

Anticipated public uses of the building include a repository for documents and artifacts relating to early 19th century black education; educational venue for student field trips; Cultural Arts Center; a center to address community needs such as at risk populations, technology training, job training, education outreach through the arts with an artist in residence to support this endeavor. 

Official Visit of the Alabama Historical Commission

(Listed on the National Register of Historic Places May 19, 2014)

Historic Lowndesboro School Building

Built in 1883