The large school building had classrooms on the ground floor and housed a girls' dormitory above.A wide view of the campus along the N. White Street area.A picture of some of the students, only some were local. Students from other regions boarded at the school.Local families paid a tuition of $2 per student per month.The school band was very successful and toured the country to raise funds for the school.The school closed in 1957, shortly after the death of founder Allen Young.
The Normal and Industrial School
January 25, 2011

This was once considered the most important school for African American students in Wake County.  Educator Allen Young began building the campus in the East End neighborhood in 1905, and it remained a vital part of the community until 1957.

Meeting at the new museum annex, the Wake Forest Historical Society sponsored a forum on the history of the school with a focus on the last remaining building linked to its campus, the Ailey Young House.  Historian Ruth Little researched the house, and the town has successfully mothballed it for stability.  Constructed shortly after the Civil War to house freed slaves, it is considered the likely birthplace of Allen Young and is the only known remaining "Freedom House" in Wake County.

These photographs of the Normal and Industrial School come from the North Carolina State Archives.  Efforts to fully preserve and reconstruct the Ailey Young House continue. 
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