Last updated: September 6, 2023
Place
Goodloe House
Photograph by Susan G. Pearl, courtesy of the Maryland State Historic Preservation Office
Quick Facts
Location:
13809 Jericho Park Rd., Bowie, Maryland
Significance:
Education
Designation:
Listed in the National Register - Reference number 88001900
MANAGED BY:
The Goodloe Alumni House on the campus of Bowie State University in Bowie, Maryland was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1988. The property is significant as the home of Don Speed Smith Goodloe, the first principal of the Maryland Normal and Industrial School (now Bowie State University), the state's first post-secondary institution for Black students and a HBCU.
In the years following the Civil War, several Maryland groups were concerned with the uplift and livelihoods of the formerly enslaved. In 1865, the Baltimore Association for the Moral and Educational Improvement of Colored People opened the Baltimore Colored Normal School to train Black teachers. In 1908, the trustees of the school offered its assets to the state of Maryland, with the stipulation that the state establish a permanent normal school for Black teachers. The state agreed, and selected a tract of land near Bowie, Maryland, a community that was roughly half Black, half white.
The Maryland Normal and Industrial School was established on this land in 1911, with an enrollment of 50 students. The school's early curriculum focused on home economics, agriculture, and mechanical studies. Don Speed Smith Goodloe, a teacher and school administrator, was selected as the school's first principal. Goodloe served from 1911 to 1921.
During this period, the state was notably unwilling to fund the school to the same extent as two nearby white normal schools. In addition to inadequate housing and educational facilities, students were required to perform daily manual labor to reduce housekeeping and custodial costs. This lack of funding forced Goodloe to provide his own housing, and he hired Black architect John A. Moore to design and build what is now known as Goodloe Alumni House. It is the only campus building from the early period that still stands.
While the school focused on teacher education for its first half-century in existence, the Normal and Industrial School was renamed Bowie State College in 1963 to reflect its adoption of a liberal arts curriculum. In 1988, the school was once again renamed, to Bowie State University, and that same year became part of the newly-formed University System of Maryland.
In the years following the Civil War, several Maryland groups were concerned with the uplift and livelihoods of the formerly enslaved. In 1865, the Baltimore Association for the Moral and Educational Improvement of Colored People opened the Baltimore Colored Normal School to train Black teachers. In 1908, the trustees of the school offered its assets to the state of Maryland, with the stipulation that the state establish a permanent normal school for Black teachers. The state agreed, and selected a tract of land near Bowie, Maryland, a community that was roughly half Black, half white.
The Maryland Normal and Industrial School was established on this land in 1911, with an enrollment of 50 students. The school's early curriculum focused on home economics, agriculture, and mechanical studies. Don Speed Smith Goodloe, a teacher and school administrator, was selected as the school's first principal. Goodloe served from 1911 to 1921.
During this period, the state was notably unwilling to fund the school to the same extent as two nearby white normal schools. In addition to inadequate housing and educational facilities, students were required to perform daily manual labor to reduce housekeeping and custodial costs. This lack of funding forced Goodloe to provide his own housing, and he hired Black architect John A. Moore to design and build what is now known as Goodloe Alumni House. It is the only campus building from the early period that still stands.
While the school focused on teacher education for its first half-century in existence, the Normal and Industrial School was renamed Bowie State College in 1963 to reflect its adoption of a liberal arts curriculum. In 1988, the school was once again renamed, to Bowie State University, and that same year became part of the newly-formed University System of Maryland.