Shaw University began on December 1, 1865, with a theological class of freedmen in the Guion Hotel. Founded on December 1, 1865, Shaw is noted in its record as the oldest HBCU to begin offering courses in the Southern United States. Its story begins with a theological class of freedmen gathered in the Guion Hotel, and the very next year it moved into a large wooden building at the corner of Blount and Cabarrus Streets where it continued as the Raleigh Institute until 1870.
In 1870 the school moved to this present location on the former property of Confederate General Barringer and adopted the name Shaw Collegiate Institute in honor of Elijah Shaw. By 1875 it was officially chartered with the State of North Carolina as Shaw University. The main campus spreads across 24 acres in the East Raleigh-South Park Historic District in downtown Raleigh, and the university also owns a 35-acre farm on Rock Quarry Rd. Look up at the historic campus buildings—Estey Hall still stands, and Shaw Hall once stood—both designed by George S. H. Appleget and bearing Second Empire and Italianate details.
The 24-acre campus and its architecture and grounds spread out before you.