The Charles P. Adams House on the campus of Grambling State University in Grambling, Louisiana was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1996. The property is significant as the longtime residence of Charles Philip Adams, the founder of Grambling State University, a historically Black university.
Charles P. Adams was born in Brusly, Louisiana in 1873. As a young man, he became a prosperous sugar cane grower. With the money he earned from sugar cane, he enrolled in Booker T. Washington's Tuskegee Institute, where he completed a course of study in vocational work. While he planned on attending Howard University after graduating, Booker T. Washington instead tapped him to help a fledgling school for Black students in Northern Louisiana. Conflict between Adams and the school's founders led Adams to leave the school, and start his own.
In 1905, Adams opened the North Louisiana Agricultural and Industrial School, with 152 pupils and seven teachers. While the school was initially funded entirely by private sources, the school became semi-public in 1912 or 1913, which was around the time the residence for the Adams family was constructed. In 1928, the school became a state institution, fulfilling the need for a collegiate-level teachers training school for Black teachers. After achieving state support the school was renamed the Louisiana Negro Normal and Industrial Institute, although the school's industrial focuses were increasingly less prominent as the education programs were emphasized.
Due to further disagreements with leaders at the school, Adams was forced to retire in the 1930s. He and his family continued to live in the residence at the school until his death in 1961. In 1946, the school was renamed Grambling College to reflect new curricula in sciences, liberal arts and business; with the addition of graduate programs in 1974, the school was once again renamed to Grambling State University.
Source: U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service