Storer College, in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, was a college for negroes—in an age and state where "racial" segregation was not only legal, it was required by law. Originally a normal school to train Black teachers, it operated from 1867 to 1955. It was established after the American Civil War with the help of philanthropic Free Baptists from New England, who called Storer an inspirational success. The U.S. Congress turned over to it four sturdy buildings that had been used for housing at the former Harpers Ferry National Armory. It lost state funding and closed after the 1954 "Brown v. Board of Education" ruling by the US Supreme Court, which declared that segregated public schools were unconstitutional. The state decided to fund more centrally located colleges, that were regionally accredited.