The Center’s roots reach back to before 1865. By that year, a schoolhouse was located on the lot that now is the Center’s home. Part of the original foundation of that schoolhouse helps support the Center today. The Lincoln School was in operation from 1865 to 1874. After 1874, with the passing of the Arnett Bill by the state legislature, the Board of Education allowed Blacks to attend Edwards School. James Jones, who attended Lincoln School, enrolled at Forest School in 1875 and was the first Black to attend public school in Troy City Schools. John Vernon Nesbitt, also a student at the Lincoln School in 1865, was the first Black to graduate from Troy High School in 1891.