[2] It was founded in 1892 by Charlotte Thorn and Mabel Dillingham, from New England, in partnership with Booker T. Washington of Tuskegee Institute, to provide education to rural black students.

As the school developed, it raised its standards, created a large library, and offered more of an academic curriculum.

The principal's house, the only surviving original building, has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places in recognition of the school's importance in the history of education of African Americans.

A new facility was built on the grounds that serves as the public high school run by the Lowndes County Board of Education.

It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in recognition of the important achievements of the school and the role it played in African-American education in Lowndes County.

The dependence of southern agriculture on cotton as a commodity crop, whose price continued to drop, contributed to difficulties in the South making economic progress.

Conservative white Democrats had regained power in the state legislature and begun to pass statutes that stripped African Americans from voter rolls or made elections so complicated they were effectively disenfranchised.

Two Hampton teachers, Charlotte Thorn and Mabel Dillingham, white women from New England, responded to his plea for help.

[6] Thorn and Dillingham used their extensive networks among families and friends to raise funds and receive donations of all kinds.

Thorn's nephew, Sidney Dickinson, spent time with his parents during his youth assisting at the school.

Boys would become farmers and perhaps skilled tradesmen, and girls would become wives and homemakers, as well as laundresses, dressmakers, or domestic workers.

The best students were encouraged to become teachers and work in the community or outlying areas to promote further education along the Hampton-Tuskegee model.

Washington feared that if a colored school challenged the politics of the day, white citizens might refuse to allow it to open or would later shut it down.

In October 1892 the co-principals Thorn and Dillingham met with 300 blacks from the area who wanted to learn more about their plans to start a school.

Many of the adults who came to the first meeting would work to build the teachers' cottages, schoolhouses, barn, shop and dormitories that by 1896 comprised the full campus.

Her brother Pitt Dillingham, a minister, worked with Charlotte Thorn as co-principal for several years after Mabel's death.

Outreach included mothers’ meetings, Sunday afternoon church services, and holiday community celebrations on campus.

When CCS hired college-trained Academic Department heads, they began to use teaching methods and materials that followed national trends.

As new teachers from outside CCS came to dominate the teaching force, they created a literacy program that resembled those at some of the better northern schools.

Despite good teaching methods, solid curriculum and quality materials, the students of CCS did not make the desired progress in literacy.

She began the first free kindergarten at CCS, put reading instruction in every grade level, ensured the use of good literature for all the children, and furthered composition work.

Jessie Guernsey, who earned both a bachelor's and a master's degree from New York City's Columbia Teachers College, came to Calhoun in 1912 to begin her tenure as Academic Department head.

She emphasized making the curriculum more rigorous, both to earn accreditation and to ensure placement of graduates in institutions of higher learning.

Although Calhoun continued as a private school for several more years, the Great Depression reduced sources of support.