The school was built after students outgrew classroom space in nearby Little Ebenezer United Methodist Church.

[1][2] In March 1864, the government of the District of Columbia opened a school for African American students of all ages within the Little Ebenezer United Methodist Church.

Perkins had been sent to Washington by the New England Freedmen's Aid Society of Boston.

[4][3] The student body quickly outgrew its church space.

Perkins, a white woman from New England, returned North and raised the funds needed for the construction of a new school.