[3] As it grew, the school was forced to move three times in its first two years, but in 1854, it settled on a 3-acre (1.2-hectare) lot with a house and barn on the city's edge.

By that time, her failing health had lessened Miner's connection with the school, and from 1857 Emily Howland was in charge.

A carriage accident in 1864 ended that hope, and Miner died shortly after her return to Washington, D.C.[3] During the American Civil War, on March 3, 1863, the United States Senate granted the school a charter as the "Institution for the Education of Colored Youth" and named Henry Addison, John C. Underwood, George C. Abbott, William H. Channing, Nancy M. Johnson, and Myrtella Miner as directors.

[2][6] The current Colonial Revival—Georgian Revival style building, built in 1913, was designed by Leon E. Dessez and Snowden Ashford.

[1] The building is used for a broad range of community education programs, in addition to the teacher-training classes, which have been continuously offered there since it opened in 1914.