About: Estey Hall

Estey Hall is a historic building on the campus of Shaw University in Raleigh, North Carolina. It was the second building constructed for the higher education of African-American women in the United States. Built in 1873, Estey Hall is the oldest surviving building at Shaw, which is the second oldest historically black college in the South and was the second institution of higher learning established for freedmen after the Civil War. The building, originally known as "Estey Seminary," was named in honor of Jacob Estey, the largest donor to the construction project. Estey Hall, located in the East Raleigh-South Park Historic District, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973 and is a Raleigh Historic Landmark.