Ex-slave guided bible college

The General Association of Colored Baptists in Kentucky opened the Kentucky Normal and Theological Institute in 1879 at Seventh and Zane streets in Louisville.

The next year, it got its second president, William James Simmons, a former slave with a master's degree from Howard University. The institute changed its name to State University in 1884.

It became Simmons University in 1918, but the Great Depression ended its status as a university. However, it survives today, at 1811 Dumesnil St., as Simmons College of Kentucky, providing ministerial training, and it is expanding into general education. A goal is to reacquire its original campus, now owned by St. Stephen Baptist Church.