Six mission schools once existed in Wilcox County, Alabama. The schools were located at Miller’s Ferry, Camden, Prairie, Annemanie, Canton Bend, and Midway.
Prairie Mission was established in 1894 by the Freedmen’s Board of the United Presbyterian Church of North America to educate the children of ex-slaves. The mission consisted of a church, school building, dormitories for male and female students, a teachers’ home, and a cemetery. The school, also known as the ”Prairie Institute” during its history, was closed in the late 1960s.
The old Prairie School building, pictured above, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2001