peak years were 1855 to 1861. At one time during this period its enrollment reached 150 students. Some sources indicate that by 1860 the college enrolled 200 students, including 50 African Americans, some of whom had come from the Deep South despite fugitive slave laws and an amendment to the state constitution prohibited African-American migration into the state. Overall enrollment declined to 112 students in 1857—58 and dropped to 109 students in 1859, including 18 African-American students, 10 of whom were born into slavery. In 1860, two hundred students were enrolled, 50 of them African-American. No black students were enrolled at the school after 1861. During the Civil War, some of the school's former students who enlisted in the 6th Indiana Infantry Regiment participated in the military training held on the Eleutherian College's grounds. In addition, the college's buildings were used for meetings and concerts during the war. After John Craven left the school in 1861, William Brand served as its principal until 1866, followed by several successors. The college closed in 1874; however, John Craven returned to the school in 1878 to help revive it as a private high school and teachers' training school. Craven stayed at the school until 1887. Lancaster township trustees purchased the main classroom and chapel building in 1888 for use as a public school. It finally closed in 1938, after the township schools were consolidated, and the building was eventually abandoned. Subsequent owners were unsuccessful in efforts to have the Indiana Department of Conservation convert the property to a state park. Preservation and restoration Restoration of the college's main building began in the 1960s. Historic Madison, a Jefferson County preservation organization, received the school as a gift in 1973, but sold it in 1990. The new owners formed Historic Eleutherian College Incorporated, a non-profit organization, in 1996. The chapel and classroom building has been restored to "an 1850s-era appearance." Historic Eleutherian College operates the building as a local history museum. Description Reverend Thomas Craven donated the land for the school, which eventually included two new buildings erected on the College Hill property in the 1850s. The main building housed a chapel and classrooms; a second building served as a dormitory. Both buildings were constructed of rough-cut limestone from nearby quarries. The two-story dormitory, circa 1854, had fifteen rooms. The three-story main building, completed in 1856, included a chapel and seven more rooms. The main