Cardinal Gibbons Institute, a privately funded Catholic high school, opened in September 1924, and was the first high school for African Americans in St. Mary’s County. It was modeled on the Tuskegee Institute and offered industrial and liberal arts education. It was forced to close temporarily between the years 1933 and 1938. The last graduating class was the class in 1967. It closed once public schools were desegregated. The building was demolished in 1972 and a memorial built on the site.