Bowie State's history began in 1865 when the Baltimore Association for the Moral and Educational Improvement of Colored People established the Baltimore Normal School in Baltimore, Maryland to train African American teachers. In 1908 the school was renamed Normal School #3 after the state Board of Education provided funding for and assumed control of the institution. By 1914 the school had moved to Prince George's County, Maryland and become known as Maryland Normal and Industrial School at Bowie. It became the Maryland State Teachers College at Bowie in 1935 and Bowie State College in 1963. In 1988 it achieved university status.