Booker T. Washington State Park (West Virginia)

Booker T. Washington State Park
A topographic map from 1958 showing the location of Booker T. Washington State Park.
Location of Booker T. Washington State Park in West Virginia Show map of West Virginia Booker T. Washington State Park (West Virginia) (the United States) Show map of the United States
Location	Institute, Kanawha, West Virginia, United States
Coordinates	38°22′55″N 81°44′53″W / 38.38194°N 81.74806°W / 38.38194; -81.74806 (Booker T. Washington State Park) [1]
Area	7.43 acres (3.01 ha)[2]
Elevation	732 ft (223 m)[1]
Established	1949[3][4]
Named for	Booker T. Washington

Booker T. Washington State Park is a former state park near the community of Institute in the U.S. state of West Virginia. The park was operated by the West Virginia Conservation Commission, Division of State Parks, from 1949 until the late 1950s.

The park was a day-use picnic area located on 7.43 acres (3 ha) of secondary forest outside Institute, approximately 0.86 miles (1.4 km) east of the West Virginia State College (now University) campus. The park was integrated shortly after the Brown v. Board of Education decision by the United States Supreme Court in May 1954.

The land and the vicinity of this park were once part of a dense concentration of Late Adena Native American mounds and earthworks along the Kanawha River, including the nearby Shawnee Reservation Mound. In the 18th century, the area became a part of a large land tract owned by George Washington. In 1853 Samuel I. Cabell purchased 967 acres (391 ha) of the valley. He and his wife Mary Barnes Cabell (a freedwoman) operated a plantation near the park's location, and following the American Civil War his children and the plantation's freed slaves settled the community of Piney Grove. Under the provisions of the Morrill Land-Grant Act of 1890, the West Virginia Legislature established the West Virginia Colored Institute for the education of African Americans in 1891. The institute opened at Piney Grove in 1892, and the town's name was changed to Institute. In 1949 the West Virginia Conservation Commission, Division of State Parks, opened Booker T. Washington State Park, which was named for African American educator and West Virginia native Booker T. Washington. Following the park's integration in 1954, it remained open as a day-use picnic area until the late 1950s. By 1959 Booker T. Washington State Park was no longer listed in that year's West Virginia Blue Book listing of state parks.