Albany was established in 1838 as a market center for the surrounding agricultural area, whose first white settlement came in the early years of the nineteenth century. Education was a major concern of its citizens, and because public schooling was minimal, private academies served the community from the 1840s to the 1880s. Anti-slavery sentiment was also strong, and many citizens took part in the Underground Railroad. Free African-Americans came to Albany because of its educational opportunities and sympathetic white neighbors, though most had moved away by the 1930s. After World War II, the village lost its status as a center for commerce and business. In 1864, after black students were refused further admission to nearby Albany Manual University, Enterprise Academy opened at Albany as the first educational institution operated by African-Americans for African-Americans. A stock company, heavily supported by whites, bought twenty acres one-half mile east of the site and built a brick chapel-academic structure and a large frame general-use building. By the 1880s, declining enrollment and support forced the academy to close. Because many students had little prior schooling, much of its curriculum was basic, yet most who attended are accepted to have moved into a better position in life. Among those who attained prominence in politics, business, and education were Olivia Davidson, later the second wife of Booker T. Washington, and Milton M. Holland, one of the first black Congressional Medal of Honor recipients.