In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Delaware did not have a comprehensive statewide education system, and by 1915 its schools ranked among the poorest in the country. African American students often attended dilapidated schools under deplorable conditions. Seeing an opportunity to help all students in Delaware, Pierre S. du Pont used his wealth to invest in public education by breaking ground on 80 new schools throughout the state. Richard Allen School, an African American school in Georgetown, opened in the late 1920s to replace the school at nearby Prospect AME Church. It was named for Richard Allen, a freed slave and founder of the African Methodist Episcopal, or AME, Church in late 18th-century Philadelphia. When the school opened, it became the focal point of Georgetown's African American community and hosted many events. It remained in use until desegregation was fully implemented in Delaware.