When Knoxville College, a small, private historically black college in eastern Tennessee, closed following the conclusion of the spring semester in 2015, few were surprised. Though Knoxville is home to the University of Tennessee’s flagship campus and industry and businesses are returning to the region, the median household income in the city’s majority black neighborhoods of Morningside and Park City is only one-fourth as much in Morningside and one-half as much in Park City as the city median, which is still a low $44,000. College Hills, the neighborhood where the Knoxville College campus sits, though slightly more integrated, also has a median household income of roughly $23,000.

All Knoxville College buildings are either condemned or in need of severe physical maintenance, although brilliant stained glass windows can still be seen in McMillan Chapel. And hand-constructed columns and archways, many built by the freed slaves the institution was founded to educate, still stand as reminders of the importance the institution once held for the eastern Tennessee community of freedmen and their descendants.

Lois Williams, who served as president for 18 months between 1994 and 1995, said, “The legacy of the institution is what drives the black people in that area, because they have nothing else, historically, to cling to. They’re as committed to the college as they are going to church, or as they are to God, but they just don’t have the resources to help the college.”

When she was there, Williams said members of the community would come cut the grass and try to help with other repairs to keep the college going, but for the most part, alumni and local residents didn’t have much money to keep the institution open. Even the Presbyterian church, which had founded the institution, she said, stopped supporting the institution financially, giving only a couple hundred dollars in 1995.

But just as many saw the college’s decline coming, current interim President Keith Lindsey believes they should have foreseen a resurgence. “HBCUs, much like our history, we’re built on our resilience,” he said.

Last month, Knoxville College leaders received reauthorization from Tennessee’s Higher Education Commission to begin offering classes again. Initially the college is authorized to offer an online associate of arts degree in general studies, but Lindsey hopes to eventually re-open the physical campus and offer online and traditional brick-and-mortar classes.

But that won’t be easy.

“When I came there, residential facilities were unkempt, leaking, leaky roofs, buildings that needed to be renovated, Williams said.

The historic district, as Knoxville’s campus is now known, had become a hazardous waste zone because of improper disposal of chemicals from the chemistry lab on campus, but it avoided the dreaded Superfund designation that would have presented even greater challenges to fundraising efforts. Still, there’s much work to be done before it can house students.