The school was founded in 1901 The school, also known as the Ohlange Native Industrial Institute, They donated thousands of dollars to the school, which enabled more teachers to be employed. This was in addition to the money that Dube obtained from the family of
Anson Phelps Stokes. By 1904, the finances needed further attention and Dube was unable to find any help in Natal. He had to return to America and he left John Mdima in charge of both the school and the newspaper. In Brooklyn, Dube met the new chair of the committee
S. Parkes Cadman, who was pastor of the Central Congregational church in Brooklyn. Cadman reorganised the funding arranging for benefactors to sponsor students for £30 a year and arranging for Dube's helpers and family including John Mdima to go to college. The Dubes spent fifteen months in the states with John speaking and his wife singing. June Emaroy Smith was particularly generous and funded the 1907 construction of a boy's building. Dube noted in his talks that the Afro American was largely Christian whereas the native African had only limited access to the Christian message. 1917 saw the construction of a girls' dormitory. The purpose here was to establish a teacher training centre, which was seen as a female career.
Enoch Sontonga's song, which later became a South African national anthem, became better known after Ohlange Institute's choir used it. They played it at the
South African Native National Congress meeting in 1912. It was sung after the closing prayer, and the
ANC adopted it as its official closing anthem in 1925. ==Nelson Mandela's vote==