Hampton University has undergone several name changes since its founding to reflect its evolving educational mission and institutional growth. It originally opened in 1868 under the leadership of former Union General Samuel Chapman Armstrong as the Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute. As the academic program expanded from a secondary teacher-training and agricultural school into a four-year college, the name was officially changed to the Hampton Institute in 1930, before finally achieving full university status and adopting its current name, Hampton University, in 1984.