The next year the Town Night School was started. This school has as its purpose giving instruction to the boys and girls who have positions in the town which make it impossible for them to attend the Institute, and to the servants in the white families. This school has become one of the best and strongest forces in the life of the community. As an outgrowth of it came later the Town Library and Reading Room, for which Mr. Washington personally provided the room. There is now in this school a cooking class for girls and several industrial classes for boys. At the same time Mr. Washington established a Farmers' Institute which is described in the chapter "Washington and the Negro Farmer." In 1898 he started a County Fair to spur the ambition of the Negro farmers of the county. This Negro County Fair under his guidance grew and flourished from year to year. The whites maintained a separate County Fair. Finally the two fairs were combined, and now one of the most flourishing County Fairs in all the South is conducted, both races supporting it by making exhibits, and sharing in the success and profits of the enterprise, as well as in its general management. In 1900 he organized the National Negro Business League, as described in the chapter, "Washington and the Negro Business Man." Two years later he established the Greenwood Village Improvement Association for the little community which has grown up around the school. Taxes are collected from the property holders as well as the renters for the upkeep of the roads, bridges, and fences, and a park in the centre of the village, which was introduced in emulation of the typical New England village. Just as in New England, also, this central park, or "green," is surrounded by a number of churches. An elective Board of Control presides over this village, settles disputes, and keeps the community in good repair morally and spiritually, as well as physically. On the Monday immediately following the close of a regular school term a town meeting is held at which reports are read and discussed covering every phase of the life of the community. Mr. Washington particularly enjoyed presiding at these meetings because they demonstrated what the people of his race could accomplish under a favorable and stimulating environment. He always contrived to have the meetings followed by simple refreshments and a social hour. In 1904 he started the Rural School Improvement Campaign and the Farmers' Short Course at the Institute, both of which are described in the chapter, "Washington, the Educator." In the same year he started a systematic effort to improve the conditions in the jails and the chain gangs and for the rehabilitation of released prisoners.