On 16 May 1841, some seven years before emancipation in the Danish Virgin Islands of St. Croix, St. Thomas and St. John, the first school for slave children was officially opened on the St. Croix plantation of La Grande Princess. It was one of 17 such projected schools — 8 in St. Croix, 5 in St. Thomas and 4 in St. John — built from capital funds provided by the crown, with recurrent costs for staffing and maintenance borne by local taxation.