Shortridge started a high school for city pupils, and admitted the first African American student to secondary education in Indiana. After dealing with blindness and ill health, Shortridge left the superintendency in 1874, but was persuaded by the governor to direct the affairs of the new Purdue University. He left that position after two years, again due to his physical deterioration, and spent his last years on a farm east of Indianapolis.

An influential educator for fifty years, Shortridge was one of the founders of the Indiana State Teachers Association, and was active in national movements for the betterment of the schools. Shortridge went on to serve as the second President of Purdue University following Richard Owen. In 1919 Abraham Shortridge died and is buried in Crown Hill Cemetery. It is this remarkable man’s legacy of service and integrity which we emulate; it is his work that laid the foundation upon which we continue to build.