Wheeling Female Seminary | Wheeling Female College History
The Virginia General Assembly passed an act on January 24, 1848, which incorporated the Wheeling Female Seminary in Wheeling under the direction of a group of male trustees. The Seminary closed in June of 1865 and opened later that year as Wheeling Female College.
Dr. Barbara Howe wrote in her article, "On Stage and In Class: Women Artists in Mid-19th-Century Wheeling" (Appalachian Journal Vol. 37, No. 3/4, SPRING/SUMMER 2010), pp. 184-209:
Leading citizens of Wheeling purchased the assets and buildings of the Wheeling Female Seminary following its closure and founded the Wheeling Female College, which opened in September 1865. The college sought to provide "Protestant young ladies" with a "liberal education" and "to furnish first class instruction in all departments of education; in the elegant and artistic as well as the elementary and substantial." This instruction, according to the school's catalog in 1868, was not designed to copy "a good course of study in a male College," but to meet "the wants of young ladies."
In 1891, the school was purchased by the Woman's Hospital Association and became Wheeling's City Hospital. An addition, the East Building of the Ohio Valley Medical Center hospital complex, was opened on the old seminary site on January 14, 1914, and the hospital officially became Ohio Valley General Hospital. In 1973, the name of the hospital was changed to Ohio Valley Medical Center.
Location
➤ Eoff Street near 20th Street
Images
Additional Resources
Materials in the Library's Wheeling Room: (non-circulating - ask for access at reference desk)
Materials in the Library's Archives: (non-circulating, view by appointment only*)
*Call 304-232-0244 or send an email to make an appointment to view archival materials.
