Wesleyan Female College (Wilmington)

Wesleyan Female College of Wilmington, Delaware was a college for women located in the United States that operated from 1837 to 1885.[1]

History

Reverend Solomon Prettyman founded the institution in 1837 as the Wesleyan Female Seminary, with the support of the Philadelphia and Baltimore Conferences of the Methodist Church. In 1841 the school was chartered under the name of "Wesleyan Female Collegiate Institute." By 1842, it had 111 students and nine instructors.[1] Some complained about the growing intellectual rigor of the school. For example, an 1847 editorial in The Delaware Gazette noted the many courses in academic subjects but "heard nothing of the class upon making bread, puddings, and pies ..."[1] A literary magazine called The Female Student and Young Ladies Chronicle was published by the school from 1844 to 1849.

In 1851, after a period of decline, the board of trustees took over control from Prettyman for the Methodist Episcopal Church. The school was renamed as the "Wesleyan Female College" in 1855.[2][3]

Enrollment started to decline during the 1870s, probably due in part to the opening of the Wilmington Conference Academy, a secondary school which went co-educational in 1874. By 1879, enrollment had dropped to 66 students. A smallpox outbreak also decreased enrollment in 1880.[1] Between 1855 and 1881, the school had 228 graduates.[1]

In 1882 the college was sold at a sheriff's sale to William Bright, who renamed it Wesleyan College and operated it on a non-sectarian basis. Despite support from local prominent businessmen, the school closed in 1885. One of its three buildings became the Central Hotel.[4][5]

After its closing, no college option for women existed in Delaware until the Women's College of Delaware opened in 1914.[1]

Location

The school started on Market Street in 1837, and moved to a new building at Ninth Street and Market Street in 1838. The following year a building was constructed on French Street near Sixth Street to house the institution. The general location of the school is now occupied by One Alico Plaza.

Presidents
  • Solomon Prettyman (1837–51)
  • T.E. Sundler (1851–52)
  • George Loomis (1852–57) (later served as president of Allegheny College)[6]
  • Lafayette C. Loomis (1857–58)
  • John Wilson (1858–78)
  • James M. Williams (1878–82)
  • John Wilson (1882–85)

Notable alumni

References
  1. Taggart, Robert J. Wesleyan Female College of Wilmington, Delaware: A College Before its Time?, American Educational History Journal, v. 35 No. 2, p. 221-232 (2008)
  2. Prettyman, Edgar Cannon (2 October 1938). Of the First Fruits of Methodism, Sunday Morning Star
  3. Simpson, Matthew (ed.) Cyclopaedia of Methodism, p. 956 (5th Rev. ed. 1883)
  4. Scharf, J.T. (1888). History of Delaware : 1609-1888: Local history. L. J. Richards. p. 690. Retrieved 10 July 2015.
  5. Powell, Lyman P. The History of Education in Delaware, p. 83-84 (1893)
  6. George Loomis, allegheny.edu, Retrieved 13 January 2014.

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