| Oxford Female College
by Katy |
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| Oxford Female College Dr. John Witherspoon Scott, founder of the Oxford Female College, came back to Oxford ,where he had previously lived for seventeen years, to start a female seminary. It was supposed to be similar to the one he had started at Farmers College where he was currently teaching. He arrived in Oxford with some girls from Farmers College, and together with a couple of other educators they started the Oxford Female Institute. All of this took place in 1849. The Institute was running along pretty smoothly and Dr. Scott thought that a second “institute” would be a good idea. This time, however, the “institute” would be a college for women. He thought a college would be a great help in teaching the girls more. The college would provide the girls with a wonderful education. Many people in the town were opposed to his idea of having a college for women in Oxford, while some may have been all for it. Finally, a charter was granted and in 1854 the Oxford Female College was founded. The purpose of the college was to educate the young ladies and to teach them about some of their social responsibilities as well as to produce well-educated young women who could go on to teach others. The original building cost them 100,000 dollars, which was more than they had expected, but the building was beautiful and huge. There were 100 rooms alone for the students. Then there were rooms for teachers and the principal, plus a big chapel and a dining hall. The building also had such amazing things as steam heating and gas lighting. This amazing building was finally opened in 1856. The school found themselves becoming deeper and deeper in debt. They were in debt from the start, which cannot be a good sign. The further into debt they got, and the more they needed money, the less help and fewer donations they received. Their resources were drying up. “The Company in Trust for the Oxford Female College” brought it upon themselves to pay off the debt of the Oxford Female College and would be paid back over time, but even they could not rid the college of the debt. Despite much hard work, they just could not get out of debt. Many people, including John Witherspoon Scott, had to leave the college. John Witherspoon Scott resigned as president and left the college in 1859. |
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