Ohio Wesleyan Female College

Ohio Wesleyan Female College was founded in 1853 in Delaware, Ohio. It is also known under the name Wesleyan Female College in Cincinnati. In 1877, the Wesleyan Female College merged with Ohio Wesleyan University.

History

Monnett Hall, Original Section, Delaware Ohio. Monnett Hall was the primary building of the Wesleyan Female College.

It is one of the oldest institutions of higher education for women in the United States, which provided general educational opportunities to women in an era when co-educational institutions of higher learning were not yet fully open to students of both sexes. In 1855, funds for the school's first and only institutional building were obtained from Mary Monnett, a student who attended the school. The trustees named the main building Monnett Hall in her honor.

The main Wesleyan Female College Hall in Delaware, Ohio was razed in the late 1970s and the site is now occupied by Monnett Gardens. Wesleyan’s annual celebration of spring, Monnett Weekend, is held each April.

Alumnae

• Flora Wambaugh Patterson, 1847-1928, mycologist at the USDA who worked on numerous important fungal diseases
• Lucy Webb Hayes, class 1850, First Lady of the United States during the presidency of her husband Rutherford B. Hayes.
• Cornelia Cole Fairbanks, class 1872, Second Lady of the United States during the vice-presidency of her husband Charles W. Fairbanks

See also

• List of current and historical women's universities and colleges
• List of Ohio Wesleyan University presidents