Boscobel College
Encyclopedia
Boscobel College for Young Ladies was a school in Nashville, Tennessee
, that operated between 1889 and 1914. One of its founding objectives was to provide the lowest possible cost of higher-education for young women.
The school, at its peak in the 1890s, had over 100 female students, many of whom were boarders. In 1898, Boscobel advertised its literary faculty and music and art advantages as unsurpassed, and promised to prepare young ladies for life's work and its duties.
. The campus covered ten wooded acres on Sevier Street near South Seventh Street (then called Foster Street), south of Sylvan Street.
Boscobal was the same name given to the property by John Shelby, who built the original mansion for his daughter, Anna Shelby Williams.
In 1918, the property became home to the National Baptist Seminary and Missionary Training School, which functioned until 1931. In 1940 the buildings were razed and sold for scrap. Much of the site of the old school is now the James A. Cayce Homes, Nashville 's oldest and largest public housing development.
college in 1907, and Franklin's Tennessee Female College in 1913.
Regents
Teachers
Former students
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...
, that operated between 1889 and 1914. One of its founding objectives was to provide the lowest possible cost of higher-education for young women.
The school, at its peak in the 1890s, had over 100 female students, many of whom were boarders. In 1898, Boscobel advertised its literary faculty and music and art advantages as unsurpassed, and promised to prepare young ladies for life's work and its duties.
The property
The campus was built around an East Nashville mansion, formerly owned by Anna Shelby Williams. The mansion was built of blue-burned brick with marble mantles from Italy and stood atop a tree-covered hill overlooking the Cumberland RiverCumberland River
The Cumberland River is a waterway in the Southern United States. It is long. It starts in Harlan County in far southeastern Kentucky between Pine and Cumberland mountains, flows through southern Kentucky, crosses into northern Tennessee, and then curves back up into western Kentucky before...
. The campus covered ten wooded acres on Sevier Street near South Seventh Street (then called Foster Street), south of Sylvan Street.
Boscobal was the same name given to the property by John Shelby, who built the original mansion for his daughter, Anna Shelby Williams.
In 1918, the property became home to the National Baptist Seminary and Missionary Training School, which functioned until 1931. In 1940 the buildings were razed and sold for scrap. Much of the site of the old school is now the James A. Cayce Homes, Nashville 's oldest and largest public housing development.
Closing of the college
For reasons not fully understood today, Boscobel College closed in 1914. One possible reason was a rising popularity of coeducation. Other local schools for females closed during this same era: Radnor College in 1914, Buford College in 1920, Columbia's AthenaeumAthenaeum (Tennessee)
The Athenaeum Rectory is a historic building in Columbia, Tennessee that features both Gothic and Moorish architectural elements. Completed in 1837, the building originally served as the rectory for The Columbia Female Institute and as the residence of the school's first president, the Reverend...
college in 1907, and Franklin's Tennessee Female College in 1913.
People
Presidents- 1893 — Zuinglius Calvin Graves (b. 1816-1906)
- 1899 — Carey Albert Folk (b. 1867-1957) graduated from Richmond CollegeUniversity of RichmondThe University of Richmond is a selective, private, nonsectarian, liberal arts university located on the border of the city of Richmond and Henrico County, Virginia. The University of Richmond is a primarily undergraduate, residential university with approximately 4,000 undergraduate and graduate...
and attended Johns Hopkins UniversityJohns Hopkins UniversityThe Johns Hopkins University, commonly referred to as Johns Hopkins, JHU, or simply Hopkins, is a private research university based in Baltimore, Maryland, United States... - 1904-1912 — Cynthia W. Rust (b. 1859), widow of Dr. John O. Rust
- 1912 — Mrs. Luane W. Everett (b. 1870)
Regents
- 1896-1904 — Dr. John O. Rust (Reverend) (1859-1904)
Teachers
- Late 1880s (for about two years) — Minnie Gattinger (1857–1944), taught fine art and German
- 1895-1896 — Maria Louisa Arnold (1836-1914) was a 1859 graduate of Mary Sharp CollegeMary Sharp CollegeMary Sharp College , first known as the Tennessee and Alabama Female Institute, was a women's college, located in Winchester, Tennessee. It was named after the abolitionist Mary Sharp....
- 1893-1896 — William Owen Carver (1842-1954), taught philosophy, Latin, Greek, German, and psychology
- 1912 — Grace B. Kennon (1877- ), taught ethics, philosophy, science
- Mrs. L. Everett
- Mrs. Julius Henry Bayer taught music
- circa 1897 — Eliza Jane McKissackEliza Jane McKissackEliza Jane McKissack was a music teacher who, in 1890, became the founding head of music at the University of North Texas College of Music, then called Normal Conservatory of Music, part of Texas Normal College and Teacher Training Institute, which was...
taught music
Former students
- 1895-1896 — Margaret Graves (Maria Louisa Arnold's cousin)
- Agnes Shepard Bates (1886-1912); music teacher in Earlington, KentuckyEarlington, KentuckyEarlington is a city in Hopkins County, Kentucky, United States. As of the 2000 census, the city had a population of 1,649. It was founded by European Americans in 1870 around the area coal fields, and was named for John Baylis Earl, a lawyer who was central in developing the coal industry in the...
. She studied post graduate music Boscobel, although the institution had no "official" graduate program. Before attending Boscobel, she taught music at Bethel University (Tennessee). - Verna Holt, from Nacogdoches, TexasNacogdoches, TexasNacogdoches is a city in Nacogdoches County, Texas, in the United States. The 2010 census recorded the city's population to be 32,996. It is the county seat of Nacogdoches County and is situated in East Texas. Nacogdoches is a sister city of Natchitoches, Louisiana.Nacogdoches is the home of...
- Margaret M. Beatty, from Nashville
- Edith A. Roper (b. 1875) — who later taught science at Boscobel, Jessamine Institute (1894-98); Boscobel College (1899); Milan, Tennessee (1900-02); Georgetown College (Kentucky) (1902-05); Union UniversityUnion UniversityUnion University is a private, evangelical Christian, liberal arts university located in Jackson, Tennessee, with additional campuses in Germantown, Tennessee, and Hendersonville, Tennessee...
, Tennessee (1906-08); Alabama Central College (1908-09); Howard Payne UniversityHoward Payne UniversityHoward Payne University is a four-year private university located in Brownwood, Texas.Currently the university enrolls 1,400 full-time students. Howard Payne is known for the Douglas MacArthur Academy of Freedom, its Music program and its Christian Studies program...
(1910-?); Baylor College for Women