St. Joseph Female College

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St. Joseph Female College


Active:	1875—1881
Type:	Private Baptist women's college
President:	Rev. Elijah S. Dulin
Location:	St. Joseph, Missouri, USA

St. Joseph Female College was a private women's college located in St. Joseph, Missouri, United States.

Affiliated with the Baptist Church, St. Joseph Female College was opened in 1875 by the English-born Rev. Elijah S. Dulin. The college was located for most of its operating years in St. Joseph's Patee House, which had previously housed the Patee Female College from 1865 to 1868 and later became most commonly associated with the founding of the Pony Express and the death of Jesse James, which occurred nearby.

The college moved out of Patee House in 1880 and constructed its own building on a hill near the city's center at a cost of $100,000 to the church. According to The Baptist Encyclopedia, the board of trustees was composed of the state's leading men, with Rev. Dulin serving as president throughout the college's life.

St. Joseph Female College formally closed in 1881. The main campus is now a National Historical Landmark, though the designation is due to its prominence as the founding office of the Pony Express and not the history of the college.