Synodical College provided education for young women and was a successor institution to the Fulton Female Academy opened by Rev. William W. Robertson in Fulton, Missouri in 1842 as one of the earliest American women's colleges.
The school operated under the auspices of the Presbyterian Church after 1871 when the Synod, meeting at Cape Girardeau, Missouri, accepted an offer of $16,500 in cash subscriptions from the citizens of Callaway County and 4 acres (16,000 m2) of land that was donated by Daniel M. Tucker. The college opened in 1873.
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The first board of trustees included: William King, Edwin Curd, W.W. Robertson, C.C. Hersman, John F. Cowan, W.W. Trimble, T.B. Nisbet, Samuel T. Shaw, and Samuel I. McKamey.
The trustees during the final 1927-28 academic year included: C.F. Richmond, John E. Kerr, T.P. Harrison, C.R. Nisbet, S.G. Wood, T.R.R. Ely, C.A. McPheeters, J.W. Gallaher, J.W. McKamey, E.J. Grant, J.G. McConkey, I Cochran Hunt, R.S. Boyd, and Joseph Rennie.
T.O. Rogers, 1873-1874; W.W. Hill, 1874-1877; B.H. Charles, 1877-1888; H.C. Evans, 1888-1893; John W. Primrose, 1893-1896; Thomas Peyton Walton (previously president of Elizabeth Aull Seminary at Lexington, Missouri) followed; John James, 1922-1924 and, Colin A. McPheeters, served as Acting President during the final 1927-28 academic year.
Synodical College was recognized by the University of Missouri as a standard junior college after 1916. Then in 1925 the Synod of Missouri approved a resolution at a meeting in St. Joseph, Missouri to enhance the curriculum with the goal of providing a four year collegiate program. The initial steps toward the goal included an affiliation agreement with Westminster for sharing of some faculty and courses. Synodical College then closed in 1928.
Sources: Williams, Walter. The State of Missouri. 1901. p. 342. Parrish, William E. Westminster College: An Informal History, 1851-1999. 2000. pp. 51, 165. Conrad, ed. Encyclopedia of the History of Missouri, vol. VI. 1901. pp. 147-8. Synodical College Catalog, 1927-28, vol. XIII. June, 1927.