Ingham University

Ingham University in Le Roy, New York, was the first women's college in New York State and the first chartered women's university in the United States. It was originally founded in 1835 as the Le Roy Female Seminary by Mariette and Emily E. Ingham. The school was chartered on April 6, 1852 as the Ingham Collegiate Institute, and a full university charter was granted in April 1857. After eventual financial difficulties, the college closed in 1892 and its property was sold at auction in 1895. [1] Over several years, the college's former buildings were demolished; the stone from the Arts Conservatory, the last campus building to be dismantled, was used to build the Woodward Memorial Library at the same location in Le Roy. [2]

Ingham University was the alma mater of Sarah Frances Whiting, who later went on to found the physics department and establish the astronomical observatory at Wellesley College.[3]

References

  1. ↑ "Ingham University Closed; New York's First College for Women Sold Out Under Foreclosure." New York Times, February 10, 1895.
  2. ↑ "History." The Woodward Memorial Library. Le Roy, NY.
  3. ↑ Historical Dictionary of Women's Education in the United States, edited by Linda Eisenmann, page 462. Greenwood Publishing Group.