Tag: Richmond Female Institute (Richmond VA)

Library of Congress says: Female Institute, 10th Street, Richmond, Va., occupied as Army Headquarters.

RVAHub.com says: [T]he Richmond Female Institute [was] built on the site of the frame house of John Harvie. Designed by Thomas A. Tefft of Providence, it was along the lines of what was then conceived to be an Italian villa.

The first president was the Rev. Basil Manly. This institution, under Baptist auspices, was prepared to take two hundred and fifty pupils, and had both preparatory and collegiate departments, as well as a “department of ornamental branches.” However far all of this was from present college standards, the Woman’s College, as it was later called, undoubtedly enjoyed priority in the region of Richmond in attempting higher education for women.

The school was soon to claim another sort of priority—that of raising the first Confederate flag to fly in the city. This was on March 14, 1861. Dr. Charles H. Winston, who had succeeded President Manly two years before, promptly had it taken down, but “the determined young ladies” put it up again the next day! During the Civil War the big building was used as a hospital for officers, the school being first moved to the Brockenbrough-Caskie house and later closed for three years.

Established in 1853, the Richmond Female Institute served as General Hospital #4 from June 1863 to February 1865, with a maximum capacity of 300 patients.