Terre Haute Female College

Description:	Drawing of the Terre Haute Female College by Juliet A. Peddle, Terre Haute Artist and Architect. Terre Haute Female College Which in Later Years Became the Nucleus of St. Anthonys Hospital. Drawing by Juliet A. Peddle, Terre Haute Artist and Architect.The Terre Haute Female College was the original building of the group which is now St. Anthonys Hospital. This school was founded by the Rev. John Covert. It was also called Covert College and Western Female College, but it started out with the above name. Mr. Covert purchased the land from James Farrington and construction was started during the year 1857. By September, 1858, the school was ready to open, and it was dedicated with appropriate ceremonies including a speech by the Hon. Richard W. Thompson. Miss Grace Davis has allowed me to use her copy of the first catalogue of the year ending June, 1850, which describes the school and its curriculum and contains an old engraving illustrating the school and grounds in a birds-eye view. I have taken my drawing from this illustration.The school was a very good one according to the standards of its day and it attracted 232 students the first year, most of them from Terre Haute and nearby towns but a number of them from such distant points as Madison, Wisconsin; Richmond, Virginia; Fort Madison, Iowa; bradford, Vermont, and Clinton, Iowa.The catalogue says the school consisted of three substantial brick buildings which were models of elegance within and without. Their arrangements for warming, lighting, and the distribution of water are on the most approved plans of steam and gas. They contain 115 rooms including a fine chapel 40x60 feet, several large recitation rooms, ample and splendidly furnished, drawing rooms, etc., the catalogue continues.The students were accommodated in suites of rooms, a parlor and a bedroom elegantly furnished which would accommodate 2 or 3 girls.The college grounds contained 8 1/2 acres, and there were two cottages for the teachers. I have been told that the property extended from Sixth Street through to Third Street at that time.The school was backed financially by a group of local people and Richard W. Thompson was the president of the board of trustees.In 1864 Mr. Covert gave up his interest in the school and a new school, St. Agnes Hall, which was to be a literary and scientific college for young women, was opened here by the Protestant Episcopal Church with the same principal backers as the earlier school. This continued four years. After the closing of the school, the property passed to Samuel Early, the chief creditor, who sold the part now occupied by St. Anthonys Hospital to Herman Hulman Sr., in 1883. Mr. Hulman planned to establish a hospital in memory of his wife. He had the property repaired and put in good order, and this became the first St. Anthonys Hospital.Many changes have been made since then-1901 -a new wing added, 1902-another wing added, 1908-north wing built, 1910-addition to laundry, 1913-chapel constructed and in 1920 another large addition was made until the old school building has almost completely lost its identity. I understand the central portion on the west side still contains the essential structure of the first building-an early beginning which has been completely submerged in the bigger thing it has grown to be.
Origin:	01/01/2005
Contributor(s):	Peddle, Juliet, 1899-1979
Source:	http://indianamemory.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/rose/id/837
Collection:	Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology Logan Library
Rights:	http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/UND/1.0/
Copyright:	Copyright Undetermined
Subjects:	Architectural drawings Architecture Universities & colleges Hospitals Architecture Education

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