With every upcoming semester there are a few constants, book
and supply purchases, parking passes, the viability of an adequate sleep schedule. However, one that never fails to cause dismay
is the receipt of the bill for tuition.
Out of curiosity, I began investigating the cost of tuition roughly 150
years ago and stumbled across a receipt for tuition at Wheeling Female College,
dated April 15, 1869. And while the $12
price tag for a quarter of education seems sensical and does not really give me
pause, I was intrigued by a female school located in Wheeling, West Virginia
just after the Civil War, that was Catholic in denomination. Further digging commenced.
What I discovered was Wheeling Female College, a Catholic
boarding school in the South, would eventually come to be known as Mount de
Chantal Visitation Academy, renowned for its music program and respected for the
Sisters ability to turn out refined southern ladies. And possibly, at least partially financed by
William Tweed, also known as “Boss” Tweed.
Mount de Chantal Visitation Center was added to the National
Register of Historic Places in 1978, being referred to as a “good example of
eclecticism,” an approach to architecture that utilized previously popularized styles
to create its own character, popular in the 19th century. The Mount de Chantal operated as a boarding school
until the 1980s, finally closing its doors to students in 2008 after graduating
a final class of eleven. The building
and the land were purchased in 2011 by Wheeling Hospital, the same year is was
listed as an Endangered Property by the State of West Virginia. The building was razed later in 2011 after years
of dwindling enrollment and funds rendered the school beyond restoration.
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