Mary Washington College - Battlefield Yearbook (Fredericksburg, VA)

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HISTORY OF MARY WASHINGTON COLLEGE The Assembly of that year, following suggestions of the Commission that it be continued, so directed, and two years later a majority of its personnel united in a second report recommending that the State Teachers College at Fredericksburg be selected for the establish- ment of the Liberal Arts College for Women, co-ordinate with the University of Virginia. Space does not permit reproduction here of all of the reasons assigned by the Commission for its selection, but it is interesting to note an extract from its report, as follows : ' ' The Commission does not, however, rest its judgment merely upon negative or comparative considerations. There are many affirmative and positive reasons of weight and substance that commend the Fredericksburg site. It is one of natural beauty and dignity upon the historic Marye ' s Heights overlooking Fredericksburg, a city redolent of associations, reaching back to early colonial days. Few localities in Virginia or in America exhibit such a collection of examples of colonial and early national domestic architecture as are to be found in the city and its environs. Approximately half-way between the capitals of the Nation and the State, with admirable transportation service between them by rail and highway, Fredericksburg is readily accessible to them both and it is coimected by excellent roads with all sections of Virginia. The site comprises seventy-five acres. The main col- lege group is on three sides of a quadrangle and opposite the central building is the most modem college dining hall in Virginia. The present buildings of red brick and white facing and columns, possess the simplicity and dignity which is characteristic of Virginia educational institutions. In planning for the future architectural development of the college, the existing group of build- ings might be retained intact as the residential quad- rangle, and another group of academic buildings, in- cluding the library, science hall and administration buildings might gradually be added as the dominant quadrangle. The value of the college at Fredericksburg is greatly enhanced by the beauty of its nautral setting in a grove of approximately twelve acres. With a little money and landscape planning there is ample opportunity for de- veloping the esthetic features of the grounds in a maimer that will be distinctive among the Virginia colleges. In spite of the two reports cited, the matter remained in abeyance and the college at Fredericksburg continued its way alone, rapidly increasing in strength and prestige as a result of progressive administration, improved student body and the addition of many new and beauti- ful buildings. Once again the College was to experience a change in name, this time for all time it was to become the Mary Washington College. By Act of the General Assembly of 1938, this name, happily suggested and historically appropriate, was bestowed upon the institution in honor of the mother of Washington, whose life was so closely woven in the fabric of Fredericksburg. The movement to establish a co-ordinate college for 11

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HISTORY OF MARY WASHINGTON COLLEGE as the Rappahannock Valley. The session began with a small faculty and one hundred and twenty-five students, not one of whom it is believed was a high school gradu- ate. In the comparatively brief space of thirty-three years, the student body was to reach a total of more than two thousand students. This rapid growth constitutes a high tribute to the efficiency of both administration and faculty during a period when many serious handi- caps had to be overcome. Gradually, as additional appropriations were made available by the General Assembly, t he physical plant was enlarged by the construction of new buildings and the installation of much needed equipment while at the same time the school was enjoying a steady increase in attendance. Within five years from the initial session, industrial training was abandoned and the institution began conferring standard degrees on its graduates. In the meantime the faculty was growing in size and impor- tance, and the school itself assuming a new dignity, which required the first change in its name, so at the legislative session of 1914, it became the ' ' State Teachers College at Fredericksburg. Eleven years later the Col- lege had gained the much-coveted privilege of granting degrees in liberal arts. That the teachers colleges, though youthful, with the exception of Farmville, were meeting expectations may be gathered from the report of Dr. M. V. O ' Shea, direc- tor of the survey of the public educational system of the Commonwealth, to the Educational Commission of Virginia in 1918, wherein he said, The best of these teachers colleges are better than the average college, and the poorest of them is better than many private and denominational colleges in Virginia and elsewhere. ' ' While the school at Fredericksburg was experiencing growing pains, an influential body of women in the State were insistently demanding at each recurring session of the General Assembly the establishment of a liberal arts college for women, co-ordinate with and located at the University of Virginia. Their demand for such a college was generally concurred in but their insistence that it be situated at Charlottesville stirred up a storm of con- troversy which was to rage for many years, and which has but now been happily ended by Act of the General Assembly of Nineteen Hundred and Forty-Four. Against the demands of the women who led the fight for the establishment of the college at the University, was opposed the overwhelming sentiment of the Alumni and the student body, who had always regarded Jeffer- son ' s great institution as one exclusively for men. This opposition made itself felt at each session of the As- sembly and was potent enough to defeat repeated at- tempts to secure approval of the plan by either house. The matter thus rested until the session of 1918, when a commission was appointed to study the entire problem, including that of the location of the proposed college. This Commission reported to the session of 1930, as follows: I . ' ' That a liberal arts college exclusively for women should be established and supported by the State of Virginia. 2.. That said college should be co-equal with the Col- lege of Arts and Sciences at the University of Vir- ginia, and should be co-ordinate with the Uni- versity as an integral part thereof. 3. That it should be located at or near Roanoke, Lynchburg, Harrisonburg, or Fredericksburg. 10

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HISTORY OF MARY WASHINGTON COLLEGE women finally became more or less dormant but was suddenly revived in 1943 by Governor Colgate W. Darden, Jr., who, pending the Nineteen Hundred and Forty-Four session of the General Assembly, appointed a Commission to study the proposed consolidation of Mary Washington College with the University of Vir- ginia. This Commission, which included the presidents of both institutions, the Superintendent of Public In- struction and other citizens formulated a report which was delivered to the Governor in December, Nineteen Hundred and Forty-Three, which contained the follow- ing recommendation : That the Mary Washington College be placed under the direction and control of the University Board and that within a period of four years the institution be con- verted into a College of Arts and Sciences on a par with the College of Arts and Sciences for men at the Uni- versity, with the same standards of admission and gradu- ation, and comparable instructional, library, and labora- ory facilities. The institution to be known as the Mary Washington College of the University of Virginia. This report was transmitted by the Governor to the General Assembly and a bill promptly introduced carry- ing the recommendation into effect. This bill passed both branches of the Assembly, with little or no opposi- tion, and was approved by the Governor in February, Nineteen Hundred and Forty-Four. By its provisions the College thus becomes an integral part of the Uni- versity and except for the fact that it is located at Fred- ericksburg, rather than at the University, the desire of the women of Virginia for co-ordination has been at last met. While the Sage of Monticello perhaps did not contem- plate the inclusion of women among the students of the University yet, if he were living today, one might assert without fear of contradiction that he would approve this act of manifest justice to the young women of the Commonwealth and would be the first to extend to them a warm welcome to the institution of which he was the Father and of which he was so justly proud. Mi J ' .y ' rV .,,. 12