Mary Washington College - Battlefield Yearbook (Fredericksburg, VA)

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SPOST UCE STA7IOPI5 iroEii«$i«w.yAg«oi :«355 Mary Washington College was bom during the surge for increased educational facilities in the state in the early twentieth century. Due to a struggle in the state legislature over the location of the new normal school, two schools were approved at once. The appropiations bill providing for the construction of normal schools in Fredericksburg and Harrisonburg was signed on March 14, 1908. The site for the Fredericksburg State Normal and Industrial School for Women, as M.W.C. was called then, was another struggle. Finally, the present site was settled upon. The 45.4 acre site was purchased from Captain M. B. Rowe in August 1909. The first session of the normal school began on September 26, 1911. The Dormitory, as Willard was called, contained a dining room, infirmary, laundry, rooms for faculty and students, a reading room, a kitchen, and parlors. The Administration Building (Mo nroe) contained a swimming pool, dressing rooms, a gymnasium, library, classrooms, and manual arts laboratories.

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The need tor another dormitory was immediate and by 1915 Virginia Hall was completed. The president ' s ofticies, the library ' , the Y.W.C.A., and the infirmary were all moved into this building. In 1926 an addition was put on this building. By 1923 another dormitory was required. This building, Betty Lewis, was used until 1930. It was used again in 1937 and was sold at auction in 1972. Also in 1923, an open-air theater was constructed. It was reconstructed in 1931 and the stage was enlarged. In 1924, the normal school became, by an act of the General Assembly, State Teachers College at Fredericksburg. Money was raised and a Student-Alumnae Building was constructed which consisted of a housed swimming pool.