Ingham University (previously known as Attica Female Seminary and LeRoy Female Institute) in Le Roy, New York, was the first women's college in New York State and the first chartered women's university in the United States. It was founded in 1835 as the Attica (NY) Female Seminary by Mariette and Emily E. Ingham, who moved the school to Le Roy in 1837. The school was chartered on April 6, 1852, as the Ingham Collegiate Institute, and a full university charter was granted in April 1857. After financial difficulties, the college closed in 1892 and its property was sold at auction in 1895. Over several years, the college's former buildings were demolished; the stone from the Arts Conservatory, the last campus building to be dismantled, was used to build the Woodward Memorial Library at the same location in Le Roy.
Ingham University was the alma mater of Sarah Frances Whiting, who later founded the physics department and establish the astronomical observatory at Wellesley College.
Notable people
- Nancy H. Adsit, author
- Ruth Webster Lathrop (1862–1940), physician
- Marion Juliet Mitchell, poet
- Mary Mortimer (1816–1877), British-born American educator
- Sarah Frances Whiting, physicist, astronomer
- Amelia Kempshall Wing (1837–1927), author and philanthropist
References
- "Ingham University Closed; New York's First College for Women Sold Out Under Foreclosure." New York Times, February 10, 1895.
- "History." Archived 2009-05-31 at the Wayback Machine The Woodward Memorial Library. Le Roy, NY.
- Historical Dictionary of Women's Education in the United States, edited by Linda Eisenmann, page 462. Greenwood Publishing Group.
42°58′37″N 77°59′13″W / 42.977°N 77.987°W / 42.977; -77.987
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