"[3] In 1857, a group of investors purchased seven acres with a house in Warrenton, Virginia, from William F. Phipps, to establish a girls' school, the tentatively called the Fauquier Female Seminary.

[5] It claimed to provide a "quiet, retired, and healtful situation" to educate women in "these agitating times".

[6] Its original principals were J. S. Bacon, DD and R. P. Latham, A.M.[5][1] In July 1866, the school property was purchased by Rev.

[10] Miss A. Taylor of Baltimore, Maryland rented the school in July 1875, with plans to open it in September.

A. Chambliss, pastor of the Citadel Square Baptist Church of Charleston, South Carolina became the president of the institute.

Alexander Fleet, previously the pastor of the Broad Run Baptist Church, became the institute's principal in 1886.

[22][4] Barry leased the institute to Butler who operated the school with his wife, Adelaide, and their daughters Nellie and Edith.

[4] The Richmond Dispatch reported that the school had applicants for students from Puerto Rico and other distant locations in 1902.

[46][35][4] The campus was located on ten acres in Fauquier County, Virginia (now 139 Culpeper Street in Warrenton).

[5][35] The Italiante style building features four central interior chimneys, a hipped roof, and corbelled brickwork, along with gabled pavilions.

[17] It was near Fauquier White Sulphur Springs and was fifty miles from Washington, D.C.[1][21] The campus had an elevation of 700 feet and had views of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

[5] Students learned reading, writing, arithmetic, geography, French, Latin, psychology, and poetry.

[13] In 1904, the commencement exercises included a performance of a chorus, a display of calisthenics to music, and a demonstration of the use of dumbbells.

[49][38] The King’s Daughters of Warrenton established a Good Will Circle at the institute in 1889; it operated there until the school closed.