At the time of the introduction of compulsory elementary schools in Sweden in 1842, it was one of five schools in Sweden to provide academic secondary education to females: the others being Societetsskolan (1786) and Kjellbergska flickskolan (1833) in Gothenburg, Askersunds flickskola (1812) in Askersund and Wallinska skolan (1831) in Stockholm.
The school was founded by the Association af Fruntimmer ('Women's Society'), a women's charitable society headed by Betty Scott, Marie Lamberg and Lovisa Lamberg, which continued to function as managing directors of the school.
The society was founded out of concern for poor women, as the Swedish economy was by that time seriously damaged by the Napoleonic wars.
The school lived mainly on donations and the fees of the members of the women's society.
The subjects were Swedish, history, geography, Christianity and gymnastics: from 1869 expanded to include German, English, mathematics, nature science, writing, drawing, singing, handicrafts, bookkeeping, dressmaking and house economics.