The school was founded in 1788 in the then Russian city of Viborg as a German school for boys, with a separate class for girls.
In 1805, the girls' school was given its own administration and the German name Töchterschule.
[3] From circa 1800, it came to be regarded as a teachers' training seminary for female teachers, and women who were active as school teachers around Saint Petersburg, Southern Finland and the Baltics were often trained at this school or one of its equivalents in the area.
After the foundation of this school, several similar schools for girls were founded around Finland modelled after it, such as those in Fredrikshamn, Kexholm and Nyslott.
These schools were all founded in parts of Finland which belonged to Russia at the time.