In the 1840s, a group of civic leaders conceived the idea to improve advanced education for women in Hagerstown, Maryland.

In its first year, 101 students from ten states including Alabama, Pennsylvania, Illinois, West Virginia, and Ohio enrolled.

When the Confederate States Army marched through Hagerstown, the seminary sent its students home and closed for two years.

The original intaglio has been in the British Museum, belonged to the king of Saxony, and was in the possession of principal Margaret Barry.[4]pg.

182 In April 1901, Keedy sold Kee Mar to Daniel W. Doub and Henry Holzapfel Jr.[2][1] They incorporated the school with the name Kee-Mar College of Washington County.

A board of trustees, comprising chair Holzapfel, Humrichhouse, M. L. Keedy, M. P. Moller, George Oawald, and Jacob Roessner was formed to provide direction.

[3] Kee Mar College was purchased by the Washington County Hospital Association for the reported price of $60,000.

[6] Kee Mar College consisted of 11 acres (4.5 ha) centrally located on high ground in Hagerstown with a view of the Cumberland Valley.

[1] The curriculum included the departments of philosophy, history, mathematics, natural science, and English, Latin, Greek, French, and German language and literature.

The separate departments of Kee Mar had specialized libraries containing a mix of reference books and works of general interest.

A series of over thirty reproductions of Sistine frescoes of the Vatican, made under the supervision of John Ruskin, was available for use by the students.

A large collection of similar reproductions of drawings, namely by Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Raphael were in position by the college.

[4] Chapel services were held daily and students were expected to attend the church to which they belonged or which their parents selected on Sundays.

For student social life, formal receptions were held during the school term and the laws of polite society observed at all times.