[1] Reverend Solomon Prettyman founded the institution in 1837 as the Wesleyan Female Seminary, with the support of the Philadelphia and Baltimore Conferences of the Methodist Church.
For example, an 1847 editorial in The Delaware Gazette noted the many courses in academic subjects but "heard nothing of the class upon making bread, puddings, and pies..."[1] A literary magazine called The Female Student and Young Ladies Chronicle was published by the school from 1844 to 1849.
[citation needed] In 1851, after a period of decline, the board of trustees took over control from Prettyman for the Methodist Episcopal Church.
[2] Enrollment started to decline during the 1870s, probably due in part to the opening of the Wilmington Conference Academy, a secondary school which went co-educational in 1874.
[citation needed] Despite support from local prominent businessmen, the school closed in 1885.