Dr. Woodward was a prominent Quincy physician and a cousin of President John Adams.

[4] When Dr. Woodward died in 1869, his will established a trust fund to create and maintain a girls' school equivalent to the boys-only Adams Academy.

The Town of Quincy, which became a city in 1888, was named trustee of "The Woodward Fund and Property," and was given 25 years to build the school.

[3][2] The school building was designed by E. G. Thayer in the Queen Anne style, with clapboard siding and a slate roof.

[5] It was added to the National Register of Historic Places as Woodward Institute on November 13, 1989, reference number 89001954.