Maryland College for Women

{{Short description|Defunct college in Maryland, US}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2025}}

File:Maryland College for Women.jpg

Maryland College for Women was a college for women in Lutherville, Maryland. It was founded in 1853 as the Lutherville Female Seminary. It was the centerpiece of the planned community of Lutherville, created by two Lutheran ministers, Benjamin Kurtz and John Morris, and named for theologian Martin Luther.

The school building was a large limestone building with two wings and a 96-foot observatory, designed by the architecture firm of Dixon, Balbirnie, and Dixon. Classes began in October 1854, and included art, chemistry, modern and classical languages, mathematics, music, natural sciences, and needlework. Morris wrote that the curriculum would "embrace everything necessary to a solid and finished literary education."{{Cite web |last=Rasmussen |first=Fred |title=Victorian delight, fixed in time |url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/business/real-estate/bal-cp-lutherville-story.html |access-date=2022-05-10 |website=Baltimore Sun |language=en}}{{Cite book |last=Lane |first=Mills |url=http://archive.org/details/architectureofol0000lane_y5c7 |title=Architecture of the Old South |date=1993 |publisher=New York : Abbeville Press |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-1-55859-044-1 |pages=277}}

Morris sold the school to J. H. Turner in April 1886.{{Cite book |last=Kurtz |first=Michael J. |url=http://archive.org/details/johngottliebmorr0000kurt |title=John Gottlieb Morris : man of God, man of science |date=1997 |publisher=Baltimore : Maryland Historical Society |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-0-938420-58-3}} The school was renamed the Maryland College for Women in 1895.{{Cite web |date=2009-11-01 |title=BCPL History and Genealogy InfoCenter Baltimore County History - Lutherville |url=http://www.bcplonline.org/info/history/hist_local_lutherville.html |access-date=2022-05-10 |website=Baltimore County Public Library |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091101061652/http://www.bcplonline.org/info/history/hist_local_lutherville.html |archive-date=1 November 2009 |url-status=dead}} Charles Wesley Gallagher served as president from 1908 until his death in 1916.{{Cite book |last=Spencer |first=Richard Henry |url=http://archive.org/details/genealogicalmemo01spen |title=Genealogical and memorial encyclopedia of the state of Maryland, a record of the achievements of her people in the making of a commonwealth and the founding of a nation; |last2=American Historical Society |date=1919 |publisher=New York, The American historical society, inc. |others=New York Public Library}} In 1911, the College burned down and was replaced by a white stucco building. In the 1920s, the parents of actors Warren Beatty and Shirley MacLaine met on the campus of the Maryland College for Women, where they were both instructors.{{Cite book |last=Finstad |first=Suzanne |url=http://archive.org/details/warrenbeattypriv0000fins_w2a4 |title=Warren Beatty : a private man |date=2005 |publisher=London : Aurum |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-1-84513-131-9}}

In 1952, the Maryland College for Women closed and became College Manor, a senior citizen's home.