Coates College for Women was a liberal arts women's college in Terre Haute, Indiana. It opened in 1885 and closed in 1897.
St. Mary-of-the-Woods College, founded in 1840, was originally the only women's college in the Terre Haute area. However, during an industrial boom of the 1860s and 1870s, several new colleges, mostly targeted at male students, opened in Terre Haute, including Indiana State Normal School in 1865 and the Rose Polytechnic Institute in 1874.
Recognizing that women were also in need of higher education, and also wanting to put a particular emphasis on the teaching of Christianity, Jane B. Coates of Greencastle purchased 13 acres in the Strawberry Hill section of Terre Haute and founded the Coates College for Women in 1885. The college opened that October to three students, with Rev. Dr. Laurence G. Hay of Indianapolis serving as president.
Coates aimed to be the "Wellesley of the Midwest" and modeled its curriculum after those of Wellesley and Vassar College. Eventually, three separate Bachelor's degree programs were offered. The college quickly gained a reputation for attracting excellent students, and many Coates graduates began to pursue graduate education at some of the most esteemed universities in the United States, including the University of Chicago.
Although Coates was nondenominational by design, the college's bylaws required at least two-thirds of the trustees to be Presbyterian. It also required that the Bible be used as "the chief textbook" in classes. All commencements were held at local Presbyterian churches. A "religious census" of Presbyterian colleges in 1897 noted that of the eleven students enrolled, seven were Presbyterian, two were Methodist, one was Baptist, and one was affiliated with the Disciples of Christ.
According to the College Calendar, the cost for the 1896-97 school year was $300. This included board, tuition, fuel, light and gymnasium privileges. Music classes were extra.
Enrollment grew quickly and had surpassed 100 students by 1889, even though the college had only three faculty members at its start. With its rapid growth, the need for more land was recognized. Jane Coates financed more purchasing and construction and also brought in more instructors, including noted sculptor Janet Scudder.
After the death of Jane Coates in 1891, however, the college's main source of funding became no longer available. Like many other colleges, Coates was severely impacted by the Panic of 1893. The founder's will became legally disputed by her heirs, making it even more difficult for the college to receive any funding. Enrollment also declined dramatically in the college's final years. As a result, Coates College closed after the conclusion of the 1896 - 1897 academic year.
The Rose–Hulman Institute of Technology (RHIT) is a private university in Terre Haute, Indiana. It was founded in 1874 with only three bachelor's degree programs. It has since grown to twelve academic departments with over thirty undergraduate and graduate degree programs in science, engineering, technology, and engineering management, leading to bachelor's and master's degrees.
Vigo County is a county on the western border of the U.S. state of Indiana. According to the 2020 United States Census, it had a population of 106,153. Its county seat is Terre Haute.
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Terre Haute is a city in, and the county seat of, Vigo County, Indiana, United States, about 5 miles (8 km) east of the state's western border with Illinois. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 58,389 and its metropolitan area had a population of 168,716.
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Barber–Scotia College is a private unaccredited historically black college in Concord, North Carolina. It began as a seminary in 1867 before becoming a college in 1916. It is affiliated with the Presbyterian Church (USA).
Johnson C. Smith University (JCSU) is a private historically black university in Charlotte, North Carolina. It is affiliated with the Presbyterian Church (USA) and accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS). The university awards Bachelor of Science, Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Social Work, and Master of Social Work degrees.
WISU is a non-commercial, educational radio station licensed to Indiana State University in Terre Haute, Indiana. The station operates on the assigned FM frequency of 89.7 MHz with an effective radiated power of 13,500 watts. The studios are located in Dreiser Hall on the ISU campus. The tower and transmitter facilities are located in West Terre Haute, Indiana. Under the personal supervision of the "Hoosier Schoolmaster of the Air," Dr. Clarence M. Morgan, who with his son Dr. Thomas O. Morgan helped build the station, WISU began broadcasting on April 1, 1964. WISU is licensed by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission as a Class B FM station, which would allow a maximum power of 46,000 watts effective radiated power (ERP), using an antenna height of 156 meters.
Allendale is an unincorporated community in south central Vigo County, Indiana, in Honey Creek Township. It is part of the Terre Haute Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Janet Scudder, born Netta Deweze Frazee Scudder, was an American sculptor and painter from Terre Haute, Indiana, who is best known for her memorial sculptures, bas-relief portraiture, and portrait medallions, as well as her garden sculptures and fountains. Her first major commission was the design for the seal of the New York Bar Association around 1896. Scudder's Frog Fountain (1901) led to the series of sculptures and fountains for which she is best known. Later commissions included a Congressional Gold Medal honoring Domício da Gama and a commemorative medal for Indiana's centennial in 1916. Scudder also displayed her work at numerous national and international exhibitions in the United States and in Europe from the late 1890s to the late 1930s. Scudder's autobiography, Modeling My Life, was published in 1925.
The History of Ball State University predates Ball State University's public-funding era by almost two decades. Previous educational institutions operated at the intersection of University and McKinley avenues before 1918. They were neither public nor did they carry the "Ball" name.
The LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course, in Terre Haute, Indiana was dedicated October 17, 1997. This course has the distinction of being one of the few purpose-built cross-country courses in the world. The facility is part of 240 acres (0.97 km2) that comprise the Wabash Valley Family Sports Center just east of the Terre Haute International Airport. The course itself is built on a reclaimed coal mine and consists of an external loop of 3 km and four internal loops that allow for circuits of varying lengths. Indiana State University's Cross-Country team uses the Gibson Course for its home meets.
The Sisters of Providence of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods are an apostolic congregation of Catholic women founded by Saint Theodora Guerin at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods, Indiana, in 1840. Mother Theodore and her five companion sisters departed from the Sisters of Providence of Ruillé-sur-Loir, France, at the invitation of the Bishop of Vincennes, Indiana, to found the Sisters of Providence in the United States. In 1843, the Indiana congregation became independent of the religious institute in Ruillé, and the Rules of the Congregation were approved by the Holy See in 1887.
Mother Anastasie Brown, S.P.,, was the Superior General of the Sisters of Providence of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods, Indiana from 1868 to 1874. During her term, the congregation had financial difficulties stemming from the Panic of 1873. Both prior to and following her time in office, Brown was Directress of the Academy, a women's college run by the Sisters of Providence now known as Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College.
Cottage Hill is a location in Posey Township, Clay County, Indiana. It is part of the Terre Haute Metropolitan Statistical Area. The settlement was home to the Van Buren, Indiana post office for a brief period in the 1830s. The site hosted Cunningham's Tavern in the first half of the 19th century, when the National Road carried much of the traffic between Terre Haute and Indianapolis. The tavern was reportedly a stopping point for the likes of Henry Clay, Martin Van Buren, and Abraham Lincoln. The location also hosted a training racetrack for horses. The Cottage Hill Cemetery, opened 1876, was a stop on the Brazil, Indiana street railway in the 1890s, and some successor lines.
Ida Husted Harper was an American author, journalist, columnist, and suffragist, as well as the author of a three-volume biography of suffrage leader Susan B. Anthony at Anthony's request. Harper also co-edited and collaborated with Anthony on volume four (1902) of the six-volume History of Woman Suffrage and completed the project by solo writing volumes five and six (1922) after Anthony's death. In addition, Harper served as secretary of the Indiana chapter of the National Woman Suffrage Association, became a prominent figure in the women's suffrage movement in the U.S., and wrote columns on women's issues for numerous newspapers across the United States. Harper traveled extensively, delivered lectures in support of women's rights, handled press relations for a women's suffrage amendment in California, headed the National American Woman Suffrage Association's national press bureau in New York City and the editorial correspondence department of the Leslie Bureau of Suffrage Education in Washington, D.C., and chaired the press committee of the International Council of Women.
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Helen Colemen Benbridge (1876–1964) was an American suffragist, who was active in the Women's Right's Movement in Indiana in the early 20th century. Benbridge was elected president of The Women League of Voters in Vigo County, where she worked as an advocate for Hoosier women after the 19th amendment was passed in the United States.
The Indiana State Normal football program's first three seasons of competition were from 1896 to 1898, representing Indiana State Normal School—now known as Indiana State University—as an independent. The school did not field a team in 1899 or 1900, and resumed play in 1901.