| Darlington Seminary | |
|---|---|
.png) 1881 | |
| Location | |
| Information | |
| Former name | Ercildoun Seminary |
| Type | nonsectarian single-sex boarding school |
| Established | 1851 |
| Founder | Smedley Darlington |
| Gender | Female |
Darlington Seminary (formerly, Ercildoun Seminary) was a nonsectarian single-sex boarding school in Chester County, Pennsylvania, United States. It was the largest private school in the county, and one of the largest in Eastern Pennsylvania. Established in Ercildoun in 1851 as Ercildoun Seminary, it was renamed Darlington Seminary after its move to West Chester in 1877 following the destruction caused by the tornado of July 1st.[1][2]
Ercildoun Seminary was founded in 1851 by Smedley Darlington as a boys' school but soon thereafter was changed to one exclusively for girls. Richard Darlington, Ph.D., a younger brother, purchased the school from Smedley Darlington in 1861 and conducted Ercildoun Seminary until 1877 when a tornado occurred which almost completely destroyed the school property in the summer of 1877. Later in the year, Dr. Darlington moved the institution to a location just outside the Borough of West Chester, and with the move, renamed the institution as Darlington Seminary. Darlington educated thousands of young women from every part of the country, the school being one of the most successful for girls in the Eastern part of Pennsylvania. Dr. Darlington sold the school in 1901 to Frank Paxson Bye, who incorporated the school under the name of The Darlington Seminary.[1][2] By 1941, the institution had become a vocational school for girls.
- ^ a b "West Chester". The Encyclopædia Britannica: Vetch-Zymotic Diseases. At the University Press. 1911. p. 537. Retrieved 5 February 2024.
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- ^ a b Futhey, J. Smith; Cope, Gilbert (1881). History of Chester County, Pennsylvania, with Genealogical and Biographical Sketches. L. H. Everts. pp. 306, 460, 515. Retrieved 5 February 2024 – via Internet Archive. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
