{"nrhp_refnum":"09000083","name":"Western Female Seminary","other_names":["Western College For Women","Miami Unviersity"],"category":"district","location":{"address":"US 27 and OH 73, Western College, Miami University","address_restricted":false,"city":"Oxford","county":"Butler County","state":"OH","lat":39.50374073450004,"lon":-84.72830329608783,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1979-09-17","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Education","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A historic college campus district of about 145 acres on the eastern edge of Oxford, Butler County, Ohio, next to Miami University. It holds eight pivotal and several background buildings dating from 1861/1871 to 1971, plus stone bridges and other stonework.","why_significant":"The Western Female Seminary, later Western College for Women, was founded in 1853 as the first of five daughter seminaries of Mt. Holyoke and became a leading Midwest women's college. The nomination argues the campus is architecturally significant as a homogeneous environment formed by its buildings, spatial arrangement, wooded open areas, rolling landscape and stone landscape features.","narrative":"Western Female Seminary, later Western College for Women, occupies a wooded 145-acre campus on the eastern edge of Oxford, Ohio, beside Miami University. Founded in 1853 under the leadership of the Reverend Daniel Tenney, it became the first of five daughter seminaries modeled on Mt. Holyoke and grew into a leading Midwestern women's college. Its buildings span from Peabody Hall, rebuilt in 1871 using walls of an earlier structure, through McKee Hall, Kumler Chapel (1918, designed by Thomas Hastings), Mary Lyons Hall and Presser Hall, with later background buildings that echo the stone construction. Local fieldstone and rounded cannonball stone bridges, a gazebo and an outdoor theater, supervised by mason Cephas Burns, mark the rolling landscape. Alumnae Hall, a Romanesque library and classroom building, was demolished in 1977. The college closed in 1974 and the campus passed to Miami University. The district was recognized for the cohesive architectural setting created by its buildings and grounds.","period_of_significance":"1800-1899, 1900-","architect_builder":"Varied; Alumnae Hall by Renwick, Aspinwall and Russell of New York; Kumler Chapel by Thomas Hastings of New York; stonework supervised by Cephas Burns, stone mason","architectural_style":"Varied; Transitional, Romanesque, Italianate, Classical, Gothic, Dutch Colonial and Jacobethan influences","criteria":[],"status_note":"Peabody Hall is used as a dormitory and Presser Hall for music classes; Alumnae Hall was demolished in 1977 and its site is vacant. The college closed in 1974 and the campus is now part of Miami University.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:53:12.594427-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_OH/09000083.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/09000083/0ac49bc367-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/09000083/0ac49bc367-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 2.0","author":"John Fink from Oxford, OH, USA","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Clawson_Hall.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">John Fink from Oxford, OH, USA</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 2.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Clawson_Hall.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71986949","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_College_for_Women","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7987724"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/ohio/butler-county/western-female-seminary-09000083/"}