Blackstone College for Girls

Blackstone College for Girls was a private, religious school for young women in Blackstone, Nottoway County, in the U.S. state of Virginia. The school operated under the auspices of the Virginia Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South between 1894 and 1950. The Virginia Department of Historic Resources acknowledged the significance of the site by erecting historical marker number K 174 in 1996. Blackstone College is also designated as a site on the Civil Rights in Education Heritage Trail. The school buildings still stand. Since 1955, the Virginia United Methodist Church has used the former school buildings as a conference center.HistoryThe Blackstone Female Institute received its charter from the Virginia state legislature on February 15, 1892 and opened its doors to students in 1894. The Institute's facilities were built on six acres of land donated by the Blackstone Land Company.In 1920 and 1922, two fires devastated the campus. The leaders of the college rebuilt the school on a smaller scale and reopened. In 1943, the college suspended operation for the duration of World War II, and the school buildings were used as apartments by servicemen and their families. Classes resumed in 1945, but dwindling enrollment and the Korean War forced the college to close in 1950.