Mount de Chantal Visitation Academy

Mount de Chantal Visitation Academy
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Mount de Chantal Visitation Academy (1889)
Location:	Washington Ave., Wheeling, West Virginia
Coordinates:	40°4′10″N 80°41′38″W / 40.06944°N 80.69389°W / 40.06944; -80.69389Coordinates: 40°4′10″N 80°41′38″W / 40.06944°N 80.69389°W / 40.06944; -80.69389
Built:	1865
Architect:	Barthberger, Charles F.; Whelan, Bishop Vincent
Architectural style:	Eclectic Victorian
Governing body:	Private
NRHP Reference#:	78002808 [1]
Added to NRHP:	November 27, 1978

Mount de Chantal Visitation Academy
Address
Washington Avenue Wheeling, West Virginia
Information
Type	Private, All-Female (5-12)
Religious affiliation(s)	Roman Catholic
Established	1848
Closed	2008
Grades	PK-12
Website	http://www.mountdechantal.org

Mount de Chantal Visitation Academy was a private Catholic all girls' school in the city of Wheeling in the U.S. state of West Virginia.

History

It was founded in 1848 as the Wheeling Female Academy in downtown Wheeling and in 1865 moved to its present location and assumed its current name. While grades five through twelve were all female, Mount de Chantal's Montessori and Elementary schools were co-ed. They were members of the Ohio Valley Athletic Conference.

The school building was built about 1865. The original structure is composed of three major parts connected by two recessed wings. The building is constructed of brick, on a limestone foundation, with a slate covered gable roof. A two-storied brick porch, added about 1910, extends the entire width. The Fine Arts addition was built in 1906, the "laundry building" in 1908, and living quarters for the Sisters in 1972.^[2]

It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.^[1] The school ceased operations on May 31, 2008with the nuns being transfered to Georgetown Visitation in Washington D.C. ^[3] Wheeling Hospital announced they were purchasing the building on April 13, 2010.^[4] No plans were announced and several historic societies were looking into preservation efforts but nothing was ever solidified. Demolition plans were announced and finalized in November 2011. Several items left behind by the nuns were auctioned off and razing efforts commenced on November 7, 2011.^[5] No plans have been announced for the site.

Notable Alumnae

• Carrie Watson Fleming, First lady of West Virginia, 1890-1893
• Edna Hall Scott Kump, First lady of West Virginia, 1933-1937
• Judith Herndon, senator

See also

• List of historic sites in Ohio County, West Virginia
• List of Registered Historic Places in West Virginia

External links

• Official site

References

1. ^ ^{a b} "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. 2009-03-13. http://nrhp.focus.nps.gov/natreg/docs/All_Data.html. 
2. ^ Sr. Mary Helen O'Brien and Mrs. Robert Miller (March 1978). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory Nomination Form: Mount de Chantal Visitation Academy". State of West Virginia, West Virginia Division of Culture and History, Historic Preservation. http://www.wvculture.org/shpo/nr/pdf/ohio/78002808.pdf. Retrieved 2011-09-01. 
3. ^ W.Va. losing 160-year-old Catholic girls’ school
4. ^ http://www.news-register.net/page/content.detail/id/536713.html?nav=5196
5. ^ "Demolition Begins At Mount de Chantal". The Intelligencer & Wheeling News Register. 8 November 2011. http://www.theintelligencer.net/page/content.detail/id/561536.html. Retrieved 19 November 2011.