Ward Seminary

Ask any local Nashvillian about significant historic landmarks in downtown Nashville and most quickly name Ryman Auditorium, Union Station, the Hermitage Hotel, and Hume-Fogg High School. In fact, all of these structures were built after 1890. In the fall of 1865, Ward Seminary opened—literally in the shadows of the Tennessee State Capitol building. The capitol presided over a growing, but still largely residential neighborhood that included the striking Italianate building called the Smith House (1859), now The Standard Restaurant. Next door to the Smith House once stood Ward Seminary’s main building, which was demolished in the 1930s. Look for the historical marker just before passing The Standard.

Six months after the Civil War ended, Dr. William Ward and his wife, Eliza Hudson Ward, opened Ward Seminary with forty-six students. They began the school “with the idea of establishing a private seminary for girls, which would prove an honor to the South. . . and the intellectual and cultural life of the entire city.” Privately owned and governed, female seminaries emerged in the early 1800s and expanded throughout the nineteenth century. Such educational institutions were culturally acceptable alternatives to traditional male universities.

In 1913 Ward Seminary merged with Belmont College for Young Women and moved to their campus off of 21st Avenue, in the former mansion on the estate of Adelicia Acklen. The new Ward-Belmont School was a high school, junior college, and music conservatory for women. In 1951, Ward-Belmont closed and local community leaders organized to ensure that college preparatory all-girls education continued in Nashville. Harpeth Hall, formerly the Ward-Belmont high school division, reopened in Green Hills in the fall of 1951. The junior college division of Ward-Belmont reopened as a four-year, coeducational college—today’s Belmont University.

Now continue walking down Rosa L. Parks to the intersection of Broadway. Turn LEFT to cross Rosa L. Parks and walk to the front of the next stop on the tour, Hume-Fogg High School. The 1912 building still stands and there is a Metro historical marker on each side of the entrance to the school.