North-Western Female College

Formerly located at Sherman Avenue and Lake Street, North-Western Female College was a three-year preparatory school providing young women with advanced coursework in writing, science, mathematics, philosophy, and theology [1]. Initially founded in 1855, Mary and Frances Willard enrolled at North-Western Female College in 1858. The experience instilled in Frances Willard a profound appreciation for women’s education, shaping her subsequent commitment to a career as an educator. In addition, Willard’s exposure to faculty and events at North-Western Female College began to influence her feelings about women’s role in society and marriage, thus laying the groundwork for her future women’s suffrage activism [2].  

Catering to influential families of Evanston, such as the Willards, North-Western Female College opened its doors at the beginning of 1855. Following a single term at the Milwaukee Institute, Frances and Mary Willard persuaded their father to permit their enrollment at North-Western Female College – a women’s seminary grounded in Methodist values. Later, the College would integrate into Northwestern University.  

Growing up in rural Wisconsin, Frances and Mary were each other’s closest playmates and companions. As a result, the sisters developed a very close bond that only deepened during their time in school together. Frances mentioned her sister frequently in her journals, describing her as “my Only Friend that I have or ask to have” [3]. She expressed the deep affection and comfort of their close relationship and relished every moment spent together. However, like all siblings, their relationship included its share of rivalries and differences. Mary was a beauty, with a lovely singing voice, and the apple of her father’s eye [4]. In comparison, Frances was witty, independent, and preferred tomboyish activities such as hunting and horseback riding. “Frances both loved and envied Mary” [5].  

In 1862, at the age of only nineteen, Mary Willard died of complications related to an earlier typhus illness. The Willard family was inconsolable, and the loss left Frances bereft. In the months following Mary’s death, Frances hardly wrote in her journal and when she did, she struggled to comprehend that her sister was indeed dead: “Oh! This has crushed out all other feelings – except a vague sense of incompleteness – of wanting some one – something – of reaching out toward the Future Life almost with yearning” [6]. To heal from the loss and memorialize her sister, Frances Willard published the book Nineteen Beautiful Years: Or, Sketches of a Girl’s Life. 

[1] Ruth B. Bordin, Frances Willard: A Biography (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1986), 24. 

[2] Bordin, Frances Willard, 30 and 54.  

[3] Willard, Frances E. and Carolyn De Swarte Gifford. Writing Out My Heart: Selections from the Journal of Frances E. Willard, 1855-96 Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1995, 80 

[4] Frances Willard, Glimpses of 50 Years, 1839-1889 (Chicago: Woman’s Temperance Publication Association, 1889), 54. 

[5] Bordin, Frances Willard, 38. 

[6] Willard and Gifford, 186.