University Of Mary Washington

Monroe Hall was constructed in 1911. Its plan is inspired by Palladio's Villa Rotunda.
Founded in 1908 as the State Normal and Industrial School for Women, the college was renamed Mary Washington College in 1938 after Mary Ball Washington, mother of the first president of the United States of America, George Washington. In 1944 the college became associated with the University of Virginia as its school for women. Following the university's transition to coeducational status in 1970, the Virginia General Assembly reorganized Mary Washington College in 1972 as a separate, coeducational institution. Today UMW is the nation's only public, coeducational college named after a secular woman. Effective July 1, 2004, the institution legally became the University of Mary Washington, after approval by the General Assembly of Virginia.