Potter College for Young Ladies Exhibit
Bowling Green, Kentucky
1889-1909

Building a College

The Potter College trustees chose to build their school on the crest of "Vinegar Hill," also known as "Copley Knob," a rugged, undeveloped hill a half-mile southwest of Bowling Green's public square.  They purchased four acres on the hill from Edward Bush Seeley, whose daughter Nellie had attended Cedar Bluff College.

Potter College's hilltop campus was ideal for a young ladies' college.  A visible source of pride to local residents, it was also relatively isolated in order to provide protection for the girls, control their activities and keep them focused on their studies --in short, it reflected the Victorian ideal of womanhood: quiet, private, dutiful and morally uncompromised.

The ideal woman was also domestic.  Potter College's main building accordingly resembled a large, elegant home. Its 120-foot frontage faced the town while two rectangular dormitory wings extended back 104 feet on either side.  Overlooking the back court was a three-tiered spindlework porch.  All activities--learning, eating, sleeping and leisure--took place under the same roof.  This "seminary style" of education had remained popular in the South after the Civil War as part of an attempt to recapture an antebellum culture of wealth, privilege and distinct
gender roles.

Western Kentucky University's Henry Hardin Cherry Hall, built in 1937, now occupies the site of the Potter College building.

Rear Court of Potter College Building