Ward Belmont College

Both Jean Bloom Ghertner and Faylese Scharff  Gruber attended Ward-Belmont College on the grounds of the Antebellum estate of Adelicia Hayes Franklin Acklen Cheatham in Nashville, Tennessee.

“It was regarded as a very prestigious “finishing school” by the more aristocratic families of Middle Tennessee, although some students were from considerably farther away.”

The Ward Seminary for Young Ladies was founded in 1865 in Nashville by William and Eliza Hudson Ward. It’s goal was  to provide “a full and thorough course of instruction, embracing academic and collegiate work.”. It was a top ranked institution.

Susan L. Heron and Ida E. Hood opened Belmont College for Young Women on 4 September 1890. This school was on the Cheatham estate.

Ward Seminary and Belmont College merged in 1913 to become Ward-Belmont College; there were 1200 students in 1920. It was the first junior college “to receive full accreditation by the Southern Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools“.

Financial problems befell the school and in 1951 the campus was sold to the Tennessee Baptist convention and Belmont College was born. Today it is known as Belmont University. In 2007, Belmont became independent of the Baptist convention.

Here are a number of pages from Ward-Belmont yearbooks containing Faylese’s photos.

Faylese was President of the Riding Club