Science Hill School (Shelbyville, Ky.)

Science Hill Female Academy (later changed to Science Hill School) in Shelbyville, Kentucky, was founded by Julia Ann Tevis in 1825 for white female students aged six to twenty-one. In time the school became renowned, drawing students from nearly every state. The school was associated with the Methodist Episcopal Church from 1829 until 1906. Education was focused on preparing women for their future roles as wives and mothers, but went beyond superficial education to include reading, writing, arithmetic, grammar, history, rhetoric, astronomy, French, music, and painting. W.T. Poynter purchased the school in 1879 and made Science Hill one of the foremost college preparatory schools for women. His wife, Clara M. Poynter, served as principal after his death in 1896 and their daughter, Juliet Jameson Poynter, served as president from 1937 until the school's closing in June 1939.