Winchester Hall

Following the battles of Antietam and South Mountain, these buildings became part of Frederick’s General Hospital No. 4.

The pair of buildings now known as Winchester Hall was originally founded by Hiram Winchester as a girls’ school, the Frederick Female Seminary. The cornerstone of the east wing was laid in 1843, with the west wing following in 1850. It attracted students not just from Maryland, but from neighboring states as well. During the Civil War, the school was taken over by the Union Army on September 17, 1862 to house soldiers wounded in the battles of South Mountain and Antietam, becoming part of Frederick’s General Hospital No. 4. At first, Winchester attempted to continue the school semester, keeping the soldiers in the west wing and the girls’ classes in the east wing, but the school was soon forced to close under the strain. Winchester’s attempts to regain control of the school from the army were unsuccessful, as the kitchens were being used to feed all of General Hospital No. 4. The soldiers finally departed in January 1863, but because many of the girls’ families were afraid to send them back due to the war, the school did not reopen until 1865. Even after its post-war reopening, many Southern students did not return, and the school fell into financial troubles. The seminary later became Hood College, leaving Winchester Hall in 1915; the buildings now house Frederick County Government offices.