Georgetown Visitation Preparatory School is a private Roman Catholic
college-preparatory school
A college-preparatory school (usually shortened to preparatory school or prep school) is a type of secondary school. The term refers to public, private independent or parochial schools primarily designed to prepare students for higher educatio ...
for girls located in the historic
Washington, D.C.
)
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neighborhood of
Georgetown. Founded in 1799 by the
Order of the Visitation of Holy Mary
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, abbreviation = V.S.M.
, nickname = Visitandines
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, founder = Saint Bishop Francis de ...
(also known as the Visitation Sisters), it is one of the oldest continuously-operating schools for girls in the country and the city as well as the oldest Catholic school for girls in the original
Thirteen Colonies
The Thirteen Colonies, also known as the Thirteen British Colonies, the Thirteen American Colonies, or later as the United Colonies, were a group of British colonies on the Atlantic coast of North America. Founded in the 17th and 18th cent ...
.
It is located within the
Archdiocese of Washington.
History
Georgetown Visitation was founded in 1799. It is the oldest Catholic school for girls in the original 13 colonies. The school opened near
Georgetown College
Georgetown College is a private Christian college in Georgetown, Kentucky. Chartered in 1829, Georgetown was the first Baptist college west of the Appalachian Mountains.
The college offers 38 undergraduate degrees and a Master of Arts in educat ...
because its fourth President, Father
Leonard Neale
Leonard Neale (October 15, 1746 – June 18, 1817) was an American Catholic prelate and Jesuit who became the second Archbishop of Baltimore and the first Catholic bishop to be ordained in the United States. While president of Georgetown Co ...
, S.J., (later Bishop and Archbishop) co-founded the Academy and Convent. He invited Alice Lalor, Maria McDermott and Maria Sharpe to join him; these founders would come to be called "The Three Pious Ladies."
Rome recognized the Georgetown Visitation Order in 1816; on May 24, 1828, the Sisters were incorporated by Congress, an act signed by President
John Quincy Adams
John Quincy Adams (; July 11, 1767 – February 23, 1848) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, and diarist who served as the sixth president of the United States, from 1825 to 1829. He previously served as the eighth United States ...
, who, a few months later, handed out awards at the commencement exercises. By this time, students were learning geography, history, mythology, astronomy, chemistry, French, Spanish, and vocal & instrumental music.
From 1800 to 1862, Georgetown Visitation subsidized its mission by the forced labor and sale of enslaved people, 121 of whom have been identified, either by name or brief description. Primary sources tell of manumissions, self-emancipations, and the freeing of all people whom Visitation enslaved with the District of Columbia Emancipation Act on April 16, 1862.
The school continued to grow and evolve in the 20th century, focusing on high school and Junior College students. Beloved traditions such as Marshmallow Roast, a good-natured class competition with skits that "roast" faculty, and Gold-White, a school-wide intramural athletic competition, began in the early decades of this century. By the mid-sixties, the school started seeing a decline in the number of resident students and Junior College students; the Junior College was closed in 1964 and the boarding school was closed in 1975.
Fire and rebuilding
On July 8–9, 1993, a fire destroyed the historic main academic building of the campus, the Starkweather Academy Building, causing an initially estimated $3.5 million in damages.
Trailers were brought in to serve as temporary classrooms in time for the start of the 1993–1994 academic year. The building was restored and rededicated as Founders Hall on May 5, 1995. Since then, the campus has been revitalized with the Catharine E. Nolan Center for the Performing Arts and the Sarah and Charles T. Fisher Athletic Center completed for the bicentennial of the school in 1999, and the renovation of both St. Joseph's Hall and the St. Bernard Library in 2002 and 2003. In 2019 ,the school opened Berchmans Hall, named for Sister Mary Berchmans Hannan, VHM, '48 & '50, a two-story addition to St. Joseph's Hall with classrooms, science labs, and an art studio. The covered walkway between St. Bernard Library and St. Joseph’s Hall became the Saints Connector, with common areas and the McNabb Innovation Lab, named for Sister Mary de Sales McNabb, VHM, '48. Modern facilities are located side-by-side with historic buildings boasting a myriad of architectural styles, ranging from
Victorian to
Neo-Gothic
Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...
.
Traditions
Visitation traditionally held its graduation ceremonies in the Odeon, an auditorium where John Quincy Adams addressed the graduates of 1828.
After the Odeon was destroyed in the fire of Founder's Hall, graduation ceremonies were moved to
Georgetown University
Georgetown University is a private university, private research university in the Georgetown (Washington, D.C.), Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789 as Georg ...
’s Gaston Hall.
Georgetown Visitation Monastery
Notable alumnae
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Bay Buchanan
Angela Marie "Bay" Buchanan (born December 23, 1948) is a conservative political commentator who served as Treasurer of the United States under President Ronald Reagan.[treasurer of the United States
The treasurer of the United States is an officer in the United States Department of the Treasury who serves as custodian and trustee of the federal government's collateral assets and the supervisor of the department's currency and coinage produc ...]
*
Emily Warren Roebling
Emily Warren Roebling (September 23, 1843 – February 28, 1903) was an engineer known for her contributions over a period of more than 10 years to the completion of the Brooklyn Bridge after her husband Washington Roebling developed caiss ...
, known for her contribution to the completion of the
Brooklyn Bridge
*
Marian Canney
Marian Canney (née Gallagher, Jan. 18, 1921 - Sept. 9, 2019) was a faculty member at Georgetown Visitation Preparatory School. She was also well known for her visibility as widow of a Korean war soldier, John J. Canney Jr.
Early life and educat ...
(1921–2019), faculty member and Korean War widow
*
Ella Loraine Dorsey
Ella Loraine Dorsey (pen name, E. L. Dorsey; March 2, 1853 – November 4, 1935) was an American author, journalist, and translator. She contributed articles to magazines and wrote many stories, among them ''Midshipman Bob'', ''Jet, the War Mule'' ...
(1853–1935), author, journalist, translator
*
Jennifer Dougherty
Jennifer P. Dougherty (born April 13, 1961) was elected Frederick, Maryland's first female mayor in 2001. Dougherty defeated 2-term incumbent Republican Mayor James S. Grimes.
Dougherty campaigned for re-election in 2005 but did not win the ...
, first female mayor of
Frederick, Maryland
Frederick is a city in and the county seat of Frederick County, Maryland. It is part of the Baltimore–Washington Metropolitan Area. Frederick has long been an important crossroads, located at the intersection of a major north–south Native ...
*
Margaret Durante
Maggie Rose Durante (born May 19, 1988) is an American soul and country music singer. In 2009, Durante signed to Universal Republic as Margaret Durante and released a cover of Kings of Leon's "Use Somebody". A year later, she left Universal Repub ...
, country music artist
*
Mary Early, sculptor
*
Harriet Lane
Harriet Rebecca Lane Johnston (May 9, 1830 – July 3, 1903) acted as first lady of the United States during the administration of her uncle, lifelong bachelor President James Buchanan, from 1857 to 1861. She has been described as the first o ...
, U.S.
first lady
*
Sister Margarita of Jesus, Princess of Mexico; daughter of Agustin de Iturbide, Emperor of Mexico
*
Liz McCartney
Liz McCartney cofounded SBP (formerly the St. Bernard Project) in March 2006 to rebuild homes destroyed by Hurricane Katrina in the St. Bernard Parish of Louisiana, southeast of New Orleans. She is the 2008 CNN Hero of the Year and was nominate ...
, cofounder of the
St. Bernard Project, 2008
CNN
CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by ...
Hero of the Year
*
Harriet Monroe, founder and editor of
''Poetry'' magazine
*
Bertha Honore Palmer
Bertha Matilde Palmer (; May 22, 1849 – May 5, 1918) was an American businesswoman, socialite, and philanthropist.
Early life
Born as Bertha Matilde Honoré in Louisville, Kentucky, her father was businessman Henry Hamilton Honoré. Known wit ...
, (1849–1918), impressionist art collector, entrepreneuse, philanthropist
*
Evan Ryan
Evan Maureen Ryan (born April 18, 1971) is an American public servant currently serving as White House Cabinet Secretary in the administration of Joe Biden. She previously served as Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affai ...
, assistant for intergovernmental affairs and public liaison for vice president Joe Biden
*
Alice Smith
Alice Smith (born 30 November 1977) is an American singer and songwriter, her style anchored in rock, R&B, blues, jazz and soul.
Life and career
Raised between Washington, D.C. and a farm in Georgia, she sang in ''Moomtez'' and ''Black Roc ...
, singer
Popular culture
In 1850,
John H. Hewitt wrote the Grand Promenade March and dedicated it to the "Sisters of the Academy of Visitation, Georgetown."
References
External links
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{{Authority control
Visitation schools
1799 establishments in Washington, D.C.
Preparatory schools in Washington, D.C.
Educational institutions established in 1799
Visitation Preparatory School
Private high schools in Washington, D.C.
Independent School League
Girls' schools in Washington, D.C.
Catholic secondary schools in Washington, D.C.
Georgetown (Washington, D.C.)
Italianate architecture in Washington, D.C.
Colonial Revival architecture in Washington, D.C.
Federal architecture in Washington, D.C.
School buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Washington, D.C.