Cottey College is a private women's college in Nevada, Missouri. It was founded by Virginia Alice (Cottey) Stockard in 1884. Since 1927 it has been owned and supported by the P.E.O. Sisterhood, a philanthropic women's organization based in Des Moines, Iowa. For most of its history, Cottey was a two-year liberal arts college, and in 2011 it achieved accreditation as a four-year baccalaureate-granting college. It had 302 full-time students enrolled in 2021. Cottey is situated on of land in Nevada, Missouri, the Vernon County seat and a rural town of 8,198 people (by the 2020 estimate). The main campus occupies 11 city blocks. Five blocks south is B.I.L. Hill, a private lodge that rests above a public park which includes a walking trail, gazebo, and small lake. BIL Hill is used by Cottey students, faculty, and staff for recreation, concerts, bonfires, picnics, suite nights, and other traditions. History Beginnings Cottey College was founded by Virginia Alice Cottey (known as Alice Cottey) in 1884; she originally called it Vernon Seminary, based on the county. After teaching at Central College in Lexington, Missouri since 1875, Cottey decided she wanted to establish her own school. She had saved $3,000, and her sisters Dora and Mary lent her nearly $3,000 of their savings to begin the school. Several towns bid for the opportunity to host the new girls' school, including Fort Worth, Texas and several towns in Missouri. After much thought, Cottey accepted the offer of Nevada in Vernon County, although it was not the most generous. Residents donated of land upon which Cottey had a three-story brick building constructed. After the college expanded, this building came to be known as Main Hall. Vernon Seminary opened its doors in 1884 as a primary, intermediate, and collegiate preparatory school. In those early years, before educational standardization in the U.S., placement of students depended more upon their accomplishments than age. In 1886 the school's name was officially changed to Cottey College. By 1932, the college consisted only of the higher education part, offering a two-year program. In 1927, Cottey offered the college to the P.E.O. Sisterhood (Philanthropic Educational Organization), an international organization based in Des Moines, Iowa that supports women's education. She made a condition that they raise a $200,000 endowment for the college (about $2.9 million in 2018 dollars), in order to maintain and operate it for the long term. The P.E.O. accepted, and have