school had offered coeducational evening/weekend and online programs for several years before going fully coed. 1851: Tennessee and Alabama Female Institute (later Mary Sharp College): It was the first women's college to grant academic college degrees to women that were the equivalent of those given to men; the college closed due to financial hardship in 1896. 1853: Hagerstown Female Seminary (later Kee Mar College): in Hagerstown, Maryland. It closed in 1911. 1854: Columbia College (Columbia, South Carolina), became coeducational in 2021. 1855: Davenport Female College (later Davenport College): Founded in Lenoir, North Carolina. Chartered by the North Carolina General Assembly in 1859. Merged with Greensboro College in 1938. 1855: Mansfield Female College: Founded in Mansfield, Louisiana, it is claimed to be the first women's college west of the Mississippi River. Merged with Centenary College of Louisiana in 1930. 1857: Charlotte Female Institute: founded in Charlotte, North Carolina; became the coeducational Queens University of Charlotte after World War II. 1857: Peace Institute (now William Peace University): Founded in Raleigh, North Carolina; changed name first to Peace College, and then to the current name when it became coeducational in 2012. 1865: Ward Seminary for Young Ladies: Founded in Nashville, Tennessee; merged with Belmont College for Young Women in 1913 to form Ward-Belmont College. In 1951, Ward-Belmont College was sold to the Tennessee Baptist Convention, under whom it became coeducational and its name was shortened to Belmont College (today Belmont University). 1867: Scotia Seminary (now Barber-Scotia College): It was the first historically black female institution of higher education established after the American Civil War. It became a women's college in 1916. It became a coeducational school in 1954. It lost its accreditation in 2004. 1869: Young's Female College, in Thomasville, Georgia was founded in 1869. It had 15 teachers and 115 students in 1906. 1870: Sullins College: Founded in Bristol, VA in 1870, it originally operated a high school as well as a junior college. The high school was discontinued after WW II. The junior college, which offered associate degrees in both liberal arts and fine arts, closed in 1976. 1873: Blue Mountain College: Founded in Northeast Mississippi, it remained focused on women's education until 1956, when a program to train men for church-related vocations was started. In October 2005, the Board of Trustees voted to make the school co-educational. 1875: Mount Hermon Female Seminary: Founded in Clinton, Mississippi, it closed in 1924.