church every Sunday. Every Friday afternoon, young men and women from Evanston and Chicago attended lectures of various topics in the College chapel. Absorption by Northwestern University The Great Chicago Fire of 1871 devastated the Evanston College for Ladies due to the fact that the donors, who had pledged money to pay off the debts acquired by the College’s expansion, could no longer pay. As a result, the Evanston College for Ladies ceded its property and management to Northwestern University in 1873. Northwestern assumed the College’s debts and also promised to include at least five women in the University’s Board of Trustees. The Evanston College for Ladies was then known as the Women’s College of Northwestern University. Frances E. Willard, who was the president of The Evanston College for Ladies, became the Dean of Women as well as Professor of Aesthetics at Northwestern. The Women’s College of Northwestern University continued to offer fine arts and college preparatory programs, but the main function was to provide meals, housing, and supervision to Northwestern’s female students. In 1892, the faculty of Northwestern proposed changing the title from "Women’s College" to "Women’s Hall". In 1901, the building finally became known as Willard Hall, and is still named that to this date. In 1940, Willard Hall was transformed into a music administration building for Northwestern University. In 2015, the building was left vacant as the Bienen School of Music was moved to a new campus building. Notable people Marion Murdoch (born 1849), minister Minerva Brace Norton (1837-1894), American educator and author Mary Bannister Willard (1841-1912), editor, temperance worker, and educator; sister-in-law of Frances Willard References Educational institutions established in 1871 Northwestern University Former women's universities and colleges in the United States Defunct private universities and colleges in Illinois 1871 establishments in Illinois 1873 disestablishments in Illinois Educational institutions disestablished in 1873 Education in Evanston, Illinois Universities and colleges in Cook County, Illinois History of women in Illinois