The Council of Independent Colleges: Historic Campus Architecture Project

Pinkerton Hall

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Institution Name: Midway College
Original/Historic Place Name: Pinkerton Hall
Location on Campus:
Date(s) of Construction:

1859	original construction

Designer: unknown
Type of Place: Individual building
Style: Greek revival (Glossary)
Significance: culture, education, religion
Narrative: see below
References: see below

Materials:

Foundation: stone

Walls: brick

Roof: shingles

Function:

ca. 1859	classrooms
ca. 1859	dining hall
ca. 1859	residence hall
ca. 1859	administration
ca. 1859	old main
ca. 1972	other (Midway Junior College and Pinkerton High School)
ca. 2004-present (2006)	faculty offices
ca. 2004-present (2006)	academic department building (music)
ca. 2004-present (2006)	admissions office
ca. 2004-present (2006)	administration (business office, financial aid, nursing department offices)

Narrative:
Pinkerton Hall was designed and constructed as the Kentucky Female Orphan School in 1859 after an earlier wooden structure was destroyed by fire. Named for the founder of the school, a minister of the Christian church and a surgeon with the Eleventh Kentucky Cavalry, Dr. Lewis L. Pinkerton, the KFOS was the first institution of its type established in America to provide educational opportunities for young orphan women. There were at that time large numbers of orphaned women in the state due to frequent epidemics and the rugged living conditions in the piedmont of that day. Land was purchased and the building paid for, with the school largely supported by the Christian church, Disciples of Christ.

References:

Giovannoli, Harry. Kentucky Female Orphan School: A History, 1930. Midway, KY: Midway College, 1930.