the cabin to create a boarding school for women to over a dozen students During the 1830s, the school was known as The Boarding School for Young Ladies at Linden Wood, Missouri. Mary took charge of the boarding school and developed a strict curriculum that included literature, grammar, writing, spelling, and diction. French, music and piano, landscape painting, flower painting and needle work were available for an additional fee. The school was one of the first to require physical education, which included walking and dancing.
By the 1840s, the boarding school had grown to 30 students. As the enrollment expanded, the Sibleys added new rooms to the cabin. The continued improvements created a financial strain on the school and Mary Sibley traveled to the East Coast to solicit additional funding. In the early 1850s, the school was on the brink of closing when the Sibleys offered the property to the Presbyterian Church. In 1853, the school was incorporated by special act of the Missouri Legislature and became known …
