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Remembering the Warrenton Country School
Remembering the Warrenton Country School
By John Toler
Anyone coming to Warrenton over the past 70-plus years may not be aware that the Warrenton Training Center Station A, a property on the Springs Road and Shipmadilly Lane just outside of town, was not always a secure U.S. Army facility.
Many years ago, a popular country club was located there, and from 1915 to 1950, it was the home of the Warrenton Country School, a private girls’ school operated by Mlle. Lea M. Bouligny (1865-1954).
A New Orleans native and prominent educator, Mlle. Bouligny had studied French under professors at Tulane University. She taught in schools in Buffalo, New York and was the principal of a private school in Chevy Chase before coming to Warrenton in the early 1900s.
Mlle. Bouligny’s sister Jeanne was married to businessman Oscar Terry Crosby, and lived in the mansion at View Tree west of town. In 1907, Mlle. Bouligny bought, and leased-back, the 13.14-acre country club property, and by 1914, had formulated plans for a new girls’ school to operate on the site.
One of the unique features was that French would be the spoken language at the school most of the time, including during class.
The existing clubhouse would serve as the main building with new construction to follow, including additional classrooms, a gymnasium, art building, infirmary, teachers’ cottage and seniors’ cottage.
Other structures included dormitories, a stable, garage, laundry and two frame staff houses, all built by master craftsmen William F. and W. J. Hanback.
In 1926, Mlle. Bouligny sold a 2.44-acre parcel to her niece, Edna Rhodes Fitch, who had a home built there. Mrs. Fitch served as the school’s assistant principal from 1926-1949.
Between 1930 and 1935, significant landscape features were added to the grounds of the school, including formal and smaller gardens, an outdoor theater with a stage, and decorative stonework.
Planned enrollment was for 40 boarding students coming from around the U.S. and a few foreign countries, and day students from surrounding communities. In 1930, there were 11 teachers in residence, including four from France and one from Switzerland.
The school uniform consisted of a calf-length lavender skirt and jacket topped by an ankle-length purple cape. In order to create a spirit of competition, the students were divided into the Green and Purple teams, competing for academic standings, sports and individual awards.
Mlle. Bouligny encouraged her students to become skilled horseback riders, and while some boarding students had equestrian skills, others got their first introduction to horse sports at the school. Some of the “horse country” day students had their own horses and helped others learn to ride.
WCS students participated in horse shows competing against each other and students from other schools, and in classes at the Warrenton and Upperville horse shows. Occasionally, the school would host hunt breakfasts for the Warrenton Hunt.
Drama and theatrics also were promoted, with several play productions each year. The plays were open to the public and often held to benefit local charities. The school year ended with the traditional senior class production of “Enchanted April.”
Special activities were scheduled monthly, including trips to football games at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, museums and plays in Washington and dances at nearby boys’ schools, including Woodberry Forest in Orange and Massanutten Military Academy at Woodstock. WCS students were regular invitees to Homecoming at Stuyvesant School in Warrenton.
Sports competition with other girls’ schools included basketball and soccer games against Holton-Arms School in Bethesda, Maryland, Foxcroft School in Middleburg, and St. Margaret’s School at Tappahannock. Each December, they played the girls’ varsity team at Warrenton High School.
Mlle. Bouligny was concerned about her girls having contact with local boys during their time off and established the WCS “weekend” as Sunday (with church) and Monday, denying her students the opportunity for mischief on Saturdays.
Over the years, a number of girls from prominent Fauquier County families were enrolled in the Warrenton Country School.
Hope Wallach Burrage Porter of Warrenton was a day student at WCS from 1937-42. She shared her unique experiences there in Warrenton Virginia, A Unique History of 200 Years (2021). Her friend among the boarders was Oona O’Neill (1925-1991) of Point Pleasant, New Jersey, the daughter of author and playwright Eugene O’Neill, who attended WCS from 1938-40.
In early 1949, Mlle. Bouligny, then 84, decided to retire. She announced that the school would be closed at the end of the 1948-49 school year, and the property put up for sale. However, she was contacted by Thomas Grier, the owner and headmaster of a girls’ school in Pennsylvania, who offered to lease the WCS.
Mlle. Bouligny introduced Grier to the patrons of the school, the students who would be returning for the 1949-50 session and their parents, and there was a commencement in June 1950. It would be the last. A few months later, Grier closed the school and cancelled the lease, and Mlle. Bouligny put the property up for sale.
In December, 1951, the WCS and Fitch properties, totaling 16.5 acres, were sold to the U.S. government for about $190,000 “…for undisclosed purposes connected with national defense,” according to The Fauquier Democrat. “Everyone involved was sworn to secrecy as to what agency of the government was involved.”
Mlle. Bouligny left immediately but returned to Warrenton after an aroundthe-world tour. She died in August, 1954 and was buried in the Warrenton Cemetery.
The former WCS property became Warrenton Training Center Station A, and while some of the school buildings were utilized, they were replaced over the years. It’s likely that the last of the of the original structures was demolished, despite the recommendation by Fauquier County that there should be complete documentation of the existing resources and public education about the site.
A Memorandum of Agreement was established in May, 2017, which incorrectly referred to the site as the former “Warrenton School for Girls.” It further stated that a traveling exhibit of the site would be produced, but if anything was done to preserve the history of the site, it was not made public.
