Eades-Rowland House/ Lewis School for Young Ladies
- Jay Brothers
- May 2
- 2 min read
Was located on North 9th St. and University Oxford, MS
Circa 1853. 2-story wood frame home
James Elihu Eades (1816-1870), an Oxford merchant, and Jane Rankin Eades (1816-1906) built their home on North 9th St. and University Ave. They wed in 1863.Eades was a partner in Eades & Nelms, dry goods, with a store on the Oxford Square in 1860. About five years later, Eades built another house at 1109 S. Lamar Ave. (Eades-=Thompson House) and evidently moved.
At some point, it their home became the latest location for the fashionable girls school, the Lewis School for Girls. Sallie (Mrs. C. E.) Lewis had taken control of the school by 1871 and brought in Mrs Hays as “lady principal” and elevated the coursework. The female education institution for young women had been founded by the 1840s, and it moved locations occasionally.
Twenty years after being built, in 1873, Delta Gamma sorority was founded there. “Anna Boyd, Mary Comfort, and Eva Webb spent the holidays at the Lewis School for Girls and formed the Delta Gamma Club.” per the Delta Gamma website. They had been unable to get back home over the Christmas break. In the 1890s, a new front was added facing University Ave with a 2 story gallery across the front. In 1889, the charter for the school, Psi I-Lewis School was withdrawn, and it was vacated.
After almost a decade of unuse, In 1897, Dr. Peter Whitman “Pete” Rowland, Sr. (1861-1943) and Eugenia Susan Herron Rowland (1865-1941) purchased the property. Dr. Rowland was a physician and Ole Miss professor. After his death, the daughter, Mary Victoria Rowland (1885-1976) remained there until her death.
Afterward, the home was torn down for apartments because it had become dilapidated. See Eades-Thompson House
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