Fayette R. Buell

Few people remember Buell today, but this educator’s vision of establishing a college in Westminster set him apart from numerous other men who taught in private schools around Carroll County during its early days. Fayette Buell was born and educated in New York State and first came to teach in the county in 1854 at the request of residents living near Marston. He married Ellen Baile locally, then moved to Illinois. Returning to Carroll County in 1860, he opened the Westminster Male and Female School in his home at the northern end of Pennsylvania Avenue. It proved successful as Buell was an inspiring educator.

He began pursuing his dream of establishing a college in Westminster although it was initially thwarted by lack of financial support from the Maryland Conference of the Methodist Protestant Church when he turned there for backing in 1866.

He refused to give up and personally purchased land on “The Commons” - the hill at the western edge of Westminster. Then he designed a building and contracted for its construction. By 1868 Buell found himself so deeply in debt that he was required to submit a very thorough financial accounting for everything he had purchased and his interests were subsequently bought out by the Board of Trustees of the fledgling institution which became known as Western Maryland College. He stayed involved in the daily life of the college only from 1867 to 1868 although he remained as a trustee until 1872. After a short respite he opened another school in Westminster a few blocks from the college.

Buell felt the financial settlement he received from Western Maryland’s trustees was

insufficient, and it left him bitter for a number of years. To pay off the remaining debts

he had accumulated, the musically talented Buell and three of his daughters began

touring the country giving concerts.

In 1881 the family left for Philadelphia where it spent the next 30 years. Buell must

have had a soft spot in his heart for Westminster, however, because he, his wife, and

four of his children are buried here in Westminster Cemetery.

Fayette Rufus Buell is best remembered as the visionary and founder of Western Maryland College, now McDaniel College. Born April 27, 1833 in Lebanon, New York, Buell was educated at Cazenovia Seminary (now part of Cornell University) and at a school in Hamilton, New York. Buell moved to Carroll County in 1854 to oversee a school on the property of Abner Baile, near New Windsor. He married Baile’s daughter, Ellen, and together the couple had nine children, three of whom died in infancy.

The Buells moved to Peoria Illinois for a time but returned to Carroll County in 1858 to open another school. The Westminster Male and Female School opened on April 16, 1860 at 203 Pennsylvania Ave in Westminster, Md. The school was subsequently renamed Westminster Seminary in 1863. Encouraged by the success of his academy, Buell determined to open a college in Westminster. Through the guidance of J.T. Ward and the financial support from John Smith of Wakefield and Isaac Baile, Buell secured the necessary funding and land to open what would become Western Maryland College.

Construction began on August 27th, 1866 and the college officially opened on September 4th, 1867. During the college’s first year, Buell taught mathematics and vocal music and continued to oversee the school’s operation. By spring of that year, it was clear that the college was in serious financial peril. To secure its financial well-being and future operations, Ward, Smith, and Baile applied to have the College chartered and purchased from Buell to be operated by the Board of Trustees. Following the purchase, Buell ceased to play an active role at Western Maryland College though he would remain a trustee until 1872.

Following his disassociation with WMC, Buell opened another academy in Westminster and toured musically with his family under the Buell Family Concert. He and his family moved to Philadelphia where Buell resided for thirty years before passing away in Williamstown, New Jersey in 1913 at the age of seventy-nine.