American School (Late 19th Century), Portrait of Kate Montgomery

Oil on canvas, 1895, not signed, presented in a pierced giltwood frame with gallery plaque at lower center.

Stretcher size 24 1/4 x 20 in.; Frame dimensions 36 1/4 x 32 1/4 in.

From the Historic Collection of Limestone University, Gaffney, South Carolina
Limestone College, now Limestone University, was founded in 1845 in Gaffney, South Carolina, by English-born Baptist minister Dr. Thomas Curtis and his son William. Originally established as the Limestone Springs Female High School, it was among the first women’s colleges in the nation and the very first in the state. The institution found its early roots in a former resort hotel near healing springs, later struggling due to the Civil War and Reconstruction. It revived in 1881 as the Cooper‑Limestone Institute, thanks to benefaction from industrialist Peter Cooper, and adopted the name Limestone College.

Kate Lois Montgomery was born in Spartanburg, South Carolina in 1877. The only daughter of Capt. and Mrs. John H. Montgomery, she died of a brief illness while attending Cooper Limestone Institute on August 26, 1895. The college's library, built in 1940, was named in her honor.

A few punctures to the canvas, light age cracking.