Founded as a companion to the Montgomery Male Academy, the Montgomery Collegiate Institute opened in Christiansburg Virginia on November 1, 1852. Under the auspices of the Montgomery Presbytery, the school was first located in what had been the old Presbyterian Church on Franklin Street. In 1860, the college moved into a new building, but it was used as a hospital during the American Civil War and the school endured harsh economic conditions. In 1870, Dr. Samuel K. Cox purchased the school (by then known as Montgomery Female Academy); though it retained its prestige, the school failed to regain its antebellum prosperity. The school was sold at public auction to Oceana S. Pollock, a teacher at the school, in 1876.

With Pollock serving as principal, the school--by then known as Montgomery Female College--once again thrived. In 1887, Pollock deeded the college to Ebenezer T. and Anna Susan McDannold Baird but continued to serve as principal. The school closed for a year in 1890, then reopened under a series of principals. In 1903, Pollock's niece, Virginia Wardlaw was named principal of Montgomery Female College. She was soon joined on the staff by her older sisters, Mary Snead and Caroline Martin. Under the sisters' operation, the school declined and gained local notoriety as the scene of strange events. The Wardlaws became known as "the black sisters" for their practice of appearing always in black dresses and heavy veils. The sisters fell deeply into debt, local sentiment turned against them, and the school's reputation suffered. Montgomery Female College closed in 1908, and the Wardlaws left Christiansburg for New Jersey. (Within a year, the sisters would become implicated in events surrounding the mysterious death of Caroline Wardlaw Martin's daughter, Ocey.) The building formerly housing the Montgomery Female College operated under new owners as a boarding house and health resort for several years, then was sold to the Montgomery County School Board. In 1935, the building was demolished to make space for construction of a new Christiansburg High School.