The origins of Longwood University can be traced to 1839 with the founding of Farmville Female Seminary. It was not, however, until 1842 that the first school building was constructed and the doors opened for pupils. That original building remained in service, mostly unchanged, for over fifty years when a major construction project started in 1897. That renovation incorporated a portion of the original building into what would become Longwood's main building, The Rotunda. During that 1897 renovation, the contractors uncovered and removed the cornerstone plaque from the original building. The silver-plated plaque is inscribed in cursive script with details regarding the school's origins and reads: "Farmville Female Academy, Built by Joint Stock Company, AD 1839." In 1984, during Longwood's Teacher Education Centennial, then-professor of biology, Dr. Carolyn Wells had the plaque cleaned, re-silvered, and framed by conservators at Colonial Williamsburg. Just below the plaque, she included an engraved silver placard which reads: "CORNERSTONE PLAQUE FROM THE ORIGINAL BUILDING OF THE FARMVILLE FEMALE ACADEMY, A PREDECESSOR OF LONGWOOD COLLEGE. THE ORIGINAL BUILDING WAS LOCATED WHERE WEST RUFFNER NOW STANDS." The framed plaque was then presented to then-Longwood President Janet D. Greenwood.