The University of Mary Washington is located in Fredericksburg, Virginia. It was originally called the State Normal and Industrial School for Women and was founded in 1908. It was named Mary Washington College in honor of the George Washington's mother Mary Ball Washington in 1938. In 1944, it became the University of Virginia's school for women, and was reorganized in 1972 as an independent four-year liberal arts college. It is the only public coed college named after a secular woman.