It is not immediately clear when the building that eventually became the West Lake Boarding School (and still stands today as a private residence) was actually erected. Mr. Bowrman mortgaged the property in 1830, and it is possible these funds were used to build what might have originally been intended as a house, later converted to a school. In either case, in 1841 the building began official use as a school, welcoming first only girls, and later, in 1842, with the construction of a wood framed building to the east, boys.