USA > Maine > Penobscot County > Orono > Historical sketch of Orono > Part 5
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During the early 1890's the meeting house was completely re- modeled. The building was raised and a vestry and parlors were constructed under the audience room. That room was altered and enlarged and new pews and windows were installed. The present parsonage was built in the summer of 1901 on the site of
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an older one. A few years ago the auditorium was again redec- orated, and only last year a two-story addition was completed for the better accommodation of the church school in which about four hundred young people arc enrolled.
During its first eighty years, 1829 to 1909, the Orono Method- ist Church had forty-two pastors. This was owing to the long- standing policy of the denomination to permit its ministers to re- main not longer than three years at the same station. This rule has since been modified and longer terms of service have become common. Indeed Orono has had only four pastors in the last twenty-seven years: Herman D. Berlew, Elwin L. Wilson, Alfred G. Hempstead, and the present pastor, Chauncey D. Wentworth.
One other Protestant denomination has been active in Orono, the Universalists. As early as 1836 an attempt was made to form a society but without result. Some years later (1843) under the leadership of the Reverend L. P. Rand, the First Universalist Meetinghouse Corporation was organized for the purpose of building and maintaining a house of worship. Petitioners for in- corporation were Israel Washburn, Jr., Andrew W. Weymouth, J. F. Spaulding, Samuel Abbott, Samuel Pingree, Jacob Banks, Samuel Buffum, and Joshua Johnson. August 24 of the same year the First Universalist Society of Orono was organized. The building was completed and dedicated in August 1844. Reverend Mr. Rand preached the sermon of dedication.
Mr. Rand was succeeded by the Reverend Henry C. Leonard, who was pastor from 1846 to 1855. Only one other pastor, the Reverend I. Barstow, served more than five years. He was in Orono from 1857 to 1865. The church prospered under these two ministers. A Sunday school was established in 1847. Twice before the Civil War additional space was provided for growing church activities. Once that was done by finishing the vestry, and once by cutting the building in two, moving the rear section outward, and filling in a space large enough to contain sixteen pews.
In 1853 the meeting house was provided with a bell and the town clock was installed in the steeple. The church financed part of the expense largely through amounts raised by the women's society. The town of Orono paid the remainder and until fairly recent years paid a caretaker for "winding the clock."
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Another organization had been formed in 1851 for the pur- pose of erecting and maintaining a parsonage and was called the Universalist Parsonage Association. Then in 1861 St. John's Parish was incorporated. The three older associations next trans- ferred their rights and property to the parish, thus combining all the activities of the church under a single head. The Legis- lative Act for the incorporation of St. John's Parish was signed by one of the incorporators, Israel Washburn, Jr., then Governor of Maine. The minutes of the transfer of property from the older societies are also in Governor Washburn's handwriting.
Three times in the next fifty years the edifice received ex- tensive renovation and repairs, in 1863, between 1886 and 1889, and again between 1903 and 1907. During the second period, stained glass windows were installed in memory of Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Buffum, Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Weymouth, and Mr. and Mrs. Levi Weeks. The third time was during the pastorate of Mrs. Nellie M. Opdale, the only woman to serve the church as pastor. New pews were provided, a new kitchen was added, and a pipe organ was installed. The organ was paid for in part by the parish and in part by a gift from Mrs. Andrew Carnegie. Windows were donated by their families in memory of Mr. and Mrs. Niah Gould and of Mr. and Mrs. Nathaniel Treat.
As doctrinal differences became less pronounced, leaders in the Congregational and Universalist churches in Orono began to consider the desirability of uniting in a single organization. The proposition met with favor and gradually plans were prepared for the union. These plans received the approval of a majority of the members of both churches and in 1918 the union was ac- complished. The new organization was called the United Parish of Orono.
However, in time a lack of harmony developed and the mem- bers of the former church societies agreed to go their separate ways once more. This they did for several years, but the forces of mutual interest and attraction prevailed, and about 1942 they came together again in a single church body which has since been called the Church of Universal Fellowship. Pastors of the church since reunion have been the Reverends Raymond J.
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Baughan, David D. Rose, and the present pastor, Milton M. McGorrill. The church is now more flourishing than either of its predecessors at any time in their long history. Recently the par- ish has purchased and remodeled for religious purposes a dwelling house that is situated next door to the church edifice, which is the old Universalist meeting house of former days.
One may say that the Roman Catholics were both the earli- est and the latest of the four church organizations to serve the people of Orono. They were the earliest because, long before there were any English settlers in Eastern Maine, missionary priests were ministering to the Indians who were then living within the boundaries of what became the original town of Orono, and because there is evidence that they were active in what became St. Joseph's Parish in Old Town, then a part of Orono, as early as 1825. They were the latest because the Cath- olic population in the present town of Orono was almost non- existent when the three Protestant churches were organized.
St. Mary's Parish in Orono was formerly a part of the older St. Joseph's Parish in Old Town. Father John Bapst, of Bangor, who was prominent in Catholic circles in his day, celebrated the first mass of record in Orono in the home of Mrs. Alexander Wil- lett in 1848. At that time there were about twenty Catholic families here, writes Mrs. Rogers. Then for some years the sacri- fice of the mass was offered in a small, red house owned by Patrick McChrystle, who was the pioneer Catholic in Orono. Still later services were held at the home of Peter McChrystle, which after- ward became the parochial residence. During the earliest peri- od Father Bapst was assisted by another Bangor priest, the Rev- erend James Durnin.
By 1869 the Catholic population of Orono had increased to fifty families and the time was ripe for the erection of a church edifice, which was built that year through the efforts of Father McFaul, of Old Town, who was then in charge of the Orono mis- sion. The wooden building was located on Mill Street and is now a part of the plant of the Byers Manufacturing Company. Father McFaul was succeeded by Father John Duddy, of Old Town, and Orono continued to be a mission. Next came Father Charland, who was followed in turn by Father Michael C.
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O'Brien, who was afterward vicar-general of the Diocese of Maine.
Next Monsignor Francis X. Trudel had charge of the mis- sion and continued to serve until 1883. In December of that year St. Mary's Parish was made an independent parish with the Reverend Henry Haymaker as the first resident priest. At that time there were some seven hundred communicants. Father Ed- mund Genereux succeeded Father Haymaker as pastor in 1888 and remained in charge of the spiritual welfare of his people for eleven years.
Then in October 1899 began the longest pastorate in the history of St. Mary's Parish, that of the Reverend John M. Har- rington, who served faithfully until his death in 1926. His pas- torate of twenty-seven years was not only one of great length but also one of great achievement.
"At the turn of the century," writes one of his successors, Father Thomas M. Nelligan, "Father Harrington purchased the property on Main Street which is the site of the present parish buildings. With wise foresight, he was planning for the future. The present buildings bear testimony to his zeal and courage. With the support of less than three hundred Catholic families, Father Harrington erected, in 1905, the present stone church. This church was dedicated by the Right Reverend Bishop Walsh of Portland in October 1906, as his first official act after taking charge of this diocese.
"Father Harrington then looked forward to the erection of a school. This priestly ambition was realized in 1914 when a stone building - a school of the most modern type at that time - was erected. He was not content with a school that would include only the grammar grades. Under the name of the Orono Catho- lic High School he extended the courses of study to include the four years of high school. It was at this time the only Catholic school in Maine with a high school for boys and girls."
Of these buildings Mrs. Rogers wrote: "The church is a noble structure with a seating capacity of six hundred. It is built of red granite and field stone and architecturally is most impressive. In the belfry is a splendid memorial bell presented by James McNulty in memory of his parents. The parochial school is of cast
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stone and field stone and the combination is most artistic. The building is well adapted for the purpose for which it is intended. In the curriculum of the school is every grade from the kinder- garten to the senior class in high school."
The Sisters of Mercy came to Orono when the school was established in 1914 and have since then served as its teachers. Mother Mary Raymond was the first principal and also the first mother superior of the convent next door. Attendance at the school has varied through the years, but in 1955 thirty-two stu- dents were enrolled in the high school and one hundred and fifty in the grades.
Father Harrington's successor was the Reverend Thomas J. O'Dowd who continued the work of developing the church from 1927 until 1942 when he was promoted to be pastor of St. Mary's Parish at Augusta. The next priest was the Reverend Maurice Boland, whose pastorate began in 1942 and ended in 1950 when he was transferred to Holy Trinity Parish at Saco. The Very
Monument in memory of Chief Joseph Orono, and St. Mary's School.
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Reverend Thomas M. Nelligan has been pastor of St. Mary's since 1950.
Two societies have long been active in the work of the par- ish, the Joseph Orono Council, Knights of Columbus and St. Mary's Circle, Daughters of Isabella. The first will celebrate their sixtieth anniversary this year. The second observed their twenty- fifth anniversary in 1953. The tall monument in the yard of the church was erected by the Knights of Columbus some years ago in honor of Joseph Orono for whom both the Council and the town of Orono are named.
Israel Washburn, Jr., Orono lawyer from 1834, member of U. S. Congress, Governor of Maine 1861-2.
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CHAPTER VII The University of Maine
The University of Maine has grown from the most modest beginnings until now it is the largest institution of higher educa- tion in the state of Maine. Most of its faculty of over four hundred members and their families are permanent residents of Orono, and the student body adds several thousand persons to the population of the town during the academic year. Orono's fame as a lumber manufacturing town is fading into the past. Education is now the leading industry.
It was on April 25, 1865, that the first Board of Trustees of the Maine State College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts met at the State House in Augusta for their first meeting. The State, by an act of the Legislature dated March 25, 1863, had accepted the terms of the Morrill Land-Grant College Act, passed by the Con- gress the previous year and signed by Abraham Lincoln. By so doing the State had pledged itself to support at least one col- lege that would "teach such branches of learning as are related to agriculture and the mechanic arts ... in order to promote the liber- al and practical education of the industrial classes in the several pursuits and professions of life." The trustees were embarking on a new and uncharted course in the realm of higher education.
More than three years were spent in preliminary work before the college opened its doors to students on September 21, 1868. Two members comprised the entire faculty. Merritt C. Fernald was acting president and professor of mathematics and physics and Samuel Johnson was instructor in agriculture and farm manager. The first catalog was issued in 1868 and gave a com- plete course of study for the freshman year only. Other courses were added as the students progressed toward their senior year. By the time of the first graduation four complete four-year courses had been established - Agriculture, Civil Engineering, Mechani- cal Engineering, and Elective.
When the campus was acquired in 1866, it had on it two sets
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of farm buildings somewhat out of repair. The first building for strictly classroom use was a wooden one erected in 1867-68 and known first as White Hall and later as Wingate Hall. It was burned in 1890 and the present Wingate Hall was erected on the same site. In 1870 the Maine Legislature appropriated $50,000 for the college and two brick buildings were erected. They were constructed from brick burned on the campus and were later named Fernald Hall and Oak Hall.
The first class graduated in 1872. There were six members, Benjamin F. Gould, George E. Hammond, Edwin J. Haskell, Hed- dle Hilliard, Eber D. Thomas, and George O. Weston. Exercises were held in the Orono Methodist Church as there was then no building on the campus adapted to the purpose.
The same year (1872) the college was made co-educational and one woman, Louise Hammond Ramsdell, was admitted as a junior. She graduated in the Class of 1874. However, during the next twenty years the number of women seldom exceeded ten, and from 1888 to 1894 there were never more than two.
Dr. Fernald asked to be relieved of the duty of acting presi- dent in 1871. The Reverend Charles F. Allen was then chosen president and served until 1878. During his administration at- tendance did not greatly increase, but the quality of instruction continued to improve year by year. The infant college was severe- ly handicapped by lack of funds. It had no endowment, except that derived from the federal grant of land, and by law tuition was free to Maine students. State appropriations for all purposes averaged about $13,000 annually.
Dr. Fernald succeeded Dr. Allen as president in 1879 and served until 1893. The "Greenback" Legislatures of 1879 and 1880 looked with jaundiced eyes on what in derision was often called the "cow college." That of 1879 not only refused to make any appropriation whatever for the needs of the college but also required all students to pay tuition. That of 1880 voted only $3,000 for the next fiscal year. Moreover a vigorous attempt was made to limit instruction to three years and to prescribe by law the exact subjects that should be studied. Such subjects as arith- metic, algebra, rhetoric, elements of geology, forge-work and car- pentry were among those specified. All languages except Eng-
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lish, higher mathematics, and nearly all engineering subjects would be banned. The friends of the college with difficulty prevented the passage of this bill, which, they believed, spelled ruin. Nor was the Legislature of 1881 much more friendly. Their appropri- ation of $3,000 was to cover a two-year period.
Legislative action (and the kind of public opinion that prompted it) especially in imposing tuition, gave the college a body blow from which it took some years to recover. The Class of 1883, the first to pay tuition for the full four years, graduated only fourteen members, and not until 1888 did the number of graduates in any one year exceed twenty.
None the less the institution made excellent progress under Dr. Fernald. While the student body remained small, the facul- ty increased from nine to nineteen, and the quality of instruction improved both in method and subject matter. Among the members of the faculty who remained for a long term of years and thus gave the college a measure of continuity, were, besides President Fernald, Albert B. Aubert, Walter Balentine, James M. Bartlett, Gilbert M. Gowell, George H. Hamlin, James N. Hart, Francis L. Harvey, Lucius H. Merrill, Allen E. Rogers, Fremont L. Russell, and James S. Stevens.
In 1885 the Maine Legislature established an agricultural ex- periment station in connection with the college under the name of The Maine Fertilizer Control and Agricultural Experiment Sta- tion. It was organized the same year with Dr. Whitman H. Jor- dan as the first director. He resigned in 1896 to become director of the New York Agricultural Experiment Station, where he be- came one of the country's most noted leaders in agricultural re- search.
Two years later (1887) the Congress passed the Hatch Act that established an agricultural experiment station in every state. The Maine law was repealed and thenceforth the station was largely maintained by federal funds. In 1888 a brick building was erected for station use. Later it was named Holmes Hall in honor of Dr. Ezekiel Holmes who deserves great credit for his part in the establishment of the college as a separate institution.
One of the requirements of the Morrill Act of 1862 was that land-grant colleges should give military instruction. Until 1882
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this activity had been financed by the college, but that year an instructor was assigned to the college by the War Department. This arrangement is still in operation. For a long time students taking military were known as Coburn Cadets in honor of Gov- ernor Abner Coburn who was president of the Board of Trustees from 1867 to 1881. Governor Coburn also bequeathed to the col- lege $100,000 to be added to the endowment fund of the institu- tion.
Another important source of revenue became available in 1890 through the passage by the Congress of the Second Mor- rill Act, "for the more complete endowment and maintenance of colleges for the benefit of agriculture and the mechanic arts." Money received under the terms of this act increased year by year until the full amount of $50,000 became available. Dr. Fernald resigned as president in 1893 but continued to teach except for brief intervals until 1908, just forty years after he be- came the first member of the faculty.
The next president was Abram W. Harris, 1893-1901, who had been chief of the Office of Experiment Stations, United States Department of Agriculture, immediately before coming to Maine. Changes during his term of office included the remodeling of Oak Hall, the enlargement and remodeling of the old White farmhouse as the first dormitory for women under the name of Mt. Vernon House, and the erection of Alumni Hall, which was financed in part by gifts from alumni, faculty, and friends. The student body increased from 139 in 1893 to 384 in 1901; and the number of faculty members from 19 to 57. New members of the faculty who were to remain for many years included Charles D. Woods, director of the experiment station from 1896 to 1920, Archer C. Grover, John H. Huddilston, Ralph K. Jones, and Charles P. Weston.
One event during this administration is a landmark in the history of the institution. In 1897 the Legislature of the State of Maine changed the name from Maine State College of Agricul- ture and Mechanic Arts to University of Maine. Radical changes in organization followed. By 1900 the old departments had been rearranged, new departments added, and all of them grouped in five colleges - Agriculture, Arts and Sciences, Engineering,
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Law, and Pharmacy. The agricultural experiment station was the only other major division. The College of Engineering soon became the College of Technology. The College of Pharmacy, first established as a department in 1894, was reduced to a de- partment in the College of Technology in 1911, and was discon- tinued some years later. The College of Law was established in 1898 with George E. Gardner as dean. It was located in Bangor. Beginning in 1899 the College of Arts and Sciences offered a classical course that qualified students for the degree of Bachelor of Arts. This degree was conferred upon one student that year for the first time.
President Harris was succeeded by George E. Fellows, who served from 1902 to 1910. Dr. Fernald acted as president for a few months between the two administrations. The University continued to grow rapidly. Many new courses were offered and the student body doubled in size. The first dean to be appointed was Dean Gardner of the College of Law. He was succeeded in 1902 by Dean William E. Walz. In 1903 Professor James N. Hart, who had been one of the faculty since 1887, was made dean of the University. Two years later deans were appointed in two more colleges, James S. Stevens in the College of Arts and Sciences and William D. Hurd in the College of Agriculture. The College of Technology was without a dean until the appointment of Harold S. Boardman in 1910. Leon S. Merrill succeeded Dean Hurd in 1911.
New faculty members who remained for many years includ- ed Harold S. Boardman, who had served briefly under President Harris and now returned, Bertrand F. Brann, George D. Chase, Miss Caroline Colvin, Everett W. Davee, James A. Gannett, Leon S. Merrill, Warner J. Morse, Miss Edith M. Patch, Raymond Pearl, George E. Simmons, Frank M. Surface, and Harley D. Willard.
The greatest development took place in the College of Agri- culture. For the first thirty-five years the number of agricultural students was very small. As late as 1905 only 31 persons were registered in this college, but by 1910 the number had increased to 142, and by 1915 to 331. The growth in the student body was accompanied by an increase in the size of the faculty, in the number of courses taught, and in buildings and equipment.
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Noteworthy among the new courses were those in Domestic Science, now Home Economics, which resulted in a welcome in- crease in the number of women students. The two-year short courses in agriculture, started under President Harris but soon dis- continued, were revived and made permanent. Winslow Hall was erected in 1908 to provide administrative offices and much needed classrooms, and smaller buildings were erected for specific pur- poses. The first Farmers' Week, now Farm and Home Week, was held in 1907, and has now become the outstanding agricultural event of the year in Maine. From the very beginning the agri- cultural faculty had been doing a certain amount of off-campus teaching of the kind now known as Extension work. These ac- tivities were now placed under the direction of a faculty member of the department of agronomy who devoted about half time to teaching and half to Extension subjects. Then in 1910 Exten- sion activities were separated from regular resident teaching and Lcon S. Merrill was appointed director. With this action the activities of the University in the field of agriculture became or- ganized along the lines on which they have since developed, res- ident instruction by the College of Agriculture, research by the Agricultural Experiment Station, and extension work by the Ex- tension Service.
Other advances under President Fellows included the revival of the Summer School and the establishment of a department of education in the College of Arts and Sciences, which has since become the School of Education. New buildings besides Wins- low Hall were Lord Hall, for the use of the College of Technology; Hannibal Hamlin Hall, a men's dormitory; and Carnegie Hall, a gift from Andrew Carnegie which houscd the library until re- cent years. Several fraternity houses were also erected. With- out them it would have been impossible to find housing for all the men who wished to obtain a college education. In 1907, for the first time, the Maine Legislature provided over $200,000 for the ensuing biennium.
Upon the resignation of President Fellows in 1910, Dean Hart served as acting president for a short time until the appoint- ment of Robert J. Aley. Early in this administration Dr. Fernald,
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now retired, realized a long-standing ambition. That was to see the numbers of the student body pass the one thousand mark. In 1912 there were 1,011 students enrolled, including those taking winter courses and in the summer school. Of that number 77 were women.
Dr. Aley served as president from December 1911 to August 1921. During that time enrollment, including students in sum- mer school and winter short courses, increased from 858 to 1,466; the number of graduates annually from 161 to 215; and the num- ber of women graduates from 7 to 41. Indicative of sturdy and permanent growth was the number of new members of the faculty who were to remain connected with the University for from twenty to more than forty years. They included Herbert B. Abbott, Frances E. Arnold, John H. Ashworth, Mark Bailey, William E. Barrows, Charles E. Brautlecht, Marion L. Buzzell, Ava H. Chadbourne, Chauncey W. L. Chapman, Lamert S. Cor- bett, Walter J. Creamer, Charles E. Crossland, Clarence A. Day, Arthur L. Deering, Llewellyn M. Dorsey, Robert R. Drummond, Milton Ellis, Weston S. Evans, Albert K. Gardner, Leigh P. Gard- ner, Arthur S. Hill, Herbert S. Hill, Maurice D. Jones, Maynard F. Jordan, Benjamin C. Kent, H. Walter Leavitt, Alpheus C. Lyon, Harry R. Perkins, Roy M. Peterson, W. Sherman Rowe, Harry W. Smith, Adelbert W. Sprague, Harold C. Swift, Richard F. Talbot, Harry D. Watson, Ralph C. Wentworth, and Albert A. Whitmore.
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