USA > Maine > Cumberland County > Harpswell > History of Brunswick, Topsham, and Harpswell, Maine, including the ancient territory known as Pejepscot > Part 49
USA > Maine > Cumberland County > Brunswick > History of Brunswick, Topsham, and Harpswell, Maine, including the ancient territory known as Pejepscot > Part 49
USA > Maine > Sagadahoc County > Topsham > History of Brunswick, Topsham, and Harpswell, Maine, including the ancient territory known as Pejepscot > Part 49
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In the month of June, 1808, a few students associated themselves together for literary purposes, under the name of the " Athenæan So- ciety of Bowdoin College." Henry Wood was the first president. This society for a few years surpassed its rival the Peucinian, but soon languished, and in 1811 was temporarily discontinued. It was revived again in 1813, but was. again disbanded in 1816 and its library divided. In 1818 it was again revived, and has continued till the
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present time. In 1820 the General Society was formed, and Levi Stowell was chosen as its first president. In 1822 its library was injured in the burning of Maine Hall, in which it was kept. In 1828 this society was incorporated by an Act of the legislature, and a new seal was adopted.1 In 1836 its library was again almost totally destroyed by fire. In 1850 it received the cabinet of curi- osities and other property of the "Caluvian Society." The mem- bership of this society in 1856, the date of its last catalogue, was as follows : Whole number of members, 885 ; initiated members, 739 ; honorary members, 79; members of the General Society, 748 ; of the College Society, 67. Though these two literary societies still exist, yet neither of them, it is believed, are supported with the former vigor and enthusiasm.
In 1811, Mr. Bowdoin, the steadfast friend of the college, died. He bequeathed to this institution his valuable private library of more than two thousand volumes, besides a large number of pamphlets, charts, maps, and several articles of philosophical apparatus, a valuable col- lection of minerals, comprising nearly five hundred distinct specimens, arranged by Hauy, nearly four hundred models in crystallography, and a valuable collection of paintings and engravings which he had collected in Europe. The value of this legacy was certainly not less than $15,000.
At a meeting of the Board of Trustees of the college, on May 19, 1812, it was voted " that in consideration of the great munificence of the late Honorable James Bowdoin, Esquire, toward this institution, and the interest taken by it in his lamented decease, it is expedient and becoming that public notice be taken of the event ; and therefore, voted, that the secretary of this Board be requested to deliver, at the ensuing Commencement, an eulogy on his memory." The Board of Overseers concurred in this request, and at the ensuing Commence- ment, September 2, the eulogy was delivered by Reverend Mr. Jenks, and was afterwards published in pamphlet form by a vote of the Boards.
This year Reverend William Jenks, A. M., Harvard, at that time settled in the ministry at Bath, the secretary of the Board of Trustees, was appointed Professor of Oriental and English Languages. He com- menced his duties Jannary 5, 1813. " The erudition of this gentle- man, and his classical taste, rendered his services an important acqui- sition." His appointment was for three years only, and he kept up
1 On the seal was engraven a head of Minerva, with the inscription : " Athencan Society, B. C., Cul Su. Sci. Cor." The abbreviations are for, " Bowdoin College, Cul- tores suos scientia coronat " (Science crowns her worshippers).
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his connection with his society in Bath. Efforts were made to retain him as a permanent instructor, but they were unsuccessful. At this time the finances of the college were in a low state, almost the only source of income being the sale from time to time of some of its wild lands, which were not then of much value.
In 1814 an Act was passed by the General Court, making an annual grant to the several colleges in the Commonwealth, for ten years. The portion allotted to this college was $3,000, one fourth of which was to be appropriated to the payment of the tuition of indigent students. This year the "Benevolent Society of Bowdoin College" was insti- tuted. It was at first composed entirely of graduates and undergrad- uates of the college, but it afterwards admitted those not connected with the institution. It was incorporated and had, at one time, funds to the amount of seven hundred dollars. From the printed constitu- tion of the society the following facts are obtained : -
The object of the society was to assist " indigent young men of promising talents and of good moral character in procuring an educa- tion at this college." No person could receive pecuniary assistance unless he had been a member of college, for at least one term. Any one of twenty-one years of age or over could become a member by paying one dollar on admission and one dollar annually, or a life member by paying ten dollars. The society received donations of books, furniture, clothing, or money, and the donor could designate the manner in which the gift should be appropriated, " provided it be for an object consistent with the design of the society." One half of the money received into the treasury and not appropriated by the donors was reserved as a permanent fund, of which only the annual income could be used.
The death of President Appleton occurred in November, 1819, and in consequence thereof a special meeting of the Boards was called in December, to elect his successor. Their choice fell upon Reverend William Allen, A. M., Harvard, of Hanover, New Hampshire, who had been president of Dartmouth College. In September previous, Samuel P. Newman, A. M., Harvard, was elected to the professor- ship of Latin and Greek, which had been rendered vacant by the resignation, in 1816, of Professor Abbot. The new professor and president were both inaugurated in May, 1820.
The formation of the new State of Maine in 1820 affected consider- ably the welfare of the college.
In the " Act of Separation," passed by the legislature of Massach 1- setts, June, 1819, it was provided that the grants already made to the
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college, which would not expire under four years, should continue in full force after the District of Maine became a State, and that all the chartered rights of the college should be enjoyed without change, .. except by judicial process according to the principles of law. By the Constitution of Maine, on the other hand, the legislature were restrained from making any grant to any literary institution, unless they should have a certain right of control over such institution " The trustees and overseers of the college, therefore, deemed it wise to vest such right of control in the legislature of Maine, in order to be able to derive aid from the State. Accordingly an application was made by them to the legislatures of both States "for their assent to such modifications of the college charter as would remove any impedi- ment in the way of the college receiving patronage from the legislature of Maine."
In response to this petition, the legislature of Massachusetts, on June 12 of this year, passed a resolve giving their consent to the alter- ation of the clause in the " Act of Separation " which referred to this college, provided the legislature of Maine consented thereto, and that the alteration did not affect the rights or interests of the Commonwealth. Four days later, the legislature of Maine passed an Act, so far modi- fying the " Act of Separation" as that the powers and privileges of the president, trustees, and overseers of the college should be subject to be " altered, limited, restrained, or extended by the legislature of the State of Maine, as shall by the said legislature be judged necessary to promote the best interests of said institution." The college having given its assent to this Act, the legislature of Maine granted a contin- uance of the sum which had been given by Massachusetts, and which had been appropriated for the purpose from a tax on the banks. By the power given them in this Act, the legislature also, in March, 1821, passed another Act increasing the number of trustees to twenty- five and of overseers to sixty, and the governor and council, by author- ity granted by the same Act, proceeded to fill by appointment the places which had been thus created. In this way thirty-three individ- uals were introduced into the two Boards.
The college buildings at this time were three in number, arranged to form the three sides of a square, but at suitable intervals from each other. The southern building was of wood and two stories high. The lower apartment contained the library, consisting at that time of about" six thousand volumes. The building on the north was a large, square brick building, three stories high, divided into apartments for the philosophical apparatus, laboratory, mineralogical cabinet, etc. The
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eastern building was of brick, and was four stories high, and contained thirty-two rooms for students.
In 1822 an additional building, Winthrop Hall, was erected for dormitories. In March of this year, Maine Hall took fire and the entire interior was burnt, though the walls were not materially injured. The fire was discovered at three o'clock in the afternoon, and when first noticed was beyond control. It is supposed to have caught in the garret, but no satisfactory knowledge of its origin can be given. The loss by this fire was considerable. The building alone cost $16,000. The theological library, consisting of from three to four hundred volumes, was almost entirely consumed. Twelve of the stn- dents lost all their wearing apparel. except what they had on at the time, together with their furniture and bedding. The private property thus lost was estimated at the time at not far from $1,500.
This severe blow to the prosperity of the college was averted by the public liberality. Individual donations were extensively made, and contributions were received in a large number of the churches in Maine and Massachusetts. and thus the loss was fully repaired.
In 1824 two new professorships were created. Reverend Thomas C. Upham, A. M., Dartmonth, who was settled in the ministry in Roches- ter, New Hampshire, was chosen Professor of Metaphysics and Ethics : and Samuel P. Newman, Professor of Rhetoric and Oratory. They were inaugurated in February of the following year. Professor New- man also conducted the recitations in civil polity and political economy, and Hebrew was taught by Professor Upham.
This year Alpheus S. Packard, A. M., a graduate of the college in the class of 1816, who had been a tutor since 1819, was chosen Pro- fessor of Languages and Classical Literature.
Professor Packard was the son of Reverend Doctor Hezekiah Packard, and was born in Chelmsford, Massachusetts, on December 23, 1798. His connection with the college for a period of fifty-eight years is evidence not only of the high esteem in which he has always been held by the public, as well as by his colleagues and the alumni, but is also a proof of the wisdom originally displayed in his selection. Professor Packard, in addition to the professorship to which he was originally chosen, was appointed from 1842 to 1845 to fill the vacancy in the Chair of Rhetoric and Oratory, and in 1864 was made Professor of Natu- ral and Revealed Religion. In addition to his college duties, he has, from time to time, supplied the pulpit in the churches of the neighbor- ing towns. In 1860 he was honored with the title of S. T. D. from this college. In 1828 he was elected a member of the Maine Histori-
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cal Society, in which he has for some years held and still holds the office of secretary. He has also for several years been one of its standing committee.
In 1825. William Smyth, A. M., a graduate of this college in the class of 1822, who had been a tutor for two years previously, was appointed Associate Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy. In 1828 he was made a professor in full. This year, 1825, a branch of the literary society of graduates, known as the Phi Beta Kappa, of which there is a branch in nearly all of the older colleges of the country, was organized at this college.
In 1826 the first graduation 1 of a student belonging to the colored race occurred. John B. Russworm, afterwards governor of Liberia, was the name of this individual.
In 1829, Henry W. Longfellow, A. M., a graduate of the class of 1825, was chosen to the professorship of Modern Languages, towards the foundation of which $1,000 had been bequeathed by Mrs. Dear- born, formerly the widow of Honorable James Bowdoin. Professor Longfellow resigned his office in 1835, having been invited to a sim- ilar professorship in Harvard University. What is usually designated as " Commons Hall" was built this year. It was designed, and for many years was used, as a dining-room for the students. It is now used as a laboratory of analytical chemistry.
In March, 1831, an Act was passed by the legislature which provided that no person then holding the office of president in any college in the State should hold said office beyond the day of the next Com- mencement of the college, unless he should be re-elected ; and that no person should be elected or re-elected to the office of president unless he should receive in each Board two thirds of all the votes given on the question of his election ; and that any person elected to said office should be liable to be removed at the pleasure of the Board or Boards which should elect him. It was furthermore provided that the fees usually paid to the president for degrees should be paid into the treasury, for the use of the college, and be no longer a perquisite of office. "This unprecedented act of legislation excited the deep con- cern of all who felt an interest in the permanency and stability of our literary institutions. Though applicable alike to both colleges of the State, its immediate object and direct bearing no one has ever pre- tended to disguise."
1 In 1858 a colored gentleman named Jacob M. Moore was graduated from the Medical School.
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At their next meeting the trustees and overseers voted to acquiesce in this act of the legislature, and at once proceeded to choose a presi- dent, but failed in consequence of their inability to get a two-thirds majority in both Boards. A committee of the two Boards was chosen to petition the legislature for a repeal of the provision of the Act requiring a two-thirds majority in each Board. President Allen, how- ever, did not wait the result of this petition, but at once proceeded to test the constitutionality of this legislative enactment by a suit in the Circuit Court of the United States. The case was argued before Honorable Joseph Story, associate justice of the Supreme Court, and Honorable Ashur Ware, district judge. The decision of the court had not only an important bearing upon the welfare of this college, but was also one which involved the chartered rights of all such institu- tions, and is deserving, therefore, of more particular mention in these pages.
The following abstract of this decision is taken from a published sketch of the college by Professor Packard, from which we have already freely quoted : - 1
" 1. A college established for the promotion of learning and piety is a private and not a public corporation. In the charter of Bowdoin College the visitatorial power is intrusted to the Boards of Trustees and Overseers ; as soon as they accepted the charter, they acquired a permanent right and title in their offices, which could not be diverted except in the manner pointed out in the charter. The legislature was bound by the Act ; they could not resume their grant, and they could not touch the vested rights, privileges, or franchises of the college, except so far as the power was reserved by the sixteenth section of the Act. The language of that section is certainly very broad, but it is not unlimited. It is there declared that the legislature ' may grant further powers to, or alter, limit, annul, or restrain any of the powers by this Act vested in the said corporation, as shall be judged necessary to promote the best interest of the college.' Whatever it may do, then, must be done to promote the best interest of the college. It is true that it is constituted the sole judge of what is the best interest of the college ; but still it cannot do anything pointedly destructive of that interest. Its authority is confined to the enlarging, altering. annulling or restraining of the powers of the corporation. It cannot intermeddle with its property ; it cannot extinguish its corporate existence ; it can- not resume all its property, and annihilate all its powers and fran-
For the full text of this decision sec Allen v. McKeen, 1 Sumner's Report, 276.
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chises. The legislature must leave its vitality and property, and enable it still to act as a college. It cannot remove the trustees or overseers, though it may abridge, as well as enlarge, their powers.
"2. Bowdoin College has never surrendered any of its rights. Whatever may have been the intentions of those concerned, at the outset, in regard to a surrender of the college to the State, there has been a miscarriage of the parties ; it never has been de jure under the control of the legislature of Maine.
"3. But admitting that the college, as was contemplated, did come under the control of the legislature of Maine, when it is stated in the Act modifying the college charter, that the president and trus- tees and overseers of Bowdoin College shall enjoy their powers and privileges, subject to be altered, limited, restrained, or extended by the legislature, no authority is conferred upon the legislature to add new members to the Boards by its own nomination or by that of the governor and Council of the State. That would be an extension, not of the powers and privileges of the Boards, but of the legislative action over them. If the legislature could add one new member of its own choice or appointment, it could add any number whatsoever. It could annihilate the powers and privileges of the charter Boards under the pretence of alteration or extension. The legislature might authorize an enlargement of the Boards, but the places thus created must be filled by the Boards themselves.
"4. The Act of the legislature, removing the presidents of Bow- doin and Waterville Colleges out of office at a certain time, is a direct exercise of a power which was expressly and exclusively conferred on the College Boards by the original charter, and which has never been taken from them.
" 5. President Allen was in office under a lawful contract made with the Boards, by which contract he was to hold that office during good behavior. The Act of the legislature directly impairs the obligations of that contract. It takes away from him his tenure of office, and removes him from it. Holding his office during good behavior, he could not be removed from it except for gross misbehavior; and then only by the Boards, in the manner pointed out in the original charter. Immediately upon the decision of the court being an- nounced, President Allen resumed the discharge of the duties of his office."
In 1835, Daniel R. Goodwin, then a tutor in college, succeeded Longfellow as Professor of Modern Languages. He served in this capacity until 1853, when he resigned, for the purpose of accepting the presidency of Trinity College, Connecticut.
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President Allen resigning in 1839, Reverend Leonard Woods, of Bangor Theological Seminary, son of Reverend Leonard Woods, a well-known divine, was elected as his successor. President Woods was at that time well known for his scholarly culture and attainments, and his reputation has steadily increased. In 1839 he received the hon- orary degree of D. D. from Waterville College, and in 1846 from Har- vard College. In 1866 he received that of LL. D. from Bowdoin. He was not only an eminent scholar and a fine teacher, but he attracted students by his courteous demeanor and by his lenient dis- position. He resigned in 1866, after a period of service extending over twenty-seven years, - a much longer service than that of any previous president.
In 1842 a professorship of Political Economy was founded, and Alpheus S. Packard was chosen as the first professor in that branch. He was succeeded in 1845 by Henry II. Boody, then a tutor.
On July 16 of this latter year, the corner-stone of King Chapel was laid with Masonic ceremonies. There were present the Grand Lodge of Maine, the Boston Encampment of Knight Templars, the Portland Encampment of Knight Templars, the Mount Vernon Chapter of Royal Arch Masons of Portland, the Montgomery Chapter of Bath, Ancient Landmark Lodge of Portland, Solar Lodge of Bath, Freeport Lodge of Freeport, and United Lodge of Brunswick. At the northwest angle of the ground there was a raised platform, upon which were the officers of the college, the Grand Lodge, and the Knight Templars. President Woods read the psalm "Lætatus sum," and made an address. Prayer was offered by Reverend William T. Dwight, and John T. Paine. Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Maine, assisted by Honorable Robert P. Dunlap, ex-Grand Master, then laid the stone in due form. A silver plate provided by the college, and one provided by the Grand Lodge, were then deposited in the proper receptacle in the stone.
In 1855 the new chapel was completed. The entire cost was $45,000. On June 7 it was dedicated. The services of the occasion consisted of a selection from the Scriptures and a prayer by Reverend George E. Adams, a hymn, an address by President Woods, a second hymn, a sermon by Professor Hitchcock, and a concluding prayer by Reverend Doctor Dwight. The services were attended by the under- graduates, many graduates, the college boards and faculty, and many friends of the college, who assembled in the library, from whence they moved to the chapel in a procession conducted by Honorable Charles J. Gilman as marshal.
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In 1848 a professorship of Rhetoric and Elocution was founded, that of Political Economy being merged in it, and Professor Henry H. Boody was appointed to this office. He was succeeded in 1856 by Egbert C. Smyth, son of Professor William Smyth, a graduate of the college in 1848, and a tutor in 1849.
A professorship of Natural and Revealed Religion was founded in 1850 by subscriptions among the Orthodox Congregationalists, and Calvin E. Stowe, D. D., of the class of 1829, an eminent scholar and theolo- gian, was chosen to that office. He was succeeded in 1852 by Roswell D. Hitchcock, a graduate of Amherst in 1836, now of New York City. In 1856, Professor E. C. Smyth was transferred to this chair, and Joshua L. Chamberlain, of the class of 1852, was appointed to the Chair of Rhetoric and Oratory. In 1858, William Russell, a distin- guished elocutionist, assisted in his branch.
Professor Goodwin resigned in 1855, and Charles Carroll Everett, now a professor in Harvard College, occupied the Chair of Modern Languages for two years, from 1855 to 1857. He was succeeded by Professor Chamberlain for two years, when William A. Packard, class of 1851, now professor at Princeton, gave the instruction for one year. In 1861, Professor Chamberlain was again placed in the Chair of Mod- ern Languages, that of Rhetoric and Oratory being filled in 1862 by Reverend Eliphalet Whittlesey, a graduate of Yale.
In August of this year, 1862, Professor Chamberlain resigned his office to go into the army for the period of the war then raging. The boards, however, granted him leave of absence instead of accepting his resignation, and Stephen J. Young, class of 1859, was made Pro- visional Instructor in Modern Languages, to which, on Professor Cham- berlain's resigning in 1865, he was elected as professor.
Professor Whittlesey also went into the army, and the duties of his chair were performed by members of the faculty. At the close of the war Professor Whittlesey resigned, and General Chamberlain was re-elected to the Chair of Rhetoric and Oratory, which, however, he again resigned in 1866, to accept the office of governor of Maine. He was followed by John S. Sewall, class of 1850, who held the chair until 1875, when Professor Henry L. Chapman, Bowdoin, class of 1866, was transferred to this from the Chair of Latin.
In 1859, Paul A. Chadbourne, a graduate of Williams, was chosen Professor of Chemistry and Natural History. He was succeeded in 1863 by Cyrus F. Brackett, a graduate in 1859, tutor in 1863. In 1864, Professor Brackett was appointed Adjunct Professor of Natural Sci- ence, and in 1865 to a full professorship in the Josiah Little Chair of
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Natural Science, to which, however, in 1868, George L. Goodale, a graduate of Amherst in 1860, was elected.
In 1862, William P. Tucker, class of 1854, tutor since 1857, was instructor in mathematics for one year. He had, in the mean time, as librarian, prepared an elaborate and valuable catalogue of the college library. In 1865, Edward N. Packard, tutor since 1863, was instruc- tor, and in 1866 Adjunct Professor of Mathematics. The death of Professor Smyth in 1868, while intensely engaged upon the building of Memorial Hall, left the Chair of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy vacant, and Charles E. Rockwood, a graduate of Yale, was chosen to the place.
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