Illustrated history of Kennebec County, Maine; 1625-1892, Part 12

Author: Kingsbury, Henry D; Deyo, Simeon L., ed
Publication date: 1892
Publisher: New York, Blake
Number of Pages: 1790

USA > Maine > Kennebec County > Illustrated history of Kennebec County, Maine; 1625-1892 > Part 12

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On the 8th of March, 1834, the legislature appropriated $20,000 for the purpose, upon condition that a like sum should be raised by indi- vidnal donations within one year. Before the time limit was reached Reuel Williams of Augusta and Benjamin Brown of Vassalboro each agreed to contribute $10,000 for the purpose. Mr. Brown in his dona- tion proposed to convey to the state as a site, two hundred acres of land, lying on the Kennebec river in Vassalboro, and would consent to a sale of the estate, if advisable to build elsewhere. The legisla- ture accepted the land, which was sold for $4,000 and the present more eligible site was selected in Augusta, on the eastern bank of the Ken- nebec, nearly opposite the state house, for which $3,000 was- paid. Reuel Williams, who was appointed a commissioner to erect the hos- pital, sent John B. Lord, of Hallowell, to examine similar institutions, and the general plan of the asylum at Worcester, Mass., was adopted. During 1836 contracts were made and materials collected, but in March, 1837, Mr. Williams resigned the office and John H. Hartwell was ap- pointed, under whose supervision the work was carried on one year. In March, 1838, a further appropriation of $29,500 was made to complete the exterior, and Charles Keene was appointed in place of Mr. Hart- well. In 1840 a further appropriation of $28,000 was made to com- plete the wings, and on the 14th of October one of the 126 rooms was occupied by the first patient.

Dr. Cyrus Knapp, of Winthrop, was appointed superintendent and physician; Dr. Chauncey Booth, jun., assistant; Henry Winslow, steward, and Mrs. Catherine Winslow, matron. In 1846-7 appropriations of $29,400 were made to erect a new wing, which was completed during 1848 and provided for seventy-five additional male patients.

Doctor Knapp resigned early in 1841 and was succeeded in August by Dr. Isaac Ray, of Eastport, whose first edition of Medical Jurispru- dence had recently appeared. During his three years here he re-wrote the work and published the second edition, which became authority

HISTORY OF KENNEBEC COUNTY.

in Europe as well as in America. He was succeeded March 19, 1845, by Dr. James Bates, the father of Dr. James Bates of Yarmouth, and formerly a member of congress from Norridgewock. He remained until after the terrible fire of 1850. This fire, in which twenty-seven patients and one attendant lost their lives, occurred on the early morn- ing of December 4th. The building was immediately repaired and was occupied before the close of 1850, and Dr. Henry M. Harlow, who came as assistant to Doctor Bates in June, 1845, was made superintend- ent June 17, 1851. During that and the following year $49,000 was appropriated to rebuild and improve the buildings, which were thor- oughly and safely heated by steam. By 1854 facilities were ample for 250 patients. and the fact that this capacity was often fully taxed, co 1- firms the judgment of its founders.

Doctor Harlow is a native of Westminster, Vt., a graduate from the Berkshire Medical School of Pittsfield, and before coming to Augusta had been assistant physician in the Vermont Asylum at Brat- tleboro. After thirty-two years of faithful and appreciated service to the state and to mankind, he resigned his control of the institution and is passing his later years in quiet life at his home in Augusta. His resignation, tendered some time previous, was accepted on the 18th of April, 1883, on the appointment of his successor, Dr. Bigelow T. Sanborn, who had been his assistant for more than sixteen years.

Doctor Sanborn was born July 11, 1839, in Standish, Me., his an- cestors having been substantial residents of Cumberland county since his grandfather was in the revolutionary war. He received his earlier education in select and town schools and in Limington Academy, and subsequently studied medicine in Portland Medical School, but took his degree from Bowdoin Medical School. When he was first offered a place in the institution as assistant superintendent it was through the advice of the medical faculty of Bowdoin, where he had graduated June 6, 1866. only ten days before entering here, upon his career now covering a quarter of a century. After accepting the superintendency of the asylum in 1883, Doctor Sanborn spent a few months investigat- ing the workings of similar institutions, thus bringing to the manage- ment of this, the most modern theories of the schools and the medi- cal profession, as well as a personal knowledge of the most approved features in the practical workings of the best asylums.

The accompanying landscape illustration shows the asylum and its beautiful surroundings in 1892. The view is from the northwest, looking from the river. The farm of four hundred acres belonging to the state reaches into the left background of the picture, and also includes some broad fields sloping west to the river bank, showing models of thrifty and profitable farming. The two large hospital buildings in the center background of the view were erected by Doctor Sanborn in 1888 and 1889; in fact less than half of the present equipment of the institution

HOSPITAL FOR THE INSANE, AUGUSTA, ME.

Bigelow J. Sanborn

CIVIL HISTORY AND INSTITUTIONS.

was in existence when he came here in 1866, and nearly half of the buildings have been erected and occupied under his supervision. It is a great credit to the commonwealth-the existence and efficiency of so liberal a charity to unfortunate humanity-and it is only just to a broad-minded, capable public servant to note here that this noble in- stitution under the liberal provisions of the state has reached its most important period thus far within the decade marked by the manage- ment of Dr. Bigelow T. Sanborn.

The first directors were: Reuel Williams of Augusta, Benjamin Brown of Vassalboro, and William C. Larrabee. In 1843 these direc- tors were superseded by four trustees, which number was subse- quently increased to six, one of whom must be a woman. Kennebec county has been represented in the board of trustees by Dr. Amos Nourse and Dr. John Hubbard, Hallowell; Hon. J. H. Hartwell, Hon. J. L. Cutler, Dr. William B. Lapham, Hon. J. H. Manley, George E. Weeks, J. W. Chase and Mrs. C. A. Quimby, Augusta; Dr. A. P. Snow, Winthrop; Hon. Edward Swan and R. H. Gardiner, Gardiner; John Ware, Waterville; and Mrs. E. J. Torsey. The pay is merely nominal and the board has included other philanthropic gentlemen, who have given the institution their attention in sympathy with the generous purpose of its earlier friends. The trustees in 1891 were: Frederick Robie, M. D., William H. Hunt, M. D., George E. Weeks, of Augusta; Mrs. E. J. Torsey, of Kents Hill; Lyndon Oak and R. B. Shepherd. The resident officers are: Bigelow T. Sanborn, M. D., superintendent; H. B. Hill, M. D., asst. sup .; George D. Rowe, M. D., second asst .; Emmer Virginia Baker, M. D., third asst .; P. H. S. Vaughan, M. D., fourth asst .; Manning S. Campbell, steward and treas .; and Alice G. Twitchell, matron.

EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS .-- Before Maine was a state, Massa- chusetts had made broad and liberal provisions for popular education, and from then until now we find in this county well equipped schools besides those supported by the several cities and towns. The laws of Massachusetts provided for elementary English schools in every town containing sixty families, and a grammar school in every town con- taining two hundred; when Maine became a state she changed this, requiring schools in every town, each town to raise annually forty cents per capita and distribute the same to the districts in proportion to the pupils in them. In 1825 this school fund averaged $47.75 for each dis- trict; but from the first the amount actually raised averaged more than the law required.

In compliance with a petition addressed to the general court, in which it was stated that no public school existed between Exeter, N. H., and the eastern boundary of Maine, a tract three hundred miles broad, and embracing a population of 100,000, an act was passed

HISTORY OF KENNEBEC COUNTY.

March 5, 1791, establishing an academy at Hallowell. The following June the corporation was endowed with a township of unappropriated land; four years later the building was completed and the school opened, with Mr. Woodman as principal. In its years of prosperity, many who subsequently became eminent in professional vocations availed themselves of the advantages which this school afforded.

Next to Hallowell Academy, the first school in Maine which em- braced in its curriculum a complete college preparatory course, was Monmouth Academy, which was incorporated as a free grammar school in 1803, and as an academy in 1809. Among the alumni of this institution, which is treated more exhaustively in the chapter devoted to the history of Monmouth, are found some of the leading statesmen and professional men in the country.

In 1813 the Maine Literary and Theological Institution was incor- porated, for the education of young men for the Baptist ministry. In June, 1820, the powers of the school were enlarged, and authority given to confer the usual university degrees. In the following Feb- ruary its name was changed to Waterville College. The state of Mas- sachusetts granted the school about 38,000 acres of land, and in 1829 the college had buildings valued at $14,000, a library of 1,700 volumes and other permanent property aggregating $29,500. The first build- ing erected was a house for the president, who instructed the students in a private house from 1818, when he accepted the position of pro- fessor in theology, until 1821, when the dormitory now known as South College was completed. In 1822 Chaplin Hall was begun, and in 1832 and 1837, respectively, two other large buildings were added.

In 1862 Maine granted the institution two half townships of land, in addition to a former endowment of an annuity of $1,000 for seven years succeeding its incorporation as a college. A manual labor depart- ment was established in 1830, with a view to lighten the expenses of the institution, but after a thorough trial the project was abandoned and the shops and tools sold.

The munificent gift of $50,000 from Gardiner Colby, of Newton, Mass., in 1864, and $100,000 received from other sources, placed the col- lege on a secure basis, and led to the title Colby University, which it has borne since January, 1867. In 1871 women were first admitted on equal terms with young men. There are three academical institutions in Maine controlled by the trustees of Colby University, from which pupils are admitted to the college on presentation of a diploma-Heb- ron Academy, Ricker Institute and Coburn Classical Institute. Jere- miah Chaplin, D. D., was president from 1822, succeeded by Rufus Babcock, D. D., in 1833; Robert E. Pattison, D. D., 1836; E. Fay, A. M., 1841; David N. Sheldon, 1843; R. E. Pattison again, 1854; and James T. Champlin, 1857 to 1873.

COLBY UNIVERSITY BUILDINGS, WATERVILLE, ME.

CIVIL HISTORY AND INSTITUTIONS.

The president of Colby University from 1873 to 1882 was Rev. Henry E. Robins, followed by Rev. G. D. B. Pepper, D. D., who served until 1889, when he was succeeded by Albion Woodbury Small, Ph. D., born May 11, 1854, at Buckfield, Me. He graduated from Portland High School in 1872, from Colby University in the class of '76, and three years later from Newton Theological Institute. He went to Germany in 1879, where he spent one year each at the universities of Berlin and Leipsic. In the fall of 1881 he began his work at Colby in the chair of history and political economy, where his ability as an educator soon became apparent, and in 1889 he was made president. He is the youngest president, that Colby has ever had, and the first graduate of the institution to hold that office. His depth and origi- nality of thought, and his earnest, straightforward and powerful dic- tion never fail to command the attention of his listeners, whether in sermon or lecture .*

Coburn Classical Institute was founded in 1829, a sWaterville Acad- emy. Hon. Timothy Boutelle had given a lot for the purpose, and by the earnest efforts of Dr. Jeremiah Chaplin and others a suitable building was erected. The school went into operation under the charge of Henry W. Paine, a senior in Waterville College, now Hon. Henry W. Paine, LL. D., of Boston. He was assisted by Josiah Hodges, jun., a fellow student in the college. Robert W. Wood had charge of the school a part of the term. George I. Chase was principal from August, 1830, until May, 1831. In August, 1831, Henry Paine, a grad- uate of Waterville College, took charge of the school, and kept his place for five years. He was succeeded by Mr. Freeman and he by Moses Burbank, who stayed but a few months. His successor was Lorenzo B. Allen. In 1837 Charles R. Train, afterward attorney gen- eral of Massachusetts, took his place. For the next five years the office was filled by several different persons, among whom were Charles H. Wheeler and Nathaniel B. Rogers, a nephew of Hon. Timothy Boutelle.

In the winter of 1841-2 the trustees of the college gave up the charge of the school and it was incorporated and Rev. Dr. Nathaniel Butler, was put in charge. In 1843 Dr. James H. Hanson took charge and in September became principal. In 1845 another room was fitted up and Miss Roxana F. Hanscom was employed to teach a department for girls. When Doctor Hanson took the school there were but five pupils. In 1853 the 308 pupils demanded another teacher, and George B. Gow was employed as assistant. Doctor Hanson resigned in 1854, and Mr. Gow was principal until 1855, after which James T. Bradbury was principal until 1857, Isaac S. Hamblen until 1861. Ransom E. Norton, Randall E. Jones and John W. Lamb were principals succes-

*Doctor Small has accepted the head professorship of social science in Chicago University. October, 1892 .- [Ed.

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HISTORY OF KENNEBEC COUNTY.

sively until 1865. The trustees then made over their trust to the trustees of the college. The name was changed to Waterville Classi- cal Institute, with a three years' (subsequently four years') collegiate course for young ladies, and Doctor Hanson was persuaded to return as principal, which position he still occupies. In 1883 Governor Abner Coburn gave the school its present elegant building in Waterville, and the institution has since been known as Coburn Classical Institute.

- Dr. James H. Hanson, the present principal of the institute, : is a native of China, Me., having been born there June 26, 1816. At the age of eighteen he left the farm to attend China Academy, where

COBURN CLASSICAL INSTITUTE.

he was fitted for college, and graduated from Colby University in the class of '42. He began teaching in 1835, and taught each winter until his graduation. Since that time he has taught continuously, and in this period of fifty years he has not been absent from the school room a week altogether from any cause. He became principal of Water- ville Academy in 1843, continuing until 1854, when he took charge of the high school of Eastport, Me., and three years later he became principal of the Portland High School for boys, where he remained until 1865, then returned to Waterville, and lias since been the untir- ing and energetic principal.

101

CIVIL HISTORY AND INSTITUTIONS.

In 1835 the legislature incorporated the Waterville Liberal Insti- tute, and December 12, 1836, the school was opened under the auspices of the Universalist society, with fifty-four pupils under Nathaniel M. Whitmore as principal. In 1850 a female department was added and the school flourished until 1855, when the growth of Westbrook Sem - inary sufficiently filled the field. Mr. Whitmore's successors were: T. G. Kimball, Rev. J. P. Weston, P. L. Chandler, J. H. Withington, T. W. Herrick, Rev. H. B. Maglathlin, J. M. Palmer, Hon. H. M. Plaisted and J. W. Butterfield.

In 1815 Judge Cony, of Augusta, erected, entirely at his own ex- pense, a building for a female seminary. The structure, which stood on the corner of Cony and Bangor streets, was completed in great secrecy, and until the seats and desks with which it was furnished arrived, no one but the judge knew the purpose for which it was intended. On Christmas day, 1815, he presented the academy to a board of trustees appointed by himself. In 1818 the institution was incorporated as Cony Female Academy, when it was further endowed by its munificent patron. The legislature, in 1827, granted half a township of state land, and Benjamin Bussey, of Boston, donated a tract of land in Sidney. On the strength of these endowments, a commodious brick boarding house and dormitory was erected on the corner of Bangor and Myrtle streets.

In 1825 the school had fifty girls in attendance. Board was quoted at $1.25 per week and tuition $20 per annum. The donation of $3,225 by the founder, together with the funds derived from the sale of lands given by the state, raised the permanent fund of the school $9,985. At that time the library, also donated, embraced 1,200 volumes. The school having outgrown its accommodations, in 1844, Bethlehem church, a structure erected by the Unitarian society in 1827, was pur- chased and remodeled for its use, the old building being sold for a private residence. With the growth of Augusta's splendid free school system, the academy disappears, but the generous founder is remem- bered in name of the Cony High School of that city.

Through the liberality of Mr. Luther Sampson, of Kents Hill, the Readfield Religious and Charitable Society was incorporated in 1821. One of the multifarious designs of this organization was that of estab- lishing a school, on land donated by Mr. Sampson, for instruction in experimental Christianity, theology, literature, and a practical knowl- edge of agriculture and the mechanic arts. By a new charter, granted in 1825, the corporation adopted the title Maine Wesleyan Seminary, and was united with a religious boarding school which had been estab- lished by Elihu Robinson at Augusta. Mr. Robinson removed to Kents Hill where, by means of an endowment of $10,000 by Mr. Sampson, buildings for the school were erected, and assumed the duties of prin- cipal. Thinking to further the designs of the founders to furnish

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HISTORY OF KENNEBEC COUNTY.

the means of acquiring a liberal education at small cost, a manual labor department was established, with the usual unhappy result.

In 1841 the institution had almost succumbed to adversity. At this juncture Dr. Stephen Allen became principal, and under his man- agement and the indefatigable efforts of his successor, Dr. Henry P. Torsey, who was elected president in 1844, the institution was relieved of many of its embarrassments and gradually rose to prominence. It is now the largest and best equipped academical institution in the state. In addition to its regular classical and scientific departments, it supports a female college, founded about 1830, a conservatory of music, an art department and a commercial college.

The Gardiner Lyceum, founded in 1822, being an important agri- cultural school, is fully noticed in the chapter on agriculture, and an account of Oak Grove Seminary, at Vassalboro, will be found in the chapter on the Society of Friends.

About 1821 an academy was started in a small building at China village, on the bank of the lake, where the district school house now stands. John S. Abbott, a popular lawyer; E. P. Lovejoy, a martyr in the cause of freedom in anti-slavery days; Rev. Henry Paine, Rev. Hadley Proctor, and others were among the preceptors. A new and spacious brick academy was subsequently erected at China village, in which many young men have been fitted for college. Hon. Japheth C. Washburn procured the charter of this academy, and with his own hands felled and prepared for hewing the first stick of timber for the building. The institution was endowed by the state with a grant of state lands to the value of $10,000. This school stood high in public estimate as an educational institution for many years. The stock- holders held their annual elections and meetings until 1887, when the property was deeded to the school district for educational purposes.

Belgrade Titcomb Academy, founded in 1829, was named in honor of Samuel Titcomb, through whose efforts, together with those of John Pitts, its establishment was made possible. The academy build- ing was a large, two story brick structure, and from its situation on the summit of Belgrade hill commanded one of the grandest views in Kennebec county. The institution was incorporated, and its man- agement was in the hands of a board of trustees elected annually. Here were taught the higher branches, unknown to the common schools, as well as ancient and modern languages, and students of both sexes came from many of the neighboring towns. In its most prosperous days over a hundred pupils were in attendance. A lyceum, connected with it during its whole existence, formed no unimportant part of its course. Among its teachers and pupils were many who have since won high names for themselves. Regular terms of the academy were held each year until about 1865, when lack of financial support and the introduction of free high schools in many of the sur-

MAINE WESLEYAN SEMINARY, KENTS HILL, ME.

103

CIVIL HISTORY AND INSTITUTIONS.

rounding towns were the chief reasons for closing its doors. In June, 1885, the edifice was burned under suspicious circumstances. The first principal of the academy was William Farmer, and among others who acted as principals in subsequent years were Thomas Hubbard, Horace Austin, Charles K. Hutchins, D. F. Goodrich, Milford T. Mer- chant, Mr. Grant, Mr. Matthews and Mr. Adams. A few bricks in an open field now mark the spot where once flourished this, the only in- stitution of higher education ever in that part of the county.

Litchfield Academy was incorporated in 1845. It was endowed by the state in 1849 with half a township of land in Aroostook county, and in 1891 with an annuity of $500 for ten years. The building which is now occupied by the school was erected in 1852. [See Litchfield.]

Butler's Female Seminary, a private school for young ladies, located at East Winthrop, was, in its day, one of the most popular and best patronized educational institutions in Maine. It was founded and conducted by Rev. Mr. Butler.

The West Gardiner Academy was built and incorporated in 1858. It was also used as a place of worship by the First Free Baptist Soci- ety. The building has long since ceased to be used for educational purposes.

Jenness Towle made provisions by will for a Winthrop Academy, stipulating that his gift should revert to Bangor Theological Seminary unless the town made use of the bequest within a limited time. In 1855 the town erected a building for a town hall and academy, using the bequest, and thus Towle Academy began a period of usefulness, merging about 1876 in the subsequent period of the present high school of the town. The first principal was John Walker May, now of Lewiston.

St. Catherine's Hall was established by members of St. Mark's parish, Augusta, aided by friends outside of the diocese, in 1868. For several years prior a small denominational school for girls had been conducted in a private house on the east side of the river, under the patronage of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Lambard. At an expense of $18,000 a large private residence was purchased and remodeled for the accommodation of the school. But such was the growth of the institution under its able management that it became necessary to erect the present beautiful structure on the east side of the river.

Hallowell Classical Institute was organized in 1873, and the new buildings erected for its occupancy were dedicated January 14th of the following year. It was designed for a preparatory school for Bowdoin College and for a seminary for young ladies, and incidentally became a local school of higher grade than the regular city schools. For sixteen years it did good work in its broad field of usefulness, but want of means proved too great an obstacle to be overcome after

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HISTORY OF KENNEBEC COUNTY.

the summer term in 1889. Its first principal was Rev. Vincent Moses. His successors were: Rev. Almon W. Burr, 1876-82; Lawrence Rolfe, A.B., 1883-5, and Rev. Edward Chase, 1886-9.

The Maine Industrial School for Girls was organized at Hallowell in 1872. The purpose of the institution is to afford girls who are thrown upon their own resources at an early age the advantages and influences of home training. The school is convened in a large, well- planned brick building on the crown of a high hill overlooking the city, and is supported by appropriations from the state and private contributions and donations. Since the organization of the institu-

tion between three and four

hundred have found in it an asylum, and

of these a large number, after a short tuition, have been received into good homes in private families. The board of managers and trus- tees, of which the governor, secretary of state and superintendent of common schools are members ex officio, are appointed by the state.

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Illustrated history of Kennebec County, Maine; 1625-1892, Part 12

Author: Kingsbury, Henry D; Deyo, Simeon L., ed Publication date: 1892 Publisher: New York, Blake Number of Pages: 1790

Author: Kingsbury, Henry D; Deyo, Simeon L., ed
Publication date: 1892
Publisher: New York, Blake
Number of Pages: 1790