USA > Maine > Kennebec County > Waterville > The centennial history of Waterville, Kennebec County, Maine, including the oration, the historical address and the poem presented at the celebration of the centennial anniversary of the incorporation of the town, June 23d, 1902 > Part 26
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In 1869 a Ladies' Collegiate Department was added and the legislature granted the power to confer degrees in accordance with the following act :
"Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in Legislature assembled, as follows :
Section I. The managers of Waterville Classical Institute may prescribe a course of study for young ladies, equivalent to that of any female college in New England, and may, with the concurrence of the board of instructors, confer upon all who shall satisfactorily complete such course the collegiate honors and degrees that are generally granted by female colleges."
In accordance with this act a course of three years was estab- lished which was the next year changed to one of four years. The degree of Baccalaureate of Letters was conferred upon those who successfully completed this course. This was for many years a most important feature of the school until the increasing number of women entering Colby and other colleges caused the number pursuing this course to diminish. It was given up in 1896. The graduates of this course in all number 185.
Although the return of Mr. Hanson to the principalship brought new vigor to the school, it was still for several years without endowment. The need of funds in order to secure the permanent prosperity of the school was deeply felt. In June,
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1872, the Maine Baptist State Convention was held in the city of Bath. President Champlin there presented the subject of the endowment of the Waterville Classical Institute and also the establishment of two other academies, one in the eastern and the other in the western part of the State. At the annual meeting of the trustees of the College held in July, 1873, the president called the attention of the board to the matter. The subject was referred to a committee, of which the late Rev. W. H. Shailer of Portland was chairman. This committee later reported advis- ing that $100,000 be raised for the endowment of three prepara- tory schools. Before the next annual meeting of the Colby trus- tees, Principal Hanson received the following letter :
"SKOWHEGAN, April 4, 1874.
I agree to subscribe the sum of $50,000 to endow the Water- ville Classical Institute, on condition that $50,000 more shall be subscribed to endow two other institutions of similar character,- one east and one west,-and provided further, that at least $40,000 of the said $50,000 by me subscribed shall be set apart and kept as a permanent fund, the interest only to be used annu- ally forever.
"I agree to pay said $50,000 as fast as the other $50,000 shall be collected and paid into the treasury, and no faster.
ABNER COBURN."
Immediate steps were taken to comply with the terms of this bequest subscriptions amounting to about $35,000 were secured by Rev. A. R. Crane, D. D., during two years which he devoted to a canvass of the State. Upon the withdrawal of Dr. Crane from this work, the collection of unpaid subscriptions was turned over to Principal Hanson. To this he devoted himself in addi- tion to his duties as principal of the school. It was not until 1883 that the entire $50,000 was paid in. Waterville Classical Institute received from this source $50,546. Hebron Academy at Hebron and Ricker Classical Institute at Houlton received proportionate amounts in accordance with the conditions of Gov- ernor Coburn's bequest. From this it will be noticed that these two flourishing schools owe their first considerable endowment to the bequest of Abner Coburn to Waterville Classical Institute, and in no small degree also to the labors of Principal Hanson.
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At the commencement exercises, July 1-3, 1879, was celebrated the semi-centennial anniversary of the opening of the school. In addition to the usual exercises, on Thursday, July 4, special exercises were held at the Baptist church consisting of an address by Ex-Governor Nelson Dingley, Jr., a poem by Miss Abbie J. Flagg of Chillicothe, Missouri, a paper of reminiscences of the early history of the school by William Mathews, LL. D., and another containing its later history by Rev. George B. Gow. After the exercises at the church the procession formed and with Col. I. S. Bangs as marshal, escorted by the Waterville band, marched to the town hall where dinner was served to 230 guests. Principal Hanson presided over the after-dinner speaking. Among those who spoke on this occasion were Hon. Henry W. Paine, LL. D., the first principal; William Mathews, LL. D., Prof. J. B. Foster, John W. Drummond, Rev. I. S. Hamblen, a former principal ; Hon. Joshua Nye, Ex-Governor Nelson Ding- ley, Jr., and others. Of this semi-centennial celebration a prom- inent newspaper said: "It fairly rivaled in interest the com- mencement at Colby."
Governor Coburn had placed the school on a firm financial basis but his benefactions did not end there. After the sad death in 1882 of his brother Stephen Coburn and the latter's son, Charles M. Coburn, who had been graduated from Colby only the year before, Governor Coburn at once stated his intention of erecting on the Institute lot a memorial to his brother and nephew. Preparations were soon made for the erection of a building which was dedicated with appropriate exercises during the College commencement of 1884. This building is of brick with red sandstone trimmings, is three stories high and is sur- mounted by a tower. It represents a cost of more than $50,000 and is one of the finest school buildings in New England. It bears on its front a sandstone tablet on which is the following inscription :
Erected A. D. 1883 by Abner Coburn in memory of Stephen Coburn and Chas. M. Coburn who died July 4, 1882.
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In 1883 the name of the school was changed to Coburn Clas- sical Institute in consideration of Governor Coburn's benefac- tions.
A circular dome was later added to the building and equipped as an astronomical observatory. It contains a six-inch equatorial telescope with clock-work attachment. The whole is a gift of Mary D. Lyford and her son, Hon. Edwin F. Lyford of Spring- field, Mass., in memory of Moses Lyford, for many years a professor in the College.
The old school building which for fifty-four years had occupied the spot now occupied by the more commodious building was removed to the rear of the grounds where it was afterwards torn down and removed. This building, an illustration of which accompanies this chapter, was long familiar to Waterville citi- zens and is linked with pleasant associations in the minds of hundreds of former students. The following sketch of the school and house of the early days was written by one who was long connected with the school as pupil and teacher.
"Through the Zion's Advocate many an obscure boy or girl in an obscure corner of Maine heard of Waterville Academy and began to build air castles and to earn and save money enough to pay the twenty-five cents a week for tuition so as to be enrolled in the catalogue as a member of a school that was so near a col- lege. When the town was reached and the plain brick building with its symmetrical belfry appeared, long cherished hopes seemed about to be realized. A timid knock at the heavy' front door, the only one in the building, had to be repeated before the principal appeared. A cordial welcome from him was never lacking but when the door opened and you were ushered within some of your rose-colored anticipations vanished. There were no gilded towers without nor marble walls within, but a front entry with a place on the right that opened from the principal's room for storing wood for the big box stove, brooms, shovel, tongs and other needed articles. The long poker was kept under the stove. There was a suspicion of fear when the poking was done for there was a crack in the bottom of the stove and burn- ing cinders could always be seen on the zinc under the stove. To the left as you entered the front door was an unattractive stair-case which led to the room of the preceptress above. On
JAMES HOBBS HANSON, LL. D.
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the east side of the upper room a door opened into a small room over the stairs, called the apparatus (?) room, which contained an orrery, an old electric machine, a battery, and other trash. The room on the other side was the clutter room of the upper floor. There were long benches on the north side of the pre- ceptress' room and the platform for rhetorical display and the teacher's desk on the south side. As you entered the principal's room below and stepped upon the cold, brick floor and saw the rows of ugly looking seats with their heavy wooden forms, whit- tled and marked with the names of former pupils, you had a chance to revel in the ruins of your air-castles and felt that the district schoolhouse at home was more attractive than the academy. But when the school work began and the principal, who was wood-sawyer, janitor, and endower of the school, appeared, surroundings were forgotten and the eager, enthusi- astic class, guided by the masterful hand of the teacher, felt that no mistake was made when they first came to Waterville Academy."
Although the establishment of the Waterville High School and the improvement of the schools in every part of the State had caused the attendance of the school to decrease, the school con- tinued without marked change until Dr. Hanson's death. At this point a brief sketch of his life is appropriate, for during the sixty-five years of the school's history up to that time, he had been at its head forty-one years ; in fact, he was the school.
James Hobbs Hanson was born in China, Me., April 11, 1817. He was fitted for college in China Academy under Henry Paine, who went to China after leaving Waterville Academy. He was graduated from Waterville College in 1842, and spent the next year teaching in the town of Hampden, Maine. The trustees of Waterville Academy found Mr. Hanson at home in China, where he was spending the summer at work on his father's farm, and invited him to take charge of the academy in the autumn. They could offer him no compensation beyond what he could receive in tuition fees. He began the work on these conditions and at the end of the first term found a balance of $40 on the wrong side of his account book. The next term brought no greater returns and Mr. Hanson decided to leave the school for
19
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a position under Mr. Paine in China Academy. In response to earnest entreaties of the trustees, who promised to make vigorous efforts in the school's behalf, he decided to remain. This decision alone probably determined the continuance of the school. Refer- ence has already been made to Mr. Hanson's resignation in 1854 and his return in 1865, after teaching for three years in Eastport and eight years in Portland. From this time he gave himself unsparingly to the school until his death which occurred, April 21, 1894. Less than a week before his death he was about his accustomed duties in the schoolroom. The words of one of the speakers at the semi-centennial celebration express appreciatively the work of Dr. Hanson. "Waterville Academy owes its name and usefulness to the patient, self-denying toil of its present honored and already venerable principal. But for him no semi- centennial would have called us together. What kind of labor has he not performed? What work did he ever ask another to do which perhaps he might better do himself? What work was he ever asked to do that he declined, however overworked he might already be? When other men wrought six hours in the classroom, he wrought twelve. I speak in no hyperbole. And then, when the long weary work in the classroom was at length over, the midnight hours saw him still at his task. Too poor to employ the needed assistance, too conscientious to leave any- thing undone that might be of use to the most ungrateful pupil, he toiled on seeking no reward but the satisfaction of doing his whole duty. If, through superior scholarship, severe habits of self-mastery, and a natural capacity for work beyond the great body of even strong men, he was able to do this and not die, he only counted himself happy that he could lay all his wealth, more precious than gold, upon the altar, a votive offering to his divine Master and his beloved pupils. It is surely a little thing that we, who have entered into the fruit of all this, should rise up, to-day, and call him blessed. Our preceptor has thus far been the academy's endowment."
Dr. Hanson's reputation as a classical scholar was extensive and served as a great attraction to students preparing for college. Students came in large numbers from other schools to receive the last year's drill under his instruction. His reputation was greatly enhanced by the books which he edited. The Latin Prose
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Book appearing in 1861, and the Latin Poets in 1865. These were recognized by classical teachers as a great contribution to the text-books of the time and were widely used for many years. He received the degree of LL. D., from Colby in 1872. He was for many years a trustee of the college.
The high estimation in which Dr. Hanson was held by the large number of students and friends of the school is shared by Mrs. Hanson who, before her marriage, had been a teacher in the school, and for many years during Dr. Hanson's life, and at the time of his death worked by his side in the schoolroom.
Rev. Asa L. Lane was acting principal for one term after Dr. Hanson's death, when Franklin W. Johnson, a graduate of Colby in the class of 1891, was elected principal, beginning his duties in September, 1894. This position he still holds. Mr. Lane resigned his position as instructor in science in July, 1901, after twenty-five years of continuous service in this position. He was a scientist of high reputation throughout the State. He left as a permanent endowment to the school the large collections which he had made illustrating the various departments of the natural sciences. These have been placed in a room furnished by the graduating class of 1902 which will hereafter be known as the "Lane Museum."
The Boutelle Library receives its name from Timothy Bou- telle, whose daughter, Mrs. Edwin Noyes, presented the school $2.500 as an endowment fund for the library. The library occupies the most attractive room in the building. It now con- tains 3,517 volumes, with card catalogue, and forms a valuable adjunct to the work of the school.
In 1897 the house and lot at the south corner of Elm and Spring streets was purchased. The house was renovated and has since been used as a dormitory for young ladies. The house is known as the "Hanson Cottage."
From 1865 to 1901 the Institute remained under the control of the trustees of the College. During Dr. Hansons' life, how- ever, its management was virtually in his hands. He secured the teachers, contracted and paid the bills, received tuitions, and retained the balance, if there was any, for his own compensa- tion. His successor took charge of the school on a different basis. A committee of the trustees had oversight of the school's
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affairs and the finances were managed like those of any other department of the College. But the increasing demands made upon those responsible for the management of endowed educa- tional institutions, made it evident that strength would be added to the Institute if it could be under the control of a separate cor- poration. Accordingly the matter was brought to the attention of the College Board who acted favorably on a proposition to entrust the control of the school to a separate corporation. The following act of incorporation was passed by the Legislature and approved March 8, 1901 :
"AN ACT to incorporate the Trustees of Coburn Classical Insti- tute.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in Legislature assembled, as follows :
"SECTION I. Nathaniel Butler, Franklin W. Johnson, George D. B. Pepper, Horace Purinton, Leslie C. Cornish, Edwin C. WVhittemore, Horatio R. Dunham, and Cyrus W. Davis are hereby created a corporation by the name of the Trustees of Coburn Classical Institute, for the purpose of maintaining a lit- erary institution in the city of Waterville with all the powers of similar corporations including the power to make and establish by-laws and regulations for the management of its affairs and the proper government of the institution.
"SECTION 2. Said corporation shall be governed and its powers exercised by a board of not exceeding seventeen trustees, of which the president of Colby College and the principal of Coburn Classical Institute for the time being shall, ex-officio, be members. At the organization of the corporation, the number of other trustees shall be fixed by the by-laws and shall be divided as nearly as may be into three classes ; one class shall be elected for one year, one for two years, and one for three years; and at each annual meeting thereafter, members shall be elected by the board in place of those whose terms shall expire, and any vacan- cies in the other classes shall be filled.
"SECTION 3. Said corporation may use the real estate held in trust for it, and the income of all funds held in trust for it, by the president and trustees of Colby College, in accordance with the trust by which they are so held and with such arrangements as
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shall from time to time be made with said president and trustees ; and may also take and hold, for the purposes of its creation, prop- erty in its own right to the amount of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars.
"SECTION 4. This act shall take effect when approved."
Additional members, beside those mentioned in the above act were elected as follows: George K. Boutelle, William T. Haines, George O. Smith, Fred M. Preble, Allan P. Soule, George W. Lord, Norman L. Bassett, J. Frederick Hill. At the first meeting of the Board, held June 22, 1901, George D. B. Pepper, D. D., LL. D., was chosen president; Norman L. Bas- sett, LL. B., secretary ; and Horace Purinton, treasurer. The management of the school passed into the hands of the new cor- poration, July 1, 1901. The value of this change has already been seen during the past year in which the school has been strengthened in various ways and plans have been set on foot for increasing the permanent funds of the institution.
No exact statement can be made of the number of students enrolled during the history of the school. As many as 5,000 different students must have been in attendance during these years. The school has always prepared a large number of students for college. More students have entered college from this school than from any other Maine school. At least 700 have received their preparation here. Among the most prominent of these are Nelson Dingley, Jr., Ex-Governor of Maine and for many years an influential member of Congress. Llewellyn Powers, Ex-Governor and now member of Congress, Bartlette Tripp, formerly U. S. minister to Austria-Hungary, William Mathews, LL. D., professor and author ; Nathaniel Butler, D. D., recently president of Colby College; Charles F. Meserve, LL. D., president of Shaw University; Judge William P. Whitehouse, Judge Albert M. Spear.
Established as a feeder for Waterville College, the school has always fulfilled that mission. Those who have known conditions intimately have stated that, but for this school, the college would have been obliged, at times, to close its doors for lack of students. Since the foundation of Colby's four preparatory schools, Coburn has sent more graduates to the college than the other three
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schools together. The school continues to send the larger part of its graduates to Colby though a large number of colleges now attract its students. During the past year graduates of Coburn have been enrolled at seventeen institutions as follows: Bates, Bowdoin, Boston University, Brown, Colby, Colgate, Columbia, Dartmouth, Harvard, Mount Holyoke, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Maine, University of Vermont, Vassar, Wellesley, Worcester Polytechnic Institution and Yale.
In scholarship Coburn justly claims pre-eminence among Maine schools. Evidence of this may be found in the record of the graduates on entering college. In 1883 Colby offered the Merrill prizes to the members of the freshman class who should secure the highest rank in competitive examinations upon the work required for admission to college. Of the twenty prizes thus given, Coburn graduates have taken fourteen, while gradu- ates of all other schools have taken six. Of these six, the prize has been taken only once by a graduate of a Maine school. Colby draws its students from every part of Maine and in many instances from other states. This high standing of Coburn students in scholarship in competition with graduates of all other Maine schools is the best possible indication of the quality of the school's work.
During the seventy-three years of its history, the school has been of incalculable benefit to the community. Until the estab- lishment of the public high school, the academy provided instruc- tion of a high degree of excellence to the pupils of the town. A large number of young men and women of ambition and promise also were attracted from various parts of Maine and other states who made their residence temporarily here. The school has thus shared with the college in making Waterville noted as a center of education and culture. To this is due, in no small measure, the attractiveness which the city presents to those seek- ing a place of residence. A still further consideration is the advantage to the city in a business way accruing from money which is brought into the business of the city by the considerable number of students each year attending the school.
Within recent years the condition of the Maine academies has been changing. The rapid growth of the high schools both in number and efficiency has caused a great many of the old acad-
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emies to disappear entirely or to become merged in the high schools of their respective towns. Recent legislation, while tem- porarily assisting the weaker academies, has served rather as an injury to the stronger schools of this class. The broadening of the scope of instruction and changes in methods have necessitated a larger number of teachers. Lower rates of interest have dim- inished the income from invested funds. All these causes have combined to present a difficult problem to such schools as Coburn. The only solution rests in a considerable increase in the funds of the school. It is not too much to expect with confidence that the friends of the school in Waterville and elsewhere will rally to the support of an institution which is soon to close a proud record of three-quarters of a century.
CHAPTER XI.
COLBY COLLEGE.
By EDWARD W. HALL, LL. D., Librarian and Registrar.
Colby College originated with the Bowdoinham Baptist Asso- ciation which in 1810 appointed a committee to consider the propriety of petitioning the legislature of Massachusetts "to incorporate an institution in the district of Maine for the purpose of promoting literary and theological knowledge." Similar action was taken in 1811 by the Lincoln and the Cumberland Associations, and a petition prepared by the joint committees was presented to the Senate of Massachusetts by Rev. Caleb Blood in 1812. This petition stated that although the Baptists were undoubtedly more numerous in the district than any other denomination, yet they had no Seminary over which they had any control, and in which their religious young men might be educated under the particular inspection of able men of the same sentiments.
The petitioners asked the legislature to grant them "for the furtherance of their object a tract of good land, and cause it to be located as nighly in the centre of the district as your wisdom may find convenient. For, it is contemplated, that the seminary be in the very tract which your honorable body may see fit to grant for its encouragement."
This first petition for incorporation was not successful. The following year Rev. Daniel Merrill of Sedgwick was appointed to present a second petition and succeeded in obtaining a charter, approved February 27, 1813, for establishing "a Literary Insti- tution for the purpose of educating youth, to be called and
MEMORIAL HALL AND CAMPUS, COLBY COLLEGE.
0
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known by the name of the Maine Literary and Theological Insti- tution." The title given was at that time a favorite designation attached to many seminaries of learning in which collegiate and theological classes were united.
The trustees named in the charter soon organized with Rev. Sylvanus Boardman as chairman and Rev. Otis Briggs as secre- tary, and entered upon the preliminary work of securing a suit- able location for the Institution. By a resolve dated February 15, 1815, township No. 3, originally purchased from the Indians, and embracing the territory now occupied by the towns of Alton and Argyle on the west bank of the Penobscot river, was granted to the Institution. This township had been selected by the trus- tees as "the best selection, in their opinion, that can be made from the unlocated lands of the commonwealth for the establishment of the Institution." It yielded an excellent growth of timber, the sale of which maintained the young seminary for many years. The plan of locating the Institution on the very township granted was found impracticable, and in 1816 the legislature granted permission to locate and establish the buildings in any town within the counties of Kennebec and Somerset. The corporation appointed a committee in 1817 to visit Farmington, Bloomfield and Waterville, towns which had expressed a desire to have the school, and eventually decided in favor of Waterville. The town authorities pledged three thousand dollars and the citizens sub- scribed two thousand in aid of the enterprise.
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