USA > Maine > Kennebec County > Waterville > The history of Colby College > Part 68
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Let it be repeated that the foregoing do not constitute a list of Colby's best athletes, but merely mention of a few representative men. For, if one would name the Colby athlete, his name is legion.
CHAPTER XLVI
The Academies
C OLBY alumni who received their degrees before the Second World War know that four Maine academies were once designated as preparatory schools for Colby. During the 1930's those schools became less closely connected with the College so that by the time of the final removal to Mayflower Hill they were no longer regarded as Colby fitting schools. Those four academies were Coburn in Waterville, Hebron in the western Maine hills of Oxford County, Higgins at Charleston not far from Bangor, and Ricker in the great potato land of Aroostook.
At the time of the founding of Colby it was common for colleges to operate preparatory departments. The best way to assure a student's enrollment was to prepare him for college work within the institution's own walls. No sooner had Jeremiah Chaplin opened his theological classes in 1818 than he began to con- sider what to do with students not prepared to attempt college work, for despite the failure of the Massachusetts legislature to grant the right to confer degrees, Chaplin was determined that his institution should become a recognized college, not merely a seminary. In June, 1820, the Maine Legislature conferred upon the institution the privilege to grant degrees, and in the following February granted a change of name to Waterville College. Chaplin, now ready to act on the mat- ter of preparing students for entrance, persuaded his Trustees to vote on August 19, 1821, "that the Prudential Committee be instructed to employ any gentleman of suitable qualifications to instruct a grammar school in connection with the College, without expense to the College."
In 1821 the College had no building except the partially finished President's House on the college lot. So it was in the Wood House, on the present site of the Elmwood Hotel, that the classes of the "College Grammar School" were first held. Its principal was Henry Paine of the Class of 1823, and for several years it continued to be the custom to employ a college student, like Paine, to conduct the school. In fact Paine was followed for two years, 1824 to 1826, by the student who would become Colby's most famous graduate, Elijah Lovejoy. When South College was opened in 1822, the grammar school was moved to that build- ing and it was within its walls that Lovejoy prepared students for college en- trance.
Within a few years it became apparent that the preparatory school must have a separate home, and on August 27, 1828, the college trustees voted "that the Prudential Committee be authorized to erect a building for an academy con- nected with the College for a sum not exceeding $300." The College Treasurer, Timothy Boutelle, had already given the lot on Elm Street to the society which erected the Baptist Meetinghouse in 1825. Just south of the church was the
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village cemetery (now Monument Park). The next lot to the south was also owned by Boutelle, who generously gave it to the College as a site for the needed academy building. The pittance of $300 appropriated by the College was aug- mented by subscriptions secured by President Chaplin, so that when the academy building was opened in the fall of 1829 its entire cost of $1750 had been fully paid. The school was renamed Waterville Academy. It had no separate char- ter, but was simply an adjunct to the College, managed by the college faculty.
In its new home the principal was again a college senior, Harry W. Paine of the Class of 1830, not to be confused with the earlier Henry Paine. Wholly dependent upon very low tuition fees for its support, save when the College trus- tees could squeeze out a few dollars to repair the building, the school could not afford a full-time principal or teacher. The college faculty paid less and less attention to it, especially after the resignation of Chaplin in 1833; but before that unhappy occasion, Chaplin had taken the bold step of securing an expe- rienced, degree-holding principal, though the poor man well knew he must de- pend upon the precarious tuition fees for his support. The man to whom Chaplin turned was the same Henry Paine, Class of 1823, who had started the College Grammar School in 1821.
When he took charge of Waterville Academy in 1831, Paine brought with him a sound reputation as head of Monmouth Academy, where he had presided since 1827. In a statement made at the time of the Coburn Semicentennial in 1879, William Mathews (Colby, 1835) said of Paine:
Disliking to punish disorderly pupils, and lacking the commanding pres- ence and personal magnetism which make punishment unnecessary, he had little control over the scholars, the most roguish of whom despised his threats and laughed at his entreaties. But a more conscientious and kindhearted teacher never lived.1
Paine must indeed have possessed qualities which offset his weakness in discipline, for he remained in charge of the academy for four years. The in- ducements held out to him were contained in a letter from President Chaplin, written on April 29, 1831.
It gives me no little pleasure to learn that you have decided to take charge of our academy. We have concluded to fix tuition at $3.00 per quarter, so that if you average 40 scholars your income will be $480 a year. In regard to a house, you are likely to have one ready in six or eight weeks. Mr. Dodge is preparing one just about large enough for you. It is 38 by 18 feet, with an addition for a kitchen, and is a story and a half high. It will contain two front rooms, a bed- room and a kitchen on the lower floor. It will furnish room for a con- siderable number of boarders if you choose to take them. There will be a small garden and next autumn a shed will be added. The rent will be $50 a year.
After Paine left in 1835 the school encountered difficulties. No principal stayed longer than a few months. The Universalists, arch-rivals of the Baptists in Waterville, opened an academy of their own, the Waterville Liberal Institute. Enrollment at the older school fell so low that in the spring of 1841 it was forced to close its doors.
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THE ACADEMIES
Local citizens were determined that a school that had been so successful in the 1830's should not remain closed. Through those years both the real es- tate and the management of the academy had been vested in the College, but neither Trustees nor faculty were giving it much attention in the precarious times following the departure of Paine. An aroused citizens' committee therefore pro- posed that the College relinquish its control of the school and give it into the hands of an independent board of trustees. In February, 1842, the Maine Legislature therefore incorporated Waterville Academy with a board on which were repre- sented such prominent Waterville citizens as Dr. Samuel Plaisted, Dr. Stephen Thayer, and Harrison A. Smith. Although the College handed over to that board the complete management of the school, the College Trustees retained title to the real estate.
The first principal under the new corporation was Nathaniel Butler (Colby, 1842), father of the man who would later be a Colby president. He remained for only one year, and it was then, in the fall of 1843 that there came the man with whom the names Waterville Academy and Coburn Classical Institute were to be associated for half a century.
James Hobbs Hanson had graduated from the College in 1842, had taught one year at Hampden, and was working on his father's farm in China when two of the academy trustees called upon him on a summer day in 1843. They could offer no compensation beyond what he could receive in tuition fees, and they could not promise him a single student, but they did agree to make needed repairs on the building. The young man accepted the challenge.
Hanson opened his school with only six pupils, but before Christmas he had increased the number to 28. Nevertheless, the end of that first term saw him out of pocket forty dollars. For eleven years Hanson worked vigorously and successfully until in 1852 the enrollment reached 308, the largest number in the school's entire history. Nevertheless, the academy had no endowment, more pu- pils demanded more teachers, and more space, the building was in constant need of repair, and it was no small task to collect student bills. Hanson broke under the strain and resigned in 1854.
During the next eleven years the academy had eleven different principals. Enrollment declined rapidly and the school's prestige was greatly weakened. The Civil War hit such schools hard. Many Maine academies closed permanently between 1860 and 1865, and many others were merged into high schools. The plan adopted in 1843, to give Waterville Academy an existence independent of the College had proved futile. Without funds, the new trustees were not in- clined to pay much attention to the school. As long as Dr. Hanson presided, his personality and administrative genius kept the doors open, but not even he could persuade the Trustees to provide money to keep the building in repair.
Because the title to land and building still rested in the College, it was de- cided in 1865 to restore the original relation between College and Academy. Vacancies on the academy board had not been filled, and the remaining trustees resigned, having first made over their trust to the College. The College Trustees, accepting the trust, voted to change the name to Waterville Classical Institute.
Girls were admitted early to this Waterville school. Because no list of stu- dents has been preserved earlier than 1830, and because it is unlikely that girls were included in the old grammar school conducted in the college buildings, we may assume that female instruction began with the opening of the building on Elm Street in 1829. The catalogue published in 1830 shows two teachers: Henry Paine, preceptor, and Joseph Hodges, Jr., assistant. There were 61 pupils divided
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HISTORY OF COLBY COLLEGE
into three distinct groups. Seventeen boys were listed as "Students of the Lan- guages"; eighteen boys were in "English Studies"; and twenty-five girls were named under the heading "Misses." Among those young ladies were Helen Bou- telle, who became the wife of the first superintendent of the Androscoggin and Kennebec Railroad; Caroline and Lydia Gilman, daughters of Timothy Boutelle's partner in many business enterprises; Rebecca Moor of Waterville's shipbuilding family; Caroline Redington, descendant of the Revolutionary soldier who built the first Ticonic dam; and Marcia Chaplin, daughter of Colby's first president.
Under the revision of 1865 there was started a "Three Year Collegiate Course for Ladies." In 1869 it was extended to four years and the Legislature granted the right for the Institute "to confer the collegiate honors and degrees that are usually granted by female colleges." The largest class ever to receive degrees was made up of eleven girls in 1876, but a few years later the course was discontinued.
The revival of the academy's success and influence that began in 1865 was due almost entirely to the return of Dr. Hanson. With health restored and with confidence in the Trustees of the College, who promised faithfully to support the academy, Dr. Hanson agreed to take charge again, and in the autumn of 1865 he began the long and brilliant administration that ended only with his death in 1894.
Convinced that the way to increase college enrollment was to secure the affiliation of other academies besides the local school, the Trustees turned their attention in that direction. When the Maine Baptist Convention met at Bath, in June, 1872, President Champlin presented the need of endowment for Water- ville Classical Institute and of connecting other academies in the state, especially those of Baptist foundation, with the College. The Baptist Convention took no immediate action, but the College Trustees themselves acted promptly. In 1873 they appointed a committee, headed by Dr. W. H. Shailer of Portland, which ad- vised that $100,000 be raised to endow three preparatory schools, the money to be held by the College and only the interest paid annually to the school treas- urers.
The plan was given impetus when President Champlin received the follow- ing letter from Ex-Governor Abner Coburn of Skowhegan in April, 1874.
I agree to subscribe the sum of $50,000 to endow the Waterville 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 $50,000 by me subscribed shall be set apart and kept as a permanent fund, the interest only to be used annually forever. I agree to pay said $50,000 as fast as the other $50,000 shall be collected and paid into the college treasury, and no faster.
Rev. A. R. Crane was appointed agent to collect the needed $50,000. Be- cause of the financial depression of the 1870's his work was difficult. By the end of 1877 he had been able to secure only $35,000. Finally, through the strenuous efforts of Dr. Hanson and Judge Percival Bonney the full amount was secured in 1883. Meanwhile the two academies to be added to the Waterville Institute as Colby fitting schools had already been chosen.
The choice of Houlton Academy as the eastern school was easy. Located in Aroostook's most flourishing town, that school had been founded in 1847 and
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THE ACADEMIES
in 1870 had erected a new building. One of its founders, Dr. Joseph Ricker, had long been a member of the Colby Board, and he pledged $5000 to the needed endowment provided the College would name Houlton as its eastern preparatory school.
Choice of the western academy was more controversial. Friends of two schools presented rival claims, with two of Maine's most prominent men appearing as the antagonists. Hannibal Hamlin supported Hebron Academy and Ex- Governor Frederick Robie advocated the selection of Gorham Academy. Realiz- ing that his school lacked the Baptist background of Hebron, Robie pulled all the wires of Cumberland County politics. The Hebron principal at that time was John F. Moody, a graduate of Colby in the Class of 1867, the same John Moody who claimed to have introduced baseball at Colby. Moody assembled his Hebron class of seven pupils and laid before them the challenge to do some- thing of permanent value for their school. All seven agreed to seek admission to Colby, and they accompanied Moody to Waterville for the August Commence- ment in 1874. Entrance examinations were then given at commencement time.
Moody knew that his biggest handicap lay in the expectation that Governor Robie would offer substantial endowment for Gorham, as Governor Coburn had done for Waterville. When he arrived at the College, Moody learned from Judge Bonney that Dr. Shailer, acknowledged leader of the Maine Baptists, now sup- ported Gorham. Then Bonney gave Moody some shrewd advice. "You must talk with no one here until you have first seen Hamlin. The man who told Lincoln that Hebron Academy was the college from which he graduated won't go back on his old school now." Taking his seven students in tow, Moody did see Hamlin and assured him that these seven young people were prospective Colby students.
Moody waited anxiously in an adjoining room while the Colby Trustees considered the case for Gorham. Finally summoned, he entered the meeting room just in time to hear Hannibal Hamlin address a question to Governor Robie. "How many students has Gorham sent to any college each year on an average?" "Two or three," replied Robie. "How long will it take you to prepare a class for Colby?" continued Hamlin. "Two or three years," was Robie's reply. Turn- ing to Moody, Hamlin asked, "How long will it take Hebron to prepare a class for Colby?" "Seven are taking the examinations today," was Moody's exultant response. Less than an hour later the Colby Board had voted to make Hebron their western preparatory school.
The final plan of organization was not perfected, however, until 1877, when the Colby Trustees adopted the following resolution.
Whereas the Trustees of Hebron Academy and the Trustees of Houlton Academy have signified their readiness to reorganize their boards to the satisfaction of the Trustees of Colby University, and the Board of Trustees of Waterville Classical Institute is already organized to their satisfaction, be it resolved that the President and Trustees of Colby University accept the trust of the funds collected to be held by it in the aid of the said institutions and commits them to the treasurer for in- vestment under the Prudential Committee of this Board. The Treasurer shall hold the investments for each academy separate from each other and from the University funds, and shall be allowed from the annual income of each of said funds one-tenth of one percent annually on the principal amount of each fund for his services in handling the same. As long as a said academy is managed to the satisfaction of the Trustees
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HISTORY OF COLBY COLLEGE
of Colby University, the net income earned by its fund held by the Uni- versity shall be paid annually to the treasurer of the academy.
When subscriptions had all been paid in 1883, Colby held as endowment for the three schools, $24,623 for Hebron, $31,225 for Houlton, and $50,546 for Waterville Classical Institute.
In 1891 a fourth school entered the scene. Rev. John H. Higgins of Charleston offered to place in the hands of the College $25,000 as an endow- ment of Charleston Academy provided the College would raise an equal amount in ten years for the construction of buildings. The College accepted the offer. Mr. Higgins paid his pledge, but the College was a long time fulfilling its part of the agreement to match his $25,000. As late as 1901, the College had sup- plied only $6,000 of the promised amount.
At the turn of the century Colby was proud of her four academies. In a long letter to Joseph L. Colby, written in 1901, Judge Bonney commented on the value of those schools to the College.
For the past twenty-five years a majority of the students in the College have come from these affiliated schools. The life of the College de- pends upon the continued existence of these academies with their present relations to the College unimpaired. Coburn and Ricker are located in large settlements, while Hebron and Higgins are located in the country free from the distractions and temptations of larger towns. The College draws its students mainly from the farms and country vil- lages. Men brought up in large cities have no conception of the in- fluence of these institutions upon country boys and girls. The academy is an essential part of our educational system and is so regarded by the people of Maine. The interests of the State, as well as the interests of the College, demand that these academies be encouraged, not crip- pled.2
Before Judge Bonney wrote that letter three of the academies had changed their names. Charleston had become Higgins Classical Institute and Houlton was now Ricker Classical Institute. The most important change, however, had been made at the oldest of the schools in Waterville, when because of the generosity of Abner Coburn, the local academy was renamed Coburn Classical Institute.
When the brother and nephew of Governor Coburn were drowned in 1881, he decided to erect as a memorial to them a new building for the Waterville Institute. Built in 1882 on the site of the old building, augmented by purchase of an adjoining lot, the large brick structure with its spacious rooms, its high ceilings, and its impressive tower served the classroom needs of the school for 73 years until it was destroyed by fire on February 22, 1955. His original en- dowment of $50,000, the new building, other gifts in his lifetime, and a bequest in his will brought Abner Coburn's total contributions to the Institute to more than $200,000.
From the beginning the College had held title to the real estate of Coburn. In 1887 it secured similar title to buildings at Ricker, and in 1892 the same arrangement was made with Higgins. Never, however, were the Hebron buildings in other hands than those of the Hebron trustees. In fact, by 1900, the College held only a minor fraction of the Hebron endowment. The procedure with re- gard to Coburn, Higgins and Ricker was legalized by act of the Maine Legisla- ture in 1887.
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THE ACADEMIES
The President and Trustees of Colby University are hereby authorized to take and hold personal and real estate in trust for Coburn Classical Institute and other academies and schools, and devote the same to the purpose for which such institution is incorporated, and all conveyances and deposits of property and funds heretofore made to said President and Trustees of Colby University for the purposes aforesaid are hereby ratified and confirmed.
In 1892 the College Treasurer actually received greater additions to the academy funds than he did to the endowment of the College. Receipts for the college funds were $963, while those for the four academies totaled $8300.
In 1901 the College Trustees wanted to know just what contribution the academies had made to the College. Investigation revealed that, in the six years from 1895 to 1901, of the 195 graduates of Coburn 78 had entered Colby; of 202 Hebron graduates Colby had received 45; of 62 graduating from Higgins 10 had come to Colby; and Colby's share of Ricker's 112 graduates was 11.
By 1902 the Colby Trustees realized that, whatever might be the value of the academies, they were costing money badly needed for maintenance of the College itself. The Board then voted that the College would make no further payments on account of expenses of Coburn, but would lend to Coburn $3000 annually for three years at five percent interest. It was also voted to request payment from Hebron and Ricker of the money advanced from time to time for operating expenses.
Meanwhile inroads had been made into the capital funds, especially those held for Coburn. Whereas in 1883 the Coburn fund amounted to more than $50,000, in 1904 it totaled only $39,000, because it had gradually been whittled away to repay the College for money advanced. In similar fashion the Ricker fund had fallen from $31,000 to $21,000. On the other hand, the Hebron fund had grown from $24,000 to $60,000. Hebron's good fortune was probably due to the provisions of affiliation, which did not permit deductions from its fund held by the College. The whole situation is made clear by two votes passed by the Colby Trustees in June, 1906.
Voted, that the Treasurer be authorized to endeavor to collect from Hebron Academy $2000 a year until the debt of that institution to the College has been liquidated.
Voted, that the Treasurer be authorized to deduct $300 a year from the income due to Ricker Classical Institute until the debt of that institution to the College has been liquidated.
In 1906 the College established its Preparatory Schools Prize Scholarships. A scholarship of $50 for the freshman year was available to the highest ranking boy and to the highest ranking girl entering the College from each of the academies -- a total of eight annual scholarships.
President Charles L. White had not been long at Colby before he began to hold grave doubts about the value of the preparatory schools. Concerned about the decreasing numbers of their graduates, he is said to have made a remark that wasn't exactly the best advertising for Colby. When someone asked White why so few graduates of the academies came to Colby in the years 1904 to 1907, he is alleged to have replied: "I can't see, after a boy has visited Bowdoin and seen what they have there, why he should come to Colby."3
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Many persons attributed the low repute of Colby to the "student strike" of 1903, described in an earlier chapter. At any rate the whole situation caused renewed investigation of the relation of the four schools to the College. At that time President White was trying to interest the General Education Board in add- ing to the Colby endowment, and in a long statement to that Board he made clear his views about the preparatory schools. He criticized the fund raising efforts that had been put into the academies at the expense of the College.
From 1874 to 1900 at least $400,000 were given to our four prepara- tory schools largely from Colby sources. Meanwhile the college endow- ment, while showing a net increase, sustained heavy losses. In 1901 we had charged off a loss of $17,000 which had been advanced to Coburn. During the eleven years in which Coburn failed to meet expenses by $20,900, the attendance has more than doubled, but the number of students entering the College from the Institute has decreased.4
By 1914 the situation had become so acute that a new committee studied the problem. It found Hebron a strong school, with several Colby alumni on the faculty but with the Hebron graduates increasingly inclined to go to other colleges than Colby. At Coburn the supply of graduates for the College was more favorable than the finances. Governor Coburn's once handsome endow- ment had now dwindled to $15,000. The committee said: "The reduction has been due to the acquisition of an expensive athletic field, annual deficits in operation, and some losses in investments." The report pointed out that, without the generosity of the Coburn family, the school might not have survived until 1914.
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