Historical Sketch of BRUNSWICK Maine
From
Leading Business Men of
LEWISTON, AUGUSTA and VICINITY
BOSTON
MERCANTILE PUBLISHING COMPANY
1889
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BRUNSWICK is an ideal town in New England, alike charming for its natural beauty
and its quiet air of refinement. A subtle aroma of culture seems to pervade its streets and buildings and give
peculiar dignity to its people. Whether it was peculiarly fitted for a college town, or has been transformed into
Marrnony with the scholarly, academic spirit, it would not be easy to decide; but no one can escape the power of
its beauty and charm. The history of Brunswick has been carefully studied and compiled by able men, so that its
historical archives are unusually full. Its colonial history extends back to the very earliest activities of the
English in this part of the new world. Thomas Purchase, an energetic pioneer and trader with the Indians had established
himself here as early as 1628. His fame spread throughout the growing band of Englishmen along the Atlantic coast
of New England, and in 1632 he was joined by George Way. These two obtained a patent from the Plymouth Company
in England for a large piece of territory at the mouth of the Androscoggin River. It was about four miles square,
and contained the great salmon fisheries, which were widely celebrated for their rich supplies of salmon, especially
among the Indians. As early as 1639, the Indians already gave signs of an intention to do the English colonies
no good, and in that year, for the sake of protection, Thomas Purchase placed his little colony under jurisdiction
and control of Massachusetts. It continued to grow slowly but steadily up to the time of the outbreak of the King
Philips War, in 1675. In that year the wrath of the Indians was poured out upon the little settlement, but though
they devasted and burned the whole town,all the inhabitants succeeded in escaping. From this time for about a quarter
of a century, the place lay desolate; but at the beginning of the eighteenth century, old families began to come
back and the place so rapidly recovered its former size that it was incorporated as a township by the General Court
of Massachusetts in 1717. Its territory comprised six square miles, and it was named Brunswick, in honor of the
recently founded royal family of England. The first selectmen were Capt. M. Gyles, Thomas Wharton, James Storratt,
John Cochran and John Heath, the latter also being the first town clerk.
Bowdoin College, which has been so long and intimately connected with Brunswick, is deserving of more than passing
notice, being the oldest and most famous educational institution of its kind in the State. The first movement for
the college was started in 1788, by the Senator in Massachusetts Legislature from Cumberland Co., Hon. Josiah Thatcher,
and the charter for the institution was granted by the Legislature in 1794. Brunswick was chosen as the cite because
it made the most generous offers of land and support. It was named Bowdoin College in honor of the Hon. James Bowdoin,
a graduate of Harvard, in 1745, delegate to the first Congress in 1776, and Governor of Massachusetts. One of the
earliest and chief patrons of the college was the Hon. James Bowdoin, son of the former, a graduate of Harvard
in 1771, who contributed money and land valued at $6,000. The original trustees were Rev. Thos. Brown, Falmouth;
Samuel Deane, D.D., Portland; John Frothingham, Esq., Portland; Rev. Daniel Little, Wells; Rev. Thomas Lancaster,
Scarboro; David Mitchell, Esq., North Yarmouth; Rev. Tristram. Gilman, North Yarmouth; Rev. Alden Bradford, Wiscasset;
Thomas Rice, Esq., Pownalboro; William Martin, North Yarmouth. The original purpose, as stated in charter, was
“to found a seminary to promote virtue and piety, and a knowledge of the languages, and of the use of the liberal
arts and sciences.” Five, townships of lands, each six miles square, were granted to the college by the Legislature.
The college did not formally open until 1802, the Rev. Joseph MoKeen of Beverly, Mass., having been chosen the
first President in the preceding year. Massachusetts Hall, completed in 1802, was the first college building. In
the first year there were eight students. Among the most prom.. inent of the early professors, were John Abbott,
first professor of languages, and. Parker Cleaveland, first professor of mathematics and sciences. In 1805 the
Pencinian Society was founded. In 1807 there were forty-four students and 1,500 volumes in the library. In the
same year President MeKeen died and the Rev. Jesse Appleton of Dartmonth was chosen his successor. In 1808 the
Athenaeum Society was established. In 1811 the Hon. James Bowdoin died, leaving to the college another legacy of
2,000 books, many valuable maps, paintings, etc., valued at $15,000, and made the college his residuary legatee.
In 1819, on the death of President Appleton, the Rev. William Allen, former President of Dartmouth, succeeded him.
President Allen was féllowed in 1839 by the Rev. Leonard Woods of the Bangor Theological Seminary, who served
the longest term of any President of the college, continuing in office until 1865, and was one of Bowdoin’s ablest
leaders and most distinguished. Among Bowdoin’s. other famous graduates were Henry W. Longfellow and Nathaniel
Hawthorne, both of class of ‘25, and two of the most brilliant lights in American literature. Bowdoin has, indeed,
been always distinguished for its strong literary tone and atmosphere, and is not surpassed at the present time
in this respect by any college in New England. In 1855 King’s Chapel was completed, and two years later the beautiful
Memorial Hall, in honor of the Bowdoin men who fell during the war. The Rev. Samuel Harris was President from 1865
to 1871; he was succeeded by Gén. Joseph H. Chamberlain in 1871, and the latter by the Rev. William D. Hyde,
D.D., the present incumbent. The total number of graduates up to 1876 was 1,887. The medical school, which is now
in a flourishing condition, was established by the Maine Legislature in 1820. Since 1820 this department has graduated
1,174 pupils. At the present time there are eighty-five students in the medical department and 137 in the academic
department, making a total of 222. The college is now in a prosperous condition, and admirably maintaining the
laurels of former years. The campus is spacious and beautiful, with wide lawns, long, shaded walks and beautiful
buildings; among the chief of these are King’s Chapel, Sargent’s Gymnasium, Memorial Hall, Massachusetts Hall,
Winthrop, Maine and Appleton Halls, the Medical School and Laboratory. The library now contains, together with
those of the Athenaeum and Pencinian Societies, over 35,000 volumes, and there are large art collections and valuable
scientific collections and apparatus. The faculty now numbers twenty-four, thirteen of whom are in the academical
faculty, and the ability and scholarship of the teachers with the accumulated resources of many years, render Bowdoin’s
facilities for imparting higher instruction on a par with the best standard in the country. |
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