Bates College - Mirror Yearbook (Lewiston, ME)

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1.1 I 11 5 L Lf: E-G E H11- HH First Quarter Century 1864- I 889 Gren Burbank Cheney slept little that night on which he first conceiyed his yision. He had just receiyed the an- noucement that the Parsonfield Seminary had burned to the ground. Serying as a sudden inspiration. the desttiiction of the school gaye Cheney the idea of building a larger. better, and more centrally located educational institution. Septem- ber 22. 1851. marked the birth of the plans for the Maine State Seminary. Bates. in her one hundredth year. bears little resemblance to the rough. uncleared plot of land which President Cheney acquired from the citizens of Lewiston in 1856. .-Xs his dream. the seminary was to be an educational institution of high order. on a broad basis. and centrally located. Growth from the idea to the physical structure was slow. but Cheney remained courageous. Committed to his idea. he overcame obstacles caused by the depression of 1857. the Ciyil Var. and prejudice from Bowdoin and Colby who thought that a third college in Blaine would be superfluous. ln the fall of 1857. when the doors were first opened. Xlaine State Seminary consisted of a partially completed Hathorn Hall and one dormitory. Parker Hall. September. 1863. marked the entrance of the first collegiate class. Tn January. 1861. the Bates College Charter granted by the Maine State Legislature made Bates an official member of the small group of colleges already established in New England. Bates had the distinction of being the first to allow co-educationl Six men made up the first faculty. and the student body of twenty-fiye was offered courses primarily in the classics and moral philosophy. according to the colonial college tradition. .-Xt the same time that Bates College came into existence. Blaine State Seminary continued to function as a theological school with an enrollment of oyer 200. During the first few years of the school. Professor George Colby Chase tdestined to become the second president of Batesl laboriously began hand-collecting the beginnings of a library. Hathorn seryed as the classroom building. and Parker. diyided into two sections. proyided housing accommodations for both men and women. Heating facilities consisted of a plentiful supply of wood. an ax. and a great amount of determination. Co-ed dining was a feature in Parker basement! There was an artificial pool located approximately at the corner of College Street and Campus .-Xyenues. This was intended to check fires but seryed tnostly as a convenient place to breed mosquitoes. The first students were largely Blaine residents and ar- riyed either on foot or by horse and buggy. Although they were not yersed in all of the social graces. they were thoughtful. intelligent. and intent on getting on in the world. Thus they were more than willing to work. not only in their studies. but also to eam their room and board. through manual labor if necessary.

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Who Guided Bates . . . 1 GEORGE COLBY CHASE i 18-H-19191 George Colby Chase became the second president of Bates Col- lege in 189-l. 1Yhile he was in ofhce. the number of buildings. faculty members. students. and the endowments were increased threefold. Specifically he raised the funds for Coram Library and the Carnegie Science Building. President Chase not only continued to teach his English classes. but he also administered the affairs of Bates personally from his home at 16 Frye Street. Although the closing years of his Presidency were made difficult by the problems of the First wot-id 1Yar. he was still able to preside oyer the dedi- cation of the Chapel. and inspect the latest addition to the campus. Chase Hall. before his death in 1919. JONATHAN Y. STANTON 18 ul 1018 CLIFTON DAGGETT GRAY C1874-19481 In 1920 Clifton Daggett Gray became the third president of hlfncle Johnny' Stanton was lox ed foi his unique and chanmng personality. Because of this he holds the rank of being the best known of the original professors. An altruistic man. he was par- ticularly fond of his students and always put them before his own interests. He enjoyed the out-of-doors. and his well known bird collection is. in part. a result of his early morning bird walks. He and his colleagues displayed an unusual amount of devotion and sacrifice to President Cheney. Bates cannot oyerestimate the debt it owes to its first faculty. Bates College. He was influential in recruiting new faculty members with broad training and doctorates. During his presidency the college went through more hard times, including the great depres- sion of the thirties and 1Vorld YYar II. Students were hard to come by, and any major fund raising had to be abandonedg but President Gray was able to obtain a unit of the V12 Naval Training Pro- gram, which gave Bates a sense of personal participation in the war and proyided the needed funds. 5

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Professor and students take time out from their lab studies to enjoy lunch. fist rg, ' dn X114 ,n ' 's .s,,,. w :,- ,-, . - gl iii ' ' -sg! .xx 4' It 0' O' -as A Bates couple passes by Wilson House on the way to a Spring outing. ss'