Ricker Classical Institute - Aquilo Yearbook (Houlton, ME)

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The Aquilo History ot Qicker 1848-1948 Today I am a senior at one of the best academies in the country- Ricker Classical Institute and Junior College-a fact of which I am very proud. I have not always been a senior, and neither has Ricker always been the modern, spacious building and school that it is today. Let us look back into the past, and for the benefit of those who do not know the history of this school, and for the renewal of school-day memories of those who do, find the source and the need from which Ricker grew. In the year of 1820 the only school known to this county was one room in the home of Joseph Houlton, Any student wishing secondary or further education had to go to the state of Massachusetts. In the year of 1820, as I have said before, the only school being one room in a private home, plans then and in the next few years were made and discussed toward the building of an academy here in Houlton in order to further education. In 1837 an act of incorporation was secured from the Maine Legislature. With the legal right of incorporation, ten citizens of this community' united into a group known as the Trustees of Houlton Academy . The amount of this corporation's real and personal estate was limited by the fact that their income could not exceed 85,000 per year, and that the trustees of the academy could not be less than 11 or over 20. The establishment of the school building was delayed due to the im- pending war over the northeastern boundary. It was not a very long wait, though, and steps were taken to commence soon after 1845. Reverend William Thomas Savage of the Congregational Church and of the State Board of Education was very instrumental in obtaining a second act of incorporation for the trustees of the academy in 1847. Under this second incorporation act eight prominent men of both local and coun- ty affairs constituted the board of trustees. These men as a corporation had the right to sue and to be sued, to make any necessary by laws as long as they were not repugnant to the laws of the state in any way. They had the power to fill any vacancies occurring in their number, This corporation was to have all the powers and privileges of any other similar corpora- tions. a The foremost member of this organization was Mr. Shepard Cary, a member of the Maine Senate and the Congress of the United States. The board president was John Hodgdong other members were Benjamin L. Staples, Joseph Carr, Jr., Leonard Pierce, Esq., Zemas Paine Wentworth, Zebulon Ingersoll and Jeremiah Trueworthy. On July 31, 1847, a land agent of the state was authorized to convey one half of the township 14, range 3, for the trustees if they before Mon- day, October 8, 1849, should have furnished a good and convenient academ- ical building and had commenced a school in this building and also if their corporation had a property value of at least the sum amounting to 51,000 over and above the debts of the corporation. A cleared, elevated lot on the Military Road, between the Hill and the Mills, was purchased from Collins by the trustees as a site for the academy. A two story building was erected with school rooms on the low- er floor and court rooms above. Sessions of the Supreme Court were held there for eleven years until the present court house was built. The acad- emy opened in the autumn of 1848. The first principal was Mr. Milton U43