Gazetteer of the State of Maine With Numerous Illustrations, by Geo. J. Varney
BOSTON. PUBLISHED BY B. B. RUSSELL, 57 CORNHILL. 1882. Public domain image from
THE STATE OF MAINE. 31
eration ; the town high schools, the Normal schools, the seminaries and
colleges have succeeded to their places.
Nearly every town of above one thousand inhabitants sustains a
high school for a portion of the year. The school mill tax on corpora-
tions has contributed largely to this result. By the report of the
Superintendent of Schools for 1879 we find that the estimated value of
all public school property in the State in that year was $2,947,655. The
number of school houses was 4,263, of which 70 had been built during
the year. At the same date the total number of children in the State
between the ages of four and twenty-one was 215,724. The amount of
money actually expended for public schools from April 1,1878 to April
• 1, 1879, was $984,108.
There are now three State Normal Schools exclusively for the train-
ing of teachers. These are located respectively at Farmington, Cas-
tine and Gorham. The State also sustains a training teacher in the
Madawaska region. The Oak Grove Seminary, at Vassalboro and the
Maine Central Institute, at Pittsfield, each graduate a class annually from
a Normal department, receiving aid from the State to the amount of
The Maine Wesleyan Seminary, at Kents Hill, also has a Normal
course, as well as a course in almost every desirable department for a
school of this grade. The Eastern Conference Seminary and Com-
mercial College at Bucksport, like the former, is a Methodist Institu-
tion. It is an excellent school and well patronized.
Westbrook Seminary, a school of excellent reputation, is the prin-
ciple institution of learning of the Universalist denomination in Maine.
It is pleasantly located at Stevens Plains, in Deering. Other excel-
lent schools are the Wendell Institute, in Farmington, for young ladies
and gentlemen, and the famous Little Blue School, in the same town
for boys only.
Another institution under State patronage is the State College of
Agriculture and Mechanic Arts, opened at Orono in 1868. The num-
ber of pupils, male and female, at the close of 1879 was 102. It has a
faculty of seven professors and an instructor in iron work.
Our oldest collegiate institution is Bowdoin College, at Brunswick,
whose President is Joshua L. Chamberlain, formerly Major-General of
Volunteers in the war of the rebellion, and later, Governor of Maine
four years. The institution is under the patronage of the Congrega-
tion alists, though the students are not unduly influenced by the author-
ities in religious matters.
The Hallowell Classical and Scientific Academy is the chief fitting
school for Bowdoin, and has also finished courses of its own.
Colby University, at Waterville, is beautifully situated, and is a well
appointed institution. It is under the patronage of the Baptists. The
Classical Institute, in the same town, is the principal fitting school.
Bates College, at Lewiston, is a young but flourishing institution
under the patronage of the Free Baptist denomination. The Nichols
Latin School, near by, is tbe principal fitting school. A Theological
Seminary also forms a department of the college.
The Theological Seminary at Bangor is the oldest religious school
in the State. It tvas incorporated in 1814 under the name of the
Maine Charity School. It went into operation at Hampden in 1817,
and removed to Bangor in 1819. The institution is Congregationalism
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