and 1812; Mr. Parmalee, 1806; Mr. Weeks, 1806; Thomas Fessenden, 1809-1811; James Merrill, 1811; John Eveleth, 1814-1816; Stephen Emery, 1817; M. B. Sargent, 1817, 1818; Israel W. Bourne, 1818; Moses Emery, 1819; Ephraim Tripp, 1822, 1823; William A. Lane, 1823; Stephen Coburn, 1824; Simeon Perkins, 1824-1832; Dudley P. Bailey, 1832; Isaac Palmer, 1833; Jacob L. Mitchell, 1834-1836; Ebenezer Dole, jr., 1836; Josiah A. Bearce, 1837; Ozias Millett, 18381844; B. F. Parsons, 1814-1847; G. G. Fairbanks, 1847-1849; A. K. P. Small, 1849-1851; George M. Staples, 1851; Mark H. Dunnell, 1852-1855; Gowen C. Wilson, 1855; Charles J. Prescott, 1855-1857; Selden F. Neal, 1857-1860; Joseph F. Elder, 1860; A. C. Herrick, 1861-1871; J. F. Moody, 1871-1879; E. A. Daniels, 1879–1881; W. W. Mayo, 1881-1885; since 1885 William E. Sargent.

3. RICKER CLASSICAL INSTITUTE.

I. HOULTON ACADEMY.

This is the third fitting school connected with Colby College, and is situated at Houlton, in Aroostook County. A charter for an academy at this place was granted by the legislature of Maine, March 29, 1837, but no school was established under it. Ten years later another charter was obtained and approved June 14, 1847. The corporate trustees of Houlton Academy, then chartered, were Joseph Carr, jr., Leonard Pierce, Zebulon Ingersoll, John Hodgdon, Jeremiah Trueworthy, Shepard Cary, Zenas P. Wentworth, and Benjamin L. Staples.

Their first meeting was held on the 3d day of July, 1847, when John Hodgdon was chosen president and Benjamin L. Staples secretary. By a resolve approved July 31, 1847, the academy received a grant of a half township of land in Aroostook County, afterwards designated as township 14 in range 3, on condition that the corporation, prior to October, 1849, should have furnished a good and convenient academical building, have commenced a school therein, and should have possession of corporate property to the amount of at least $1,000. The proceeds of the sale of this land, held in trust by the State treasurer, is $2,000, upon which the State pays 6 per cent interest."

At a meeting of the trustees, August 16, a committee, consisting of Shepard Cary, Jeremiah Trueworthy, and John Hodgdon, was appointed to select a suitable site and procure a draft of an academy building. Land was purchased of Collins Whittaker, and a building erected in 1848. The school opened with Mr. Milton Welch as principal, in the fall of the same year, and continued under his instruction until 1851. The second story of the building was used as a court room

a Resolves of Maine. Census Bulletin No. 162, February 13, 1892.

for several years until a court-house was built. fined to the lower story for about twenty years.

The school was con

In 1868 Principal Fernald was requested to procure and submit to the trustees plans for a new building. In October of the same year Benjamin L. Staples, Theodore Cary, and Francis Barnes were chosen a committee to enter into a contract for the erection of the building. Mr. George M. Harding, of Portland, was the architect and Mr. John Wadsworth, builder, completing the new academy in 1870, at an expense of about $6,500.

a

A course of study of three years length was established in 1870. In 1874 the trustees accepted a proposition to give their property in trust to Colby University on condition that an endowment of $25,000 be raised, and in 1877 the academy became the eastern fitting school of that college.

In July, 1886, Mrs. Catherine L. Wording made a gift of $30,000 for the purpose of erecting an academy building as a memorial of her late husband, Hon. William E. Wording, of Racine, Wis., a native of Castine, Me., and a member of the board of trustees of Colby University, his alma mater, to whose funds he was a liberal contributor. Judge Wording died at Fargo, N. Dak., January 23, 1886.

WORDING HALL.

This building is situated on the corner of Military and High streets, upon high ground, near the center of the village. It is constructed of brick, with freestone trimmings. John Calvin Stevens, of Portland, was the architect and John E. Burrows the contractor. There are two main entrances, one from each street, and a rear entrance. Over the young men's entrance is placed a memorial tablet. On the right of the archway forming the entrance an octagonal tower rises, crowned with an observatory. The ladies' entrance is covered by a brick porch with lattice windows. High above this is a tablet inscribed "Ricker Classical Institute."

The entire building is heated by steam; both the direct system of heating through radiators and the indirect through registers are employed. At the right of the boys' entrance, passing through the coat room, one reaches the main study room. Seven large windows on the north and two on the west admit ample light upon the left and back of the pupils. A large antique fireplace and bookcase in the rear, a piano in front, and pictures on the walls add a home-like appearance. The room is seated with the "Globe" single desks, made of birch and maple, which harmonize with the interior finish. This room is separated from another large study room on the south by sliding windows so arranged that the two rooms can be made into one whenever desired. This room is also well lighted, and the seats

a Catalogue of Ricker Classical Institute, 1888-89, Appendix.

arranged to bring the light upon the left of the student. From this room doors lead into the class room for modern languages, the ladies' dressing room, and the entrance hall. The rest of the first floor is occupied by a large recitation room for classes in mathematics, a reading room, a library, and the principal's private office, all of which are well furnished and adapted to their special purposes. The corri dors are finished in ash. A wide stairway with a broad landing midway leads to the second floor. This floor is occupied mainly by memorial hall, used as an assembly hall, and having a seating capacity of 500. It is finished up into the roof, showing the hardpine truss work, and has a raised platform in front, and in the rear a gallery entered from the third floor. The beautiful oil paintings of Judge Wording, Mrs. Wording, and their son, who died at the age of 7, hang above the platform. The portrait of Mrs. Wording was presented by Stillman W. McLaughlin, esq., of Grand Forks, N. Dak., and the other two by Mrs. Wording herself.

The class room for chemistry and physics, on the second floor, is very convenient and admirably suited for these recitations. The seats are arranged upon rising platforms overlooking the instructor's table, where experiments are performed. On the right of the teachers' table is a chemical laboratory, supplied with water, and upon the left a room for physical apparatus. There are yet two other rooms upon this floor, one a double room, with folding doors between the two parts, and the other a music room.

The roof is high enough so that three large rooms are finished on the third floor, one of which contains the cases for specimens illustrating natural history and geology, and is used for classes in these subjects; another is designed as an art room, and the third is a spare class room. Entrance to the tower is gained from this floor.

Wording Hall was dedicated with appropriate services June 28, 1888. Hon. Moses Giddings, of Bangor, presided on that occasion. An address in behalf of the citizens of Houlton was given by John B. Madigan, esq., and the report of the building committee by Hon. E. F. Webb, of Waterville. President George D. B. Pepper, D. D., of Colby University, gave an able dedicatory address. Rev. J. B. Thomas, D. D., of Newton Theological Institution, and Rev. Joseph Ricker, D. D., of Augusta, also participated in the exercises.

II. RICKER CLASSICAL INSTITUTE.

The present name of the school was adopted in 1887, in commemoration of the personal gifts and labors of Rev. Joseph Ricker, D. D., of Augusta, for many years the devoted secretary of the Maine Baptist Convention and a prominent member of the board of trustees of Colby College. Through his labors the endowment fund was raised to $40,000, and the school became part of the educational system of Colby College.