Bates marking its first 150 years as a top institution

LEWISTON – Bates College in Lewiston is marking a major milestone this year: a century and a half as one of Maine’s leading educational institutions.

Bates was known as Maine Seminary School when it was chartered in 1855. Locations in Pittsfield and Unity were considered before Lewiston was chosen as the new school’s home.

Later named Bates College, it was the first higher-education institution in New England to admit women and accept black students from the start. It even made accommodations for poorer students who worked their way through.

What is now Bates College started off with 20 acres of donated pasture. It has spread to 109 acres, most of it developed. The original faculty of six has grown to 170. Bates now has students from more than 40 states and 68 countries.

This year, it received 10 applications for every opening in the next freshmen class, a record for the school. That figure probably would have astounded the school’s founder, Oren Cheney, who envisioned a “high-powered prep school.”

“He would be very surprised. It would have grown beyond his wildest imagination,” said University of New Hampshire professor emeritus Charles Clark, an author, historian and 1951 Bates graduate who wrote a book to celebrate the sesquicentennial.

In all likelihood, Cheney, who spent many of his 40 years as president soliciting donations to keep his school running, also would not recognize the school’s $42,000 annual cost per student.

The largest initial donation Cheney solicited, $50,000 from Boston industrialist and mill owner Benjamin Bates, wasn’t given in exchange for having the school named for him. A written account says Bates was embarrassed by the honor, current President Elaine Tuttle Hansen said.

To mark the anniversary, old yearbooks and bound copies of the Bates Student newspaper have been moved to the front of the college’s library for easier access, said Bill Hiss, vice president of external communications.

Panels marking Bates’ 150th will stress the future, said Hiss, who also chairs the Sesquicentennial Steering Committee.

Among Bates’ well-known graduates are former Secretary of State Edmund Muskie, who was also a U.S. senator and Maine governor, and HBO sports show host Bryant Gumbel, who also worked for CBS’ “The Early Show.”