# Coburn Classical Institute

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{{Short description|American preprary school (1828–1970)}}
{{Use American English|date=September 2025}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2025}}
{{Infobox school
| name           = Coburn Classical Institute
| image          = Coburn_Classical_Institute,_Waterville,_ME.jpg
| alt            =
| caption        = 
| motto          = 
| location       = [Waterville, Maine](/source/Waterville%2C_Maine)
| country        = United States
| coordinates    = {{coord|44.466109|-69.673059|format=dms |region:US-ME_type:edu |display=inline,title}}
| established    = 
| opened         = 1828
| former_names   = Waterville Academy<br />Waterville Classical Institute
| fundingtype    = Private
| type           = 
| closed         = 1870
| district       = 
| grades         = 
| superintendent = 
| principal      = 
| viceprincipal  = 
| enrollment     = 
| faculty        = 
| campus_type    = 
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| mascot         = 
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| website        = 
| feeder_schools =  
}}

The '''Coburn Classical Institute''' was a college preparatory school in [Waterville](/source/Waterville%2C_Maine), [Maine](/source/Maine), which operated from 1828–1970.

== History ==

=== Waterville Academy ===
In its early years, Waterville College (now [Colby College](/source/Colby_College)) had maintained a [Latin school](/source/Latin_school) in the college buildings.  Around 1828, the college trustees wanted a classical academy to prepare boys for entrance to the college.  Land was donated by Hon. Timothy Boutelle, and funds raised by the college president [Jeremiah Chaplin](/source/Jeremiah_Chaplin), for a small brick building in which the school went into operation in the fall of 1829.  The school was under the charge of Henry W. Paine, then a member of the senior class at the college.  Regarded as an appendage to the college, no act of incorporation was sought.  There were 61 students in the school's first year.<ref name="Education1903">{{cite book|author=United States. Bureau of Education|title=Circular of Information|publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office|url=https://archive.org/details/circularinforma13educgoog|year=1903|pages=[https://archive.org/details/circularinforma13educgoog/page/n441 207]–}}</ref>

For about two years, 1839 and 1840, Waterville Academy was closed.  The school re-opened in 1841, and in 1842 the trustees of Waterville College incorporated the school separately and passed control to a new board of trustees. Girls were admitted to the school beginning in 1845.<ref name="Education1903"/>

=== Waterville Classical Institute ===
In 1865, the school was renamed the '''Waterville Classical Institute'''.<ref name="Education1903" /> In 1868, a [Bachelor of Letters](/source/Bachelor_of_Letters) degree was first awarded to women.  Around 1874, [Abner Coburn](/source/Abner_Coburn) pledged $50,000 to the endowment of the school, on the condition that $50,000 also be raised to support two other institutes proposed by the college (called at the time '''Colby University''').

=== Coburn Classical Institute ===
In 1882, Coburn erected a new building for school at an additional expense of $38,000, and the school was renamed '''Coburn Classical Institute'''.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PhU-AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA313 |title=Board of Trade Journal |year=1906 |pages=313–}}</ref><ref>Little Talks #749.  Colby College Special Collections. December 31, 1967.  accessed at: http://web.colby.edu/specialcollections/2011/01/17/lt749-readonly/ {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304061442/http://web.colby.edu/specialcollections/2011/01/17/lt749-readonly/|date=2016-03-04}}</ref> An observatory dome was added to the school in 1889, with an [Alvan Clark & Sons](/source/Alvan_Clark_%26_Sons) equatorial telescope.

In 1970, the school merged with the '''Oak Grove School''' in [Vassalboro, Maine](/source/Vassalboro%2C_Maine), which was renamed the '''[Oak Grove Coburn School](/source/Oak_Grove-Coburn_School)''' and closed in 1989. In 1990, the State of Maine purchased the Vassalboro campus and turned it into the ''State of Maine Criminal Justice Academy'', a [police academy](/source/police_academy) which trains all law enforcement officers, state, county and municipal, who have the power of arrest and the authority to carry a firearm in the State of Maine.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.maine.gov/dps/mcja/about/about.htm|title=Maine Criminal Justice Academy: About the Facility}}</ref>

==People==
===Principals===
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="width:70%"
! width="40%" | Name
! width="15%" | Term Began
! width="15%" | Left/Retired
! width="5%" | Reference
|-
|Henry W. Paine || 1828 || 1830 ||<ref name=":0" />
|-
|Robert W. Wood || 1830 || 1830 ||<ref name=":0" />
|-
|George I. Chace || 1830 || 1831 ||<ref name=":0" />
|-
|Henry Paine || 1831 || 1835 || <ref name=":0" />
|-
|Charles H. Wheeler || 1841 || 1843 || <ref name=":0">{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/circularinforma13educgoog|title=Circular of Information|publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office|last=Education|first=United States Bureau of|date=1903-01-01|page=[https://archive.org/details/circularinforma13educgoog/page/n431 201]|language=en}}</ref>
|-
|James H. Hanson || 1843 || 1894 || <ref>{{Cite web|url=http://web.colby.edu/specialcollections/2011/01/17/lt749-readonly/|title=Read-Only|website=web.colby.edu|access-date=2016-04-12|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304061442/http://web.colby.edu/specialcollections/2011/01/17/lt749-readonly/|archive-date=2016-03-04|url-status=dead}}</ref>
|-
|[Franklin W. Johnson](/source/Franklin_W._Johnson) || 1894 || 1905 || <ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PhU-AQAAMAAJ&q=coburn%2520classical%2520institute%2520colby&pg=PA313|title=Board of Trade Journal|date=1906-01-01|page=313|language=en}}</ref>
|-
|George Stanley Stevenson || 1905 || 1912 || <ref>{{Cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2249&dat=19120120&id=HJY-AAAAIBAJ&pg=4894,3791873|title=Boston Evening Transcript - Google News Archive Search|website=news.google.com|page=11|access-date=2016-04-12}}</ref>
|-
|Drew T. Harthorn || 1913 || ?? || <ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=51g_AQAAMAAJ|title=A Handbook of American Private Schools|date=1917-01-01|publisher=P.E. Sargent|page=222|language=en}}</ref>
|}

===Notable alumnae===
*[Louise Helen Coburn](/source/Louise_Helen_Coburn) (1856–1949), 1873 A.B.,<ref>Coburn, Louise H,. Skowhegan on the Kennebec, Skowhegan, ME 1941</ref> one of the five founders of [Sigma Kappa](/source/Sigma_Kappa) sorority and a pioneer for women's education at Colby College
*[Obadiah Gardner](/source/Obadiah_Gardner) (1852–1938), politician
*[Ida Fuller](/source/Ida_Fuller) (1858–1930), founder of [Sigma Kappa](/source/Sigma_Kappa) sorority
*[Asher Hinds](/source/Asher_Hinds) (1863–1919), politician
*[Edwin Francis Lyford](/source/Edwin_Francis_Lyford) (1857–1929), lawyer and politician
*[Charles Francis Meserve](/source/Charles_Francis_Meserve) (1850–1936), academic administrator and president of [Shaw University](/source/Shaw_University); attended in the 1870s<ref name=":02">{{Cite web |last=Carroll |first=Grady L. E. |date=1991 |title=Meserve, Charles Francis |url=https://www.ncpedia.org/biography/meserve-charles-francis |access-date=2023-05-12 |website=[NCpedia](/source/NCpedia)}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Ashe |first=Samuel A'Court |url=http://archive.org/details/biographicalhis06ashegoog |title=Biographical History of North Carolina From Colonial Times to the Present |date=1905 |publisher=Greensboro, N.C., C.L. Van Noppen |others=New York Public Library |pages=342–348 |via=Internet Archive}}</ref>
*[Marston Morse](/source/Marston_Morse) (1892–1977), mathematician
*[Charles L. Phillips](/source/Charles_L._Phillips) (1856–1937), U.S. Army brigadier general<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Brewster |first=Mary Phillips |date=June 10, 1939 |title=Obituary, Charles Leonard Phillips |url=https://digital-library.usma.edu/digital/collection/aogreunion/id/21817/rec/2 |magazine=Seventieth Annual Report of the Association of Graduates of the United States Military Academy |location=Newburgh, NY |publisher=Moore Printing Company |page=139 |via=West Point Digital Library |ref={{sfnRef|Brewster}}}}</ref>
*[Jane Maria Read](/source/Jane_Maria_Read) (1853–?), poet and teacher
*[C. Donald Stritch](/source/C._Donald_Stritch) (1931–2014), politician
*[Clyde Sukeforth](/source/Clyde_Sukeforth) (1901–2000), enrolled 1916, major and minor league baseball player, manager and scout.

===Notable faculty===
* [Elijah Parish Lovejoy](/source/Elijah_Parish_Lovejoy) (1824–1826), headmaster
* [Ginger Fraser](/source/Ginger_Fraser) (1919–1921), athletic director

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

{{Maine Private and Boarding High Schools}}

{{authority control}}

Category:Boarding schools in Maine
Category:Schools in Kennebec County, Maine
Category:Private high schools in Maine
Category:Preparatory schools in Maine
Category:Education in Waterville, Maine

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Coburn Classical Institute](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coburn_Classical_Institute) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coburn_Classical_Institute?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.