Repeated attempts to secure further grants from the state were unsuccessful. The report of the committee to whom the last of these petitions was referred is interesting because it goes at length into the question and gives the reasons for declining.[1] After stating that the Trustees are trying to set up a college, although the Legislature had not granted them a college charter, the committee state that in their opinion one college is enough for the District of Maine and that all state grants should go to the one already established.
In the meantime a plot of ground had been purchased in Waterville, and steps were taken toward erecting buildings thereon. In the records of the Trustees for their meeting in May, 1819, we find the following:
"7. Voted that Rev. Dr. Baldwin, Rev. Jeremiah Chaplin, Calvin Stockbridge, Timothy Boutelle, & John Hovey Esq. be a committee to take into consideration & report at the present meeting the expediency of erecting one or more buildings, the present year, on the College land in Waterville, of what size & of what materials."
As the result of the above vote we have later in the session the following:
"10. Voted, That the following gentlemen, viz. Nathaniel Gilman, Timothy Boutelle & Asa Redington Esq. be a committee to erect a wooden building, on the College Land, two stories high. . . . . & said committee are authorized to contract for brick to be made not exceeding two hundred thousand & also for other materials for the College Edifice to be commenced building as early the next season as practicable & said committee are requested to prepare & present to the Trustees at their next meeting in August next a plan of a College building &c"
Here again we have evidence that the Trustees considered the Institution as a college, in spite of their failure to secure a college charter. Further evidence on this point is to be found in a pamphlet dated May 21, 1819, and entitled "Maine Literary and Theological Institution," in which we read:[2]
"The design of the Trustees in founding this Seminary is not limited to such Students as have the gospel ministry in view, but extends to those who are desirous of engaging in any of the learned professions. It has, accordingly, a literary as well as a theological department.
"Students, who enter the former, are required to possess nearly the same literary qualifications, and to pursue, in general, the same course of studies as those are who enter the several Colleges of this Commonwealth." (The italics are mine.)
How Stronger evidence of the collegiate character of the institution could be given, it is hard to see. On the same page we read: "The
