Colby College

Colby College, founded in 1813, is one of the nation's oldest independent liberal arts colleges. Its 714 acre (2.9 km²) campus is located on Mayflower Hill in Waterville, Maine. One thousand, eight hundred students from more than 60 countries attend the College. Colby offers 53 major fields of study, and uses project-based learning. Volunteer programs and service-learning take many students into the surrounding community. More than two thirds of Colby students participate in study-abroad programs.

Historical timeline

• 1813—the Massachusetts Legislature grants a charter to the Maine Literary and Theological Institution
• 1818—Rev. Jeremiah Chaplin is selected by the Board of Trustees as the College's first president, classes are first taught in Chaplin's home starting in the fall
• 1821—the Maine Legislature empowers the Institution to grant degrees and its name is changed to Waterville College
• 1822—George Dana Boardman becomes Colby's first graduate
• 1832—planting of the Boardman Willows
• 1833—Rev. Rufus Babcock becomes Colby's second president
• 1867—name of the college changed to Colby College to honor its benefactor Gardner Colby
• 1869—dedication of Memorial Hall, the first memorial to the dead of both sides of the Civil War
• 1874—Sigma Kappa Sorority is founded by Colby's first five female students
• 1875—Mary Caffrey Low becomes Colby's first female graduate, she was the valedictorian of her class
• 1923—the White Mule becomes Colby's mascot as the result of an editorial written by by Joseph Coburn Smith in the student newspaper, The Echo
• 1937—groundbreaking for the new campus located on Mayflower Hill
• 1951—the last class takes place on the old campus in Coburn Hall