| Type | Private |
|---|---|
| Active | 1831 – 1996 |
| Affiliation | Kennebec Association of Universalists |
| Location | , , |
| Campus | Suburban |
Westbrook College was a liberal arts college in Portland, Maine, founded 1831 as Westbrook Seminary in Westbrook, Maine. It closed in 1996 and merged with the University of New England, which uses its old campus.
In 1831, Westbrook Seminary was established by the Kennebec Association of Universalists in Westbrook, Maine. The original 8-acre property was a gift from Zachariah Stevens, for whom Steven's Plains and Stevens Avenue are named, and Oliver Buckley. The seminary building, now called Alumni Hall, was not finished until 1834, and the first classes were finally held after its completion. The four tracks of study included English, scientific, ladies' classical, and preparatory. It was co-educational, but women in the scientific or ladies' classical tracks received unique "laureate of arts" and "laureate of science" degrees upon completion. [1]
Westbrook became an all-female institution when the last co-educational class graduated in 1925, and gradually became a junior college, as well, and dropped all preparatory work by 1933. During this time, it seems to have been named Westbrook Junior College. The women's junior-college plan had been proposed by president Clarence Quimby in 1914, but was rejected, and he later resigned in 1920. The college continued to grow through the 1970s, and the name was changed to Westbrook College. It became co-educational again in 1973, after the federal government stopped providing funds to gender-discriminating institutions. During the 1980s and 1990s, Westbrook made a commitment to a four-year liberal arts college education, but was hit hard by declining enrollment at the same time. By the mid-1990s, the college was seeking to close and merge with another institution, and finally did so with the University of New England in 1996. In an odd twist, the merger actually took place under the Westbrook charter, technically making the new institution Westbook College and changing its name to University of New England. [2]
Westbrook College was originally located in Westbrook, Maine, then Deering, Maine, and finally Portland, Maine. The institution never actually moved, but the surrounding area changed hands and names at least twice. [1] Today, the area where the campus is located is known as Portland's Deering Center neighborhood.
The Westbrook College campus is now known by the University of New England as the UNE Portland Campus.
Portland is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maine and the seat of Cumberland County. Portland's population was 68,408 in April 2020. The Greater Portland metropolitan area has a population of approximately 550,000 people. Historically tied to commercial shipping, the marine economy, and light industry, Portland's economy in the 21st century relies mostly on the service sector. The Port of Portland is the second-largest tonnage seaport in the New England area as of 2019.
The University of New England (UNE) is a private research university in Portland and Biddeford, Maine, United States. It traces it historical origins to 1831 when Westbrook Seminary opened on what is now the UNE Portland Campus.
The Concordia University System (CUS) is an organization of five colleges and universities and one satellite campus in the United States that are operated by the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod (LCMS). All of the institutions are named "Concordia"—a reference to the Latin title of The Book of Concord, the collection of Lutheran confessions—and all include professional church work programs as part of their curricula. The CUS was formed in 1992. In 2011, 28,421 students attend Concordia University System institutions. In 2021, the official website for the system claimed an enrollment of over 35,000 students.
The University of Southern Maine (USM) is a public university with campuses in Portland, Gorham and Lewiston, Maine, United States. It is the southernmost of the University of Maine System. It was founded as two separate state universities, Gorham Normal School and Portland University. The two universities, later known as Gorham State College and the University of Maine at Portland, were combined in 1970 to help streamline the public university system in Maine and eventually expanded by adding the Lewiston campus in 1988.
Kents Hill School is a co-educational, independent college-preparatory school for boarding and day students. Kents Hill is located in Kents Hill, Maine, 12 miles west of the state capital of Augusta. It is the 30th oldest boarding school in the United States and one of the oldest continuously operating co-educational college preparatory schools. One of the three oldest Methodist academies in the United States, the school is now a member of the Association of Independent Schools in New England (AISNE) and accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC).
An educational institution is a place where people of different ages gain an education, including preschools, childcare, primary-elementary schools, secondary-high schools, and universities. They provide a large variety of learning environments and learning spaces.
The Mount Vernon Seminary and College was a private women's college in Washington, D.C. It was purchased by George Washington University in 1999, and became the Mount Vernon Campus of The George Washington University.
Lillian M. N. Stevens (1843–1914) was an American temperance worker and social reformer, born at Dover, Maine. She helped launch the Maine chapter of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union (W.C.T.U.), served as its president, and was elected president of the National W.C.T.U. after the death of Frances Willard. Stevens also served as Editor-in-chief of the W.C.T.U.'s organ, The Union Signal.
The following is a timeline of women's colleges in the United States. These are institutions of higher education in the United States whose student population comprises exclusively, or almost exclusively, women. They are often liberal arts colleges. There are approximately 35 active women's colleges in the U.S. as of 2021.
Foxcroft Academy is a private preparatory high school located in Dover-Foxcroft, Piscataquis County, Maine. Foxcroft Academy is accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges and a member of the Independent School Association of Northern New England, College Board and the National Association of Independent Schools.
Bangor Theological Seminary was an ecumenical seminary, founded in 1814, in the Congregational tradition of the United Church of Christ. Located in Bangor, Maine, and Portland, Maine, it was the only accredited graduate school of religion in Northern New England
Adin Ballou Capron was an American miller and politician from the U.S. state of Rhode Island. He served in the American Civil War and was a member of the United States House of Representatives.
Portland, Maine, is home to many neighborhoods.
The Westbrook College Historic District is a historic district in the Deering neighborhood of Portland, Maine. It is centered on the campus of the former Westbrook College, founded in 1831 as the nation's first coeducational boarding school. The college merged with the University of New England in 1996. The district, which includes six buildings constructed between 1833 and 1952, was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1977.
The Deering Estate Barn was an architecturally significant building on the campus of the University of Maine at Portland, now the University of Southern Maine (USM), in Portland, Maine. Built about 1805 to a design by Alexander Parris, it was remodeled to plans by John Howard Stevens when the estate was taken over by Portland Junior College in 1947. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in August 1969, and demolished that same month over the protests of the university community.
Dorothy Murphy Healy was an American educator, historian, and curator. She was Professor of English Literature at Westbrook College, Portland, Maine, where she also served in various administrative capacities. In 1959 she co-founded the Maine Women Writers Collection at the college and built the collection into one of over 4,000 volumes by the time of her death in 1990. She was posthumously inducted into the Maine Women's Hall of Fame in 1993.
Edward Brackett Winslow was an American industrialist, banker and politician from Maine. He served on the Governor's Council for one year (1911) after the election of fellow Democrat Frederick W. Plaisted.
Stevens Avenue is a major street in the Deering neighborhood of Portland, Maine, United States. Part of Maine State Route 9 from Woodford Street southward, it runs for around 2 miles (3.2 km) from Forest Avenue, at Morrill's Corner, in the north to Outer Congress Street in the south. Stevens Avenue passes to the west of Woodfords Corner. Between Morrills Corner and Woodfords Corner, Stevens Avenue is linked to Forest Avenue by several side streets.
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