Presque Isle has long been a bastion of higher education. Today, the City boasts the University of Maine at Presque Isle (founded in 1903), Northern Maine Community College (founded in 1961), and the graduate program for Husson University.
But did you know that for a few short years in the late 1940s and early 1950s, Presque Isle also had a business school?
The Aroostook School of Commerce was founded in 1946 by Ralph Hanna, who then served as its president and principal. The school sat directly across the street from what is now the 1875 Vera Estey House Museum at 16 Third Street. Today, the building is an apartment house.
Students came from near and far to attend this school. Local students attended from Ashland, Auburn, Bingham, Bridgewater, Caribou, Easton, Fort Fairfield, Fort Kent, Houlton, Mapleton, Mars Hill, Pittsfield, Presque Isle, Skowhegan, Van Buren, Washburn, and Winterville. Some, like is normal today, came from across the border in New Brunswick. However, students also came from as far away as Connecticut, New York, and North Dakota.
People came to ASC to study to be accountants, secretaries, receptionists, and stenographers. In addition to academics, like most typical schools, there were also sports such as basketball, baseball, and cheerleading; and other extracurricular activities that included the Glee Club and the Gregg “Speedsters.” Gregg was the producer of shorthand books and the students competed in speed in typewriting and shorthand.
Men enrolled at ASC could stay in the dormitory area located in the upstairs of the school, while the women stayed at what was known as “Commerce Hall.”
Instructors came highly educated from well-respected schools. The founder Ralph Hanna had received his education at the Washington State Normal School and the Maine School of Commerce. A “normal school” was the term used to refer to a teacher’s college, which also was true for the origins of the University of Maine at Presque Isle. Other instructors included James Bishop (Bowdoin), Norma Jellison (Husson), Evelyn Stinchfield (Bates), and Audrey Seavey, a graduate of the Aroostook School of Commerce.
Dressed in school colors of maroon and gold, students could even be heard singing the school song:
When we are drifting far away,
Our mem’ries grieve us more each day.
For we will think of A.S.C.,
And of the joys that used to be.
Our classmates whom we hold so dear,
Will soon be far away from here.
And now our thoughts turn endlessly,
To future Commerce history.
As we recall the days of old,
We’ll ne’er forget Maroon and Gold.
Behind our team we’ll always be,
As we cheer them on to Vic-to-ry!
