The Ricker College Board of Trustees met recently to discuss available scholarships for high school seniors who are in the top quarter of their graduating class from Aroostook and Washington counties.
Executive Director Gary Bossie said, “This endowment fund has given over $3.7 million to students during the past 30 years. We give approximately $150,000 a year, which means more than 100 county students receive assistance from this fund.”
The actual number varies from year to year depending on the financial markets. Most scholarships are valued at $1,500 and are renewable until the student receives his/her baccalaureate degree or completes the fourth year of a longer program providing the recipient remains in good standing at the college.
Bossie said, “Students need to be diligent about completing all sections of the application and providing all of the necessary documentation. Often times, applications are received incomplete or missing strategic information. Those applications are discarded and not considered. It is very important that every section is completed accurately.” Forms can be downloaded from www.rickerscholarship.com or by contacting one’s high school guidance office.
Even though Ricker College closed its doors nearly 40 years ago, its legacy continues to help open the doors for high school seniors as they venture into the next phase of their life.
Ricker is a name that has been well known throughout northern Maine for more than 100 years, either as a high school, a junior college or as a four-year liberal arts school. Many students who attended or graduated from this local school may have been from any town, from Island Falls to Fort Kent. If one was not a resident of Houlton they either rented a room here in town or boarded with a family looking to make a little extra money. Many traveled by train to get here and back home at the end of the week, as in those days a horse and buggy took much longer and roads were not in the best of shape.
This school was originally called Houlton Academy and was founded in the mid-1800s as the first Aroostook County secondary school. It was located in a private home for a while and then in downtown Houlton. It drew students from around the Aroostook area that had no local high school to attend.
It later moved to a new property not far from the center of town and was renamed Ricker Classical Institute, honoring Rev. Joseph Ricker, D.D. who was headmaster and a professor from Colby College. The Academy was floundering and with guidance from Ricker the school was deeded in trust to Colby College, which gave it the financial aid to continue and it became the Eastern Preparatory School for Colby.
Today, as you travel east on Military Street from Court Street you pass by Ricker Plaza, an apartment complex for senior citizens. This entire block from Military Street, and south to Heywood Street first became the campus of R.C.I., followed by Ricker Jr. College and then Ricker College.
Catherine Wording of North Dakota donated $30,000 to erect the first classroom building in 1886. Her mission was to provide funds to help small schools survive and prosper. This wooden structure burned to the ground in 1944. Lost were many valuable historical records and items.
Classes had to be held in churches, lodges and the airbase for a time. A brick structure was built in 1946 to replace the one destroyed and is now incorporated into the Ricker Plaza apartment building. A Quonset style building was erected in the early 1940s and named the Putnam Gym for Fred Putnam who spearheaded the trustees to write a $154,000 federal grant proposal to build the gym. This gymnasium was once called the best basketball surface in the county and the largest stage north of Boston. It was the athletic, as well as the cultural center of this town. Several well-known performers played the Ricker venue, including, Bruce Springsteen, Melanie, Brooklyn Bridge and Orleans. Unfortunately, this building was later demolished after the closing of the campus.
In 1966, the last high school graduates received their diplomas and from that time forward local students were required to attend their local public high school. Hammond, Littleton and Monticello became an administrative district with Houlton; Ricker Classical Institute was dissolved and the college became an accredited four-year institution.
Ricker prospered in the mid- to late-‘60s with additional programs and campus expansion. It boasted an enrollment of 651 students with 228 students from within the state and 423 from outside. Some private residences were torn down to make way for three men’s dorms on Kelleran Street where there are several apartment complexes today. A girls’ dorm was built on High Street and is now part of the Wesleyan Church property, as is the former Ricker cafeteria and coffee shop that became the sanctuary and office area for the church.
The Department of Human Services occupies what was the new Ricker Library and the former college library called the Hayes Library which is the stone structure facing Military Street became a private residence.
Student enrollment increased with the Vietnam War in full swing. With successful marketing as the “College of the Northeast”, small classes, a quaint small town, Ricker was in its heyday. Graduating high school seniors migrated from the big cities of other New England states and many from New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Some even came from foreign countries.
At that time there was no Interstate 95 and U.S. Route 2 north from Bangor through the Haynesville woods was the only road of choice. Needless to say many of those young adults thought they were at the end of the earth when they finally arrived here. However, as they became acclimated to the quiet lifestyle of Houlton most of them grew to love the area and found many years later the four years they spent here were the best years of their life. They met new friends, who became long lasting friends. Reunions have become more frequent, orchestrated by former students, as there is no organized alumni database. These former students yearn for any familiar landmark that ignites a memory from decades ago.
Some fraternities, sororities or students from a particular state have tried to hold reunions in a more central location but have not been able to duplicate the atmosphere of being in Houlton.
In 1974, enrollment dropped to 250 with only 61 from within Maine. Ricker went into Chapter 11 and closed its doors forever in 1978. This was due either to poor marketing, mismanagement of funds, or the fact that state schools could offer lower tuition.
Through the years, thousands of students embarked on a journey to obtain a diploma from this baccalaureate school. Some of the students became famous, successful or just ordinary hard working citizens.
Many have never forgotten their time spent at either R.C.I. or the college and in later years donated substantial monies to a scholarship fund that was created with the proceeds from the liquidation of the school.
Thus, from the cover of the last Ricker yearbook published in 1978 came this saying, “From an end, a beginning.” And it is with this quote that the Ricker Board of Trustees encourages graduating seniors to apply for a Ricker scholarship to help with the beginning of their new
chapter.
