1761 - The town of Middlebury receives its charter.

1773 - Gamaliel Painter, thirty-one years old, moves to the Middlebury area with his
family.

1787 - Gamaliel Painter purchases a large tract of land on the east bank of Otter Creek,
the future site of the commercial center of the town.

1789 - Darius Matthews and Samuel Miller, both twenty-three years old, move to
Middlebury.

1791 - Burlington is selected as the site for the University of Vermont, largely due to a
generous grant from politician Ira Allen, granted 28,000 acres of land. One of the
founding principles of the University is religious freedom.

1794 - Seth Storrs, thirty-one years old, and Daniel Chipman, twenty-nine years old,
move to Middlebury.

1797 - After achieving their goal of establishing Middlebury as the county seat, Painter,
Matthews, Miller, Storrs and Chipman bid for the creation of a county grammar
School. Middlebury is granted the grammar school by the 1797 General Assembly
although loses the bid to have the 1798 General Assembly convene in Middlebury.

1798 - Painter and other Middlebury leaders first petition the General Assembly for a
college charter. They consult Timothy Dwight, president of Yale College, on the
creation of a college in Middlebury.

1799 - Jeremiah Atwater leaves his position as tutor at Yale College to become principal
of the Addison County Grammar School.

1800 - Middlebury College is officially chartered by the 1800 General Assembly and
becomes the third college to be recognized by the Vermont General Assembly.
Atwater is named the first president of Middlebury College. Storrs is named secretary,
Matthews is named treasurer, and Joel Doolittle is named tutor.

1805 - Middlebury first petitions for a share of the lands deeded to UVM. This would
become the first of many attempts to petition for a share of UVM's land. The Addison
County Grammar School is relocated to another building and a new principal is found,
allowing Atwater to focus on Middlebury College.

1806 - Frederick Hall, twenty-six years old, is hired as new professor of mathematics and
natural philosophy.

1807 - Hall leaves for a two-year stay in Europe to prepare for his new position at
Middlebury College.

1809 - Atwater resigns as president of Middlebury College.

1810 - Henry Davis is named the successor of Atwater. Oliver Hulburd is hired as a
language professor but moves to Georgia due to health problems. John Hough is quickly
elected to Hulburd's position.

1815 - The construction of the dormitory that would become Painter Hall is completed.

1816 - Gamaliel Olds is hired as a professor of chemistry, Hough is made professor of
divinity, and Solomon Allen replaces Hough as professor of languages. Due to a large crop
failure, the college's permanent fund that Davis had strove to build up, collapses. A religious
revival sweeps across the Middlebury campus, drawing in many students.

1817 - Olds declines from his chemistry professorship, Allen dies, and Davis resigns as
president. Joshua Bates, a Harvard graduate, is elected as the new president.

1818 - Robert Patton is promoted from the position of tutor to professor of languages.

1819 - Gamaliel Painter dies and leaves the college thirteen thousand dollars, helping to
ease the financial crisis.

1822 - Middlebury College students petition Bates to fire Hall, leading to Hall's
dismissal in 1824. Due to the continuing financial crisis, the Middlebury College board
decides to sue the people of who have not yet paid their subscriptions to the College.

1823 - Alexander Twilight graduates and is the first African American to receive a
baccalaureate degree at an American college.

1825 - Edward Turner is hired as professor of mathematics and natural philosophy.
Patton resigns.

1827 - William C. Fowler hired as professor of chemistry. Middlebury wins a court battle
and acquires five thousand acres of land, an important financial resource for the college
throughout the nineteenth century.

1836 - The building that would later be named Old Chapel is completed. Most classes
were held in Old Chapel after its construction.

1838 - Turner dies and is replaced by Solomon Stoddard, a Yale graduate.

1839 - Hough is dismissed by the board of trustees and Bates resigns.

1840 - Benjamin Labaree, Jr., a former secretary of the American Education Society, is
named president of the college.

1840 - Since 1835, Middlebury had been experiencing a decline in enrollment from 168
students to 46. Tensions also heighten in faculty-student relationships.

1843 - The college's trustees vote to embark upon a fifty thousand dollar fund drive to
help ease the financial situation of the institution. Middlebury College's fraternity system
begins with the inception of the Alpha Mu chapter of the Chi Psi fraternity.

1847 - The college is hit with an unprecedented faculty crisis. Two instructors die, two
resign, and the remaining instructor gets sick.

1850 - Middlebury celebrates its semicentennial.

1857 - Due to the stress of financial crisis and faculty shortage, Labaree attempts to
resign but is convinced to stay.

1861 - The construction of Starr Hall is completed. The beginning of the Civil War
reduces enrollment as many men postpone college in order to enlist.

1864 - An enormous fire consumes Starr Hall leaving only the walls remaining.

1865 - The first Kaleidoscope, the college's yearbook, is printed.

1866 - Labaree retires and Henry D. Kitchel is elected as the new president.

1873 - Due to health concerns, Kitchel decides to resign. The board of trustees elects
Calvin Butler Hulbert, a Middlebury College trustee, to the position of president.

1876 - The Undergraduate, the college's student newspaper, is first printed.

1878 - The demerit discipline system is introduced in Middlebury College, despite
complaints from the student press.

1879 - In response to what students deemed unfair discipline, the freshmen and
sophomore classes place themselves under voluntary suspension until an agreement
with the faculty could be reached. The strike was soon joined by the junior and senior
classes. In response, the college decided to officially suspend all enrolled students. The
dispute is mediated by ex-Governor John W. Stewart and the students return to class.

1880 - Due to the results of committee that investigated the issue of discipline on
campus, Hulbert resigns. Cyrus Hamlin is elected as the new president.

1881 - The northern part of Painter Hall is renovated to create a gymnasium and a new
library addition is built.

1883 - College trustees vote to allow women to enroll.

1885 - Hamlin resigns due to old age. Ezra Brainerd takes office as acting president and
is officially elected in 1886.

1887 - A subscription drive ends yielding fifty thousand dollars is new revenue for the
college.

1892 - Charles J. Starr gives Middlebury College a check for sixty thousand dollars for
the college's permanent fund.

1894 - Starr leaves Middlebury College one hundred and fifty thousand dollars upon his
death.

1897 - Egbert Starr dies and leaves Middlebury College fifty thousand dollars.

1889 - The first sorority on the Middlebury campus, the Alpha Chi sorority, is created.

1900 - Starr Library is completed for the centennial of Middlebury College.

1901 - The Warner Science Hall is completed due to gifts totaling eighty-two
thousand five hundred dollars from Ezra J. Warner.

1902 - The Undergraduate ceases publication due to financial reasons. Enrollment of
women is limited due to a movement among male students since the number of women
students had grown larger than the number of male students.

1905 - The student newspaper is reborn as the Middlebury Campus.

1907 - Brainerd resigns from the presidency. John Martin Thomas is elected to the office
of president.

1910 - The building that would named Adirondack House is completed and is used as
dining and housing space for female students of Middlebury College.

1911 - Pearson Hall is completed.

1912 - McCullough Gymnasium is constructed. Due to a generous donation from
William H. Porter, Porter Field is designed. A student government for the men's college
is formed.

1913 - Students first get the ability to choose majors and minors after completing
freshman requirements. A student government for the women's college is formed.

1914 - Dr. John Mead pledges to build a new chapel for the college. A. Barton Hepburn
pledges to provide a men's dormitory and a dining room. These new buildings were
constructed in 1915-16.

Passages from the chapters of The Town's College:

Chapter 1:

"Gamaliel Painter, a settler who was instrumental in turning the area near the falls into a trade center was also a founder of Middlebury College and its principal early supporter. He was a businessman, a land speculator, and an engineer of sorts, a miller, and a shrewd adversary of those who would try to block his plans for the growth of Middlebury - an archetypal town founder and booster." - pg. 15.

"They argued further that if Middlebury's petition were granted other towns might also wish to operate colleges. The new St. Albans petition was, of course, fresh in everyone's mind: "We must stop somewhere," the UVM leaders pleaded, or the small resources of the state would be hopelessly divided" - pg. 29.

"Middlebury could have its college, but UVM would be the only state-supported school. Most American colleges and universities founded before 1800 had been financially supported, at least to some extent, by their state or colonial government. Denied this support, Middlebury College turned directly to its community for nurture, and thus truly became the town's college." - pg. 35.

Chapter 2:

"In their desire to keep Hall, the town had raised his salary to an amount that was exactly twice that of President Atwater. Atwater was stunned by the turn of events." - pg. 42.

"Then a disastrous crop failure caused a serious decline in the local economy and dealt a cruel financial blow to the college. By the fall of 1817, the permanent fund had nearly collapsed, Olds had refused his chemistry post, and Davis had resigned." - pg 50.

"The college's most pressing concern, aside from financial woes, was the faculty. The tragic death of Professor Allen in 1817, the growing student resentment against Professor Hall in the early 1820s, and the constant lack of money to attract and keep faculty were among Bates's most critical problems during his first ten years as president." - pg. 59.

Chapter 3:

"The advanced age, piety, and poverty of many of the students minimized disciplinary problems and engendered an atmosphere that emphasized serious and inexpensive extracurricular activities." - pg. 69.

"Although the Middlebury trustees rejected basic curricular changes at the height of the reform clamor, they continuously considered the reforms of rival colleges, particularly in the areas of modern languages, science, and English literature." - pg. 78.

"While religious studies, daily chapel, and church attendance provided a constant structure for all, the truly pious students doubtless found extracurricular religious activities more stimulating. In 1804, Middlebury students who were professing Christians organized the Philadelphian Society, which met each Friday evening to discuss religious questions." - pg. 83.

Chapter 4:

"Petty, Josiah Peet, Thomas Sawyer, and many other Middlebury men were in their twenties by the time they entered college. In fact, before 1840 fully one third of Middlebury students graduated at age twenty-five or older." - pg. 95.

"When supervision failed to avert a misbehavior or crime, the faculty resorted to punishment, in the hope that this would prove a future deterrent for both the malefactor and any who might be tempted to emulate him." - pg. 107.

"Although many of the college's graduates and residents were leaving the rocky soil and cold winters of Vermont and heading west or south, 24 percent of Middlebury students who were graduated before 1840 stayed in Vermont for at least one fourth of their lives after graduation, and many of them made important contributions to Vermont life as statesmen, lawyers, doctors, ministers, teachers, and businessmen." - pg. 119.

Chapter 5:

"In the fall of 1836, 168 students were in attendance; by 1840, enrollment had plunged to 46, and President Bates and the entire faculty had departed." - pg. 126.

"The faculty's anger over the Manning affair was probably heightened by the fact that the satire and the farewell party were not isolated disciplinary incidents. Ten other students had already been reprimanded during the 1836-37 academic year, which compared unfavorably to an annual average of three between 1810 and 1835." - pg. 133.

"In addition, the depression was a major cause of a sharp decline in receipts of the American Education Society, which supported many students at Middlebury, Amherst, and other colleges." - pg. 138.

Chapter 6:

"Even earlier, the corporation also had begun rising to another challenge: in 1846 they had responded to alumni criticism by electing a Middlebury graduate to the vacant professorship of rhetoric and English literature." - pg. 146.

"Lower enrollments during the war and the resulting loss of revenue combined to produce a new financial crisis. The corporation announced a hundred-thousand-dollar subscription drive in May 1864 to endow two more professorships, provide for a gymnasium, increase the library's holdings, improve the scientific apparatus, and extinguish the growing debt." - pg. 153.

"The New York World even printed a letter from a Middlebury junior who was attempting to justify his actions. "The faculty have for a long time failed to remember," he argued, "that students in college are apt to be gentlemen, and until they realize this fact there can be no unanimity of feeling." - pg. 163.

Chapter 7:

"Between 1836 and 1880 the college had almost completely shunned educational or curricular reform. Middlebury presidents, echoing their predecessors, proclaimed that the development of mental discipline was the primary goal of college training and that a classical education was the best means of achieving it." - pg. 167.

"The birth in 1843 of the Alpha Mu chapter of Chi Psi fraternity marked the beginning of the Middlebury fraternity system, which would dominate the college's social life for a hundred years after the Civil War." - pg. 174.

"When Middlebury students began publishing The Undergraduate in 1876, they included campus news from other larger colleges that must have been received jealously. While many other schools competed in a variety of sports, Middlebury had barely enough students to field intramural teams." - pg. 182.

Chapter 8:

"Central to Hamlin's cost-cutting plan was a college boarding hall, or commons. While the college would be responsible for fuel, lights, and upkeep, the students would pay for the food and cost." - pg. 201.

"Living conditions at Middlebury College in the 1880s were not much different from what they had been in 1800. There was no running water, electric lights, or central heating." - pg. 208.

"By 1907, Ezra Brainerd could look back on forty-five years of affiliation with Middlebury. During his presidency, the college had expanded its physical plant, enrollment, library holdings, and endowment and had modernized its curriculum." - pg. 224.

Chapter 9:

"In pursuing his goals, Thomas transformed the college. Between 1908 and 1915, it blossomed from a campus of five buildings and thirty acres to one of thirteen buildings and 144 acres." - pg. 229.

"Hepburn Hall and Mead Chapel, both fine examples of the Colonial Revival style, were constructed in 1915-16, side by side on top of the college hill - twin symbols of "The New Middlebury" that Thomas had helped to create." - pg. 246.

"The Vermont Commission's report in 1914 reawakened them, however, and the three colleges again considered some form of union or association that might answer the commission's criticisms and help to convince the legislature to continue appropriating funds for higher education." - pg. 251.

Chapter 10:

"Larger enrollments permitted more extracurricular activities, including an increasingly important varsity athletic program. Class loyalties declined as entering classes became larger, and fraternities became more popular and powerful." - pg. 258.

"Rising enrollments were also responsible for the establishment of Alpha Sigma Phi fraternity in 1911, but there were still not enough societies to meet the demand of the growing men's college." - pg. 263.

"Although the early teams suffered from inadequate equipment, a lack of training facilities, poor coaching, and a small number of available men, they attracted a good deal of publicity and enthusiastic home crowds - especially for the games against intrastate opponents from Norwich and UVM." - pg. 267.