Throughout the nineteenth century, a mutual dependency for social and recreational stimulation existed between Middlebury College and the residents of Middlebury and the surrounding communities of Addison County. In the early years of Middlebury College, most students came from lower to middle class farming and merchant families. Still, aside from their classical studies, the acquisition of a certain amount of social grace was expected from gentlemen preparing for the ministry, law and education. Therefore, while a student's existence at the College for nearly half a century was Spartan at best and leisure time minimal, if not non-existent, life was inextricably connected to the town which offered the potential for social diversion. Although students who took dancing lessons received the same fine as for gambling and drunkenness, the College sponsored a Commencement Ball at Stowell's Hall following its first Commencement festivities in August 1802. The event overshadowed all previous cultural and social achievements introduced by Middlebury to the region. For decades, college parades, proms, hops, and balls were the annual cultural and social highlights for college and local residents alike. Until the arrival of women on the Middlebury Campus in the 1880s, assemblies and balls were the only opportunity for most college students to encounter the opposite sex and many Middlebury students relied upon these events to mingle with the local families, looking for prospective sweethearts and future wives.

Commencement exercises and class exhibitions constituted the only "theatrical" diversion in the region. "College exhibitions are our village theater," observed a local newspaper in 1825, "and as far as they exert any influence at all, it partakes strongly of the magic of theatrical performance. Here there are wanting many dangerous accompaniments of expense, refreshments and bad company. But the calm and innocent imagination of susceptible youth may be effectually thrown into a useless and dangerous tumult of excitement by the very tame dialogue as by a very splendid play." Despite the warning, class exhibitions and other college events flourished, to the delight of students and local residents, throughout the century.

Aside from the fact that space for athletic activity was all but absent at the College, the staunchly religious establishment looked down on the worldly and frivolous activities of sports and gymnastics. For years, the health of students was seriously impaired by a severe lack of physical activity. Then, in 1866, President Harvey Denison Kitchel made campus life more tenable by encouraging social activities including card playing, chess, athletics, music and dancing. Kitchel became a familiar and popular presence at college and local events, appearing at picnics, festivals, games and dances in town, at Joseph Battell's popular Bread Loaf Inn, and on excursions on the Otter Creek steamboat Valley Queen. Thanks to Kitchel's efforts, a gymnasium was built in South Painter Hall. In the 1870s, the campus witnessed sporadic student involvement in gymnastics, baseball and football. By the 1880s, an Athletic Association had been formed, with members representing baseball, football, tennis, and cycling.

The gradual emergence of athletics, fraternities, extracurricular activities and, most significantly, the move toward coeducation, set the college on a slow road to progressive education as well as social and cultural liberation. A broader range of social and cultural extra-curricular activities began to appear on campus including societies and clubs interested in art, literature, music, dramatics and even dance. Fraternities secured their influence by sponsoring off-campus social activities including dances, picnics and boating excursions to which young ladies from town were invited. The introduction of coeducation in 1883, the presence of women made possible a new on-campus social life which began to replace the traditional social and cultural dependency on the town. Still, social and cultural ties remained strong if, for no other reason, than the fact that there were no on-campus facilities to host social or cultural events. The Congregational Church, Addison House, Academy Hall (in the Graded School, now Twilight Hall) and, after 1883, the Town Hall, were the scenes of all College-related events until after the turn of the century. In addition, from their first appearance at Middlebury, college women took an active role in community service as well as cultural and social events. Local residents cheered for college athletic teams. Above all, Commencement remained the highlight of the year -- a community-wide holiday at which alumni, townspeople, parents, faculty and students came together to celebrate, sing and dance.

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