licensed preacher as well as a doctor of medicine, was a distinguished
teacher and scientist. As soon as he learned through Governor Washburn
that his name was being considered, he wrote immediately to decline,
saying that he would remain at Williams unless he accepted the
presidency of Wisconsin. He also stated that the Worcester position
should be given to a man of thirty, he having reached the ripe age of
forty-one. Chadbourne became first president of the Massachusetts
Agricultural College in 1867, president of Wisconsin, 1867-1870, of
Williams, 1872-1881, and again president of M.A.C. until his death in
1883.
Dr. Chadbourne later recommended Prof. C. F. Brackett, a former pupil
and his successor in the professorship of Chemistry at
Bowdoin. Dr. Sweetser invited Brackett to visit Worcester, but after
much correspondence had to report that the gentleman was unwilling to
consider the position.
The man next recommended, almost simultaneously by Dr. Chadbourne and
Dr. John D. Philbrick, able superintendent of the Boston schools, was
Charles 0. Thompson, then principal of the Arlington High
School. Mr. Thompson's background put him in high favor with the
trustees. Son of the Rev. William Thompson, professor of Hebrew at
Hartford Theological Seminary, he had prepared for college under
Dr. Chadbourne at East Windsor, Conn., and had graduated with honors
at Dartmouth in 1858. He had been principal at Arlington for four
years, had previously taught at Peacham Academy in Vermont, and had
had a limited experience as a civil engineer in New York
state. Physical sciences, particularly Chemistry, had been his deepest
interest. He had carried on these studies continuously, and had become
well known as a popular lecturer on science. Best of all, he was only
thirty-one. So, on March 20, 1868, he was formally elected Principal,
and professor of Chemistry, on his single condition that the opening
of the school be postponed until November 1, so that he might visit
the technical schools of Europe.
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