Chadbourne Hall
In 1866 the Wisconsin legislature passed an act to enlarge and restructure the university
including its curriculum, faculty, and students. The legislature also created a new
corporation and a new Board of Regents. One of the first pressing needs was to find a chief
executive, now called president, for the reorganized university, and the regents settled on
Paul Chadbourne. Chadbourne was born in North Berwick, Maine on October 21, 1823. He
attended Phillips Academy and worked for several years before graduating from Williams
College in 1848. He graduated from the Theological Institute of Connecticut (later Hartford
Theological Seminary) in 1853, and taught at Williams College, Bowdoin College, and was
president of the Massachusetts Agricultural College, Amherst. Chadbourne originally rejected
the offer of the presidency at Wisconsin but finally accepted on June 22, 1867, and took
office immediately. Chadbourne was a strong administrator and laid the groundwork for the
growth of the university in later years. The Law School was established during his
administration, and the first professor of agriculture was hired. Chadbourne was an opponent
of co-education, creating a separate Female College when the legislature mandated in 1866
that women be allowed to enroll in the University (women were admitted into the newly created
normal department in 1863, but not into the university proper). Ladies Hall, which originally
housed the Female College and later was a women's dormitory, was named for Chadbourne.
Chadbourne resigned in June, 1870, and later became president of Williams College from 1872 to
1881 and then returned to the Massachusetts Agricultural College as president in 1882. He
died in New York city, where he had gone for business, on February 23, 1883.
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Also from Williams College: John Bascom, John Olin, E.A. Birge.
Believed in educating women separately from men. Refused to accept the presidency until the
regents were allowed to set the terms for admission of women.
He sucured a $50,000 appropriation for building a Female College.
Coeducation came shortly after he left. In 1901 Ladies Hall was renamed Chadbourne Hall by
E.A Birge. “I thought it only fair that Dr. Chadbourne’s contumacy regarding co-education should
be punished by attaching his name to a building which turned out to be one of the main supports
of co-education”
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Paul A. Chadbourne, president, 1867-1870: A skillful administrator,Chadbourne laid the groundwork for the growth and development that was to sooncome under John Bascom.
