Benjamin E. Bates
Encyclopedia
New England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
industrialist and philanthropist, who was the namesake and a founder of Bates College
Bates College
Bates College is a highly selective, private liberal arts college located in Lewiston, Maine, in the United States. and was most recently ranked 21st in the nation in the 2011 US News Best Liberal Arts Colleges rankings. The college was founded in 1855 by abolitionists...
and the Bates Mill
Bates Mill
The Bates Mill is a textile factory company founded in 1850 and located at 35 Canal Street in Lewiston, Maine. The mill served as Maine's largest employer through the 1960s, and early profits from the mill provided much of the initial capital for Bates College. Currently, the mill buildings are...
in Lewiston, Maine
Lewiston, Maine
Lewiston is a city in Androscoggin County in Maine, and the second-largest city in the state. The population was 41,592 at the 2010 census. It is one of two principal cities of and included within the Lewiston-Auburn, Maine metropolitan New England city and town area and the Lewiston-Auburn, Maine...
.
Biography
Benjamin Bates was born in Mansfield, MassachusettsMansfield, Massachusetts
Mansfield is a town in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States. As of the United States 2010 Census, the town population is 23,184. Mansfield is in the south-southwest suburbs of Boston and is also close to Providence, Rhode Island....
in 1808 to Sarah and Elkanah Bates, a Yankee
Yankee
The term Yankee has several interrelated and often pejorative meanings, usually referring to people originating in the northeastern United States, or still more narrowly New England, where application of the term is largely restricted to descendants of the English settlers of the region.The...
farmer, cotton manufacturer and merchant. Benjamin attended local schools and the academy in Wrentham from 1823 to 1825. After moving to Boston, Massachusetts in 1829, Bates entered the dry goods business with Barnabas T. Loring on Washington Street. At age 24, he made a public profession of Christian faith, and he was a lifelong Congregationalist
Congregational church
Congregational churches are Protestant Christian churches practicing Congregationalist church governance, in which each congregation independently and autonomously runs its own affairs....
and temperance
Temperance movement
A temperance movement is a social movement urging reduced use of alcoholic beverages. Temperance movements may criticize excessive alcohol use, promote complete abstinence , or pressure the government to enact anti-alcohol legislation or complete prohibition of alcohol.-Temperance movement by...
supporter. Bates taught Sunday school at several churches in Boston including Park Street Church
Park Street Church
The Park Street Church in Boston, Massachusetts is an active Conservative Congregational Church at the corner of Tremont Street and Park Street. The church is currently pastored by Gordon P. Hugenberger.-History:...
and was later an active member of Central Congregational Church
Church of the Covenant (Boston)
The Church of the Covenant is a Boston, Massachusetts, landmark, built in 1865-1867 by the Central Congregational Church and now affiliated with the Presbyterian Church and the United Church of Christ.-History:Built of Roxbury puddingstone in Gothic Revival style it was one of the first churches...
in Boston. He was largely responsible for constructing the current church building, formerly the tallest building in Boston.
Bates co-founded the firm of Davis, Bates & Turner (later Bates & Turner), which existed from 1833 until 1847. After the dissolution of the firm in 1847, Bates served as president and on the board of several banking, manufacturing and railroad corporations, including First National Bank of Commerce in Boston, the Union Pacific Railroad
Union Pacific Railroad
The Union Pacific Railroad , headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska, is the largest railroad network in the United States. James R. Young is president, CEO and Chairman....
, and the Lewiston Water Power Company in Lewiston, Maine
Lewiston, Maine
Lewiston is a city in Androscoggin County in Maine, and the second-largest city in the state. The population was 41,592 at the 2010 census. It is one of two principal cities of and included within the Lewiston-Auburn, Maine metropolitan New England city and town area and the Lewiston-Auburn, Maine...
, which built the first canal in the city. Bates was also the largest investor in the Bates Mill in Lewiston, which opened in 1854 and produced textiles into the 21st century.
Correctly anticipating that the increasing talk of secession
Secession
Secession is the act of withdrawing from an organization, union, or especially a political entity. Threats of secession also can be a strategy for achieving more limited goals.-Secession theory:...
in the Southern states
Southern United States
The Southern United States—commonly referred to as the American South, Dixie, or simply the South—constitutes a large distinctive area in the southeastern and south-central United States...
might eventually lead to a shortage of cotton
Cotton
Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective capsule, around the seeds of cotton plants of the genus Gossypium. The fiber is almost pure cellulose. The botanical purpose of cotton fiber is to aid in seed dispersal....
, Bates bought cotton prior to the outbreak of the Civil War. During the War, Bates was able to produce uniforms for the Union Army
Union Army
The Union Army was the land force that fought for the Union during the American Civil War. It was also known as the Federal Army, the U.S. Army, the Northern Army and the National Army...
as well as other textiles.
Bates was the largest of the early donors to Bates College
Bates College
Bates College is a highly selective, private liberal arts college located in Lewiston, Maine, in the United States. and was most recently ranked 21st in the nation in the 2011 US News Best Liberal Arts Colleges rankings. The college was founded in 1855 by abolitionists...
. He first made substantial donations to the school when it was known at the Maine State Seminary through the Lewiston Power Company. In 1862 he personally pledged $6,000 to the school. Then in 1863 the Seminary's president and founder, Oren B. Cheney
Oren B. Cheney
Oren Burbank Cheney was the founder of Bates College, an abolitionist, and a Free Will Baptist clergyman.-Early life:...
renamed the College after Mr. Bates without his knowledge. Bates' donations to the College totalled over $100,000 and he pledged another $100,000 to be paid after his death, but due to the economic recession in the 1870s, his estate was substantially lessened. After his death in 1878, the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts eventually ruled that Bates' heirs did not have to pay Bates College
Bates College
Bates College is a highly selective, private liberal arts college located in Lewiston, Maine, in the United States. and was most recently ranked 21st in the nation in the 2011 US News Best Liberal Arts Colleges rankings. The college was founded in 1855 by abolitionists...
the pledged $100,000. This left the College financially burdened for several years. Benjamin Bates was buried at the Mount Auburn Cemetery
Mount Auburn Cemetery
Mount Auburn Cemetery was founded in 1831 as "America's first garden cemetery", or the first "rural cemetery", with classical monuments set in a rolling landscaped terrain...
on Fir Avenue. Bates College
Bates College
Bates College is a highly selective, private liberal arts college located in Lewiston, Maine, in the United States. and was most recently ranked 21st in the nation in the 2011 US News Best Liberal Arts Colleges rankings. The college was founded in 1855 by abolitionists...
still exists today and is commonly known as one of the "Little Ivies
Little Ivies
Little Ivies is a colloquialism referring to a group of small, selective American liberal arts colleges; however, it does not denote any official organization....
."
See also
- Bates CollegeBates CollegeBates College is a highly selective, private liberal arts college located in Lewiston, Maine, in the United States. and was most recently ranked 21st in the nation in the 2011 US News Best Liberal Arts Colleges rankings. The college was founded in 1855 by abolitionists...
- Bates MillBates MillThe Bates Mill is a textile factory company founded in 1850 and located at 35 Canal Street in Lewiston, Maine. The mill served as Maine's largest employer through the 1960s, and early profits from the mill provided much of the initial capital for Bates College. Currently, the mill buildings are...
- List of Bates College people
- Lewiston, MaineLewiston, MaineLewiston is a city in Androscoggin County in Maine, and the second-largest city in the state. The population was 41,592 at the 2010 census. It is one of two principal cities of and included within the Lewiston-Auburn, Maine metropolitan New England city and town area and the Lewiston-Auburn, Maine...