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Maine colleges sold Wabanaki land for early cash

Source: pressherald.com

TL;DR

Maine's Bowdoin and Colby colleges received 234,000 acres of Wabanaki land grants between 1796 and 1861 to fund their early operations.
Bowdoin sold townships like Dixmont for $20,000 and Colby extracted $75,000 from timber and lots by 1899.
The grants stemmed from illegal treaties, prompting calls today for colleges to move beyond acknowledgments toward action on tribal dispossession.

The story at a glance

An investigative article details how Bowdoin College and Colby College used massive Wabanaki land grants from Massachusetts and Maine legislatures to sell timber, lots, and townships for cash to build their first structures. Key figures include trustees who pursued squatters for payments and experts like anthropologists Harald Prins and Penobscot Nation's Darren Ranco critiquing the process. It's reported now amid ongoing tribal land reclamation efforts following a 1975 federal ruling on illegal treaties and a 1980 settlement. Wabanaki Nations once claimed 12 million acres in Maine.

Key points

In 1818, Colby trustees sold 29,164 acres along the Penobscot River, wringing value from timber, settler lots, and squatters to fund startup needs after five years without buildings.
Bowdoin received 182,000 acres starting in 1796 and sold Dixmont township for $20,000 (about $716,000 today) in 1801 to complete Massachusetts Hall, plus Foxcroft for $7,940 and Etna for $11,300 in 1806.
Colby got 52,000 acres from 1813, generating about $75,000 total by 1899 (roughly $3 million today), though insufficient for full needs but vital for balancing books.
Bates College received $15,000 cash in 1855 instead of land; no colleges hold original grants now.
1796 Penobscot treaty and others lacked federal approval, ruled illegal in 1975; 1980 settlement gave tribes $81.5 million but capped sovereignty, with Penobscot securing 95,000 of 150,000 owed acres.
Land grants served as cash substitutes for states to promote settlement and consolidate power over Indigenous title.

Details and context

The grants fit a pattern where cash-poor governments endowed colleges with "unappropriated lands" from tribes via treaties often signed under duress, prioritizing settler titles over Native rights. Deeds defended against rival claimants like the Kennebec Proprietors, not fair exchanges with tribes.[[1]](https://www.pressherald.com/2026/03/31/how-maines-elite-private-colleges-sold-wabanaki-land-to-bankroll-early-construction/)[[2]](https://www.pressherald.com/2026/03/31/how-maines-elite-private-colleges-sold-wabanaki-land-to-bankroll-early-construction)

Colby pursued vigorous sales on boggy woodlands; Bowdoin parlayed sales into about $50,000 by 1806 for halls like Maine Hall in 1808. This mirrors public land-grant colleges under the 1862 Morrill Act, like University of Maine's 210,000 acres.

Tribal leaders note states granted what they lacked—cash, not clear title. Penobscot and Passamaquoddy lost millions, about 60% of Maine.

Key quotes

"You give what you have and not what you don’t. (The state) felt they had lands. What they didn’t have was cash." — Michael Banerjee.[[1]](https://www.pressherald.com/2026/03/31/how-maines-elite-private-colleges-sold-wabanaki-land-to-bankroll-early-construction/)
"Institutions that have benefitted from stolen land should not only acknowledge that piece of history, but act upon it as well." — Darren Ranco, Penobscot Nation.[[1]](https://www.pressherald.com/2026/03/31/how-maines-elite-private-colleges-sold-wabanaki-land-to-bankroll-early-construction/)

Why it matters

Private colleges like Bowdoin and Colby share in the broad U.S. higher education history of profiting from Indigenous dispossession, similar to public land-grant schools. It underscores ongoing Wabanaki land losses in Maine and questions whether campus land acknowledgments suffice amid tribal reclamations. Watch for college responses to calls for repair, though Colby did not comment and deeper actions remain unclear.