George S. Hamlin, 1873

12/30/2020

Our brothers’ careers have been productive, constructive, spirited, and prosaic. They displayed impressive skills, talents, and abilities They were, and we continue to be, a beautiful and lively expression of our enduring fraternal beliefs, and that underlying harmony is far-reaching in expectation for all brothers’, undergraduate and graduate. It is the core of what our fraternal founders asserted in 1848 and 1874 and 1899: to live active, commendable, and responsible lives, and to build up community. Clearly and compellingly, they added, and continue to add, positive value at the local, state, national, global, and fraternal level because they engaged life fully and responsibly. In short, they were authoritative pillars throughout life. They were-are exemplary in their citizenship, character, and their sense of dutiful responsibility, and, in many instances, they were leading voices in their career fields. They prove that success of any kind does not occur by luck or accident, and we remember them because they continue to provide that message for our time. We have long been, from one generation to the next, proud to be Omega Mu Fijis. We continue to cherish our fraternal friendships, our shared memories, and our evolving, forward-focused history at the University of Maine. These things, above and beyond everything else, are the underlying rooted connections that make us proud to be Omega Mu Fijis. Why, after all, should we believe otherwise? We have been doing it well since 1874, and we will continue to do so.
Perge!

Fraternal Portrait
George H. Hamlin,
1873

Orono in the early 1870’s

The old covered bridge across the Stillwater River into Orono, 1870’s

Mill Street in Orono, 1870. No Pat’s Pizza

Our Q. T. V. brothers living in a rented house in Orono, 1873. George Hamlin, first on the right.

Q. T. V. brothers inside the house in Orono, 1873-1874

The maiden editorial in The Crucible written by George Hamlin

Class President

The year after he graduated from Maine State College, George Hamlin returned to the college to become the first librarian.

Horace M. Estabrooke, left, reading a book.

Our faculty brothers: Hamlin, Flint, Jordan, Bartlett, Hart, Webb, Rus-sell, Estabrooke, Hersey.

1894-1895 faculty photo

Classes that George Hamlin taught

Beyond his wide-ranging achievements in the classroom, professor Hamlin played a prominent role in helping coordinate, plan, and build three buildings on the Maine State College campus that were designed by fellow Q. T. V. - Phi Gamma Delta brother, Frank E. Kidder, 1877: Coburn Hall, Wingate Hall, and Holmes Hall.

Frank E. Kidder senior portrait

Frank E. Kidder in the middle

Coburn Hall

Inside Coburn Hall is a plaque commemorating the military service of one of our Q. T. V. - Phi Gamma Delta brothers, Charles C. Scott, who died while serving our country during the Spanish-American War.

Holmes Hall

Professor Balentine, 1874, another Q. T. V. - Phi Gamma Delta brother, had his office in Holmes Hall. Another Q. T. V. - Phi Gamma Delta brother, James M. Bartlett, 1880, was the
chief chemist in Holmes Hall for forty-two years.

Professor Walter Balentine

Professor Balentine’s office in Holmes Hall

Professor Bartlett in Holmes Hall

Wingate Hall

The bell in Wingate Hall could be hear across the campus every hour, but a fire destroyed the building in 1943, but the bell was not destroyed, and it was not forgotten. Today, the bell rings on the hour every hour again because it is now part of Cloke Plaza, a plaza that honors our Phi Gamma Delta brother, Paul Cloke, 1927.

Cloke Plaza

While helping with the construction of Coburn Hall, Holmes Hall, and Wingate Hall, professor Hamlin also designed plans to bring water to the campus from the Stillwater River. To accomplish this, he designed and built a pump house next to the Stillwater River, directly in front of the Beta house, and an underground line connected to a standpipe near the present day site of the Cyrus Pavilion Theater, Rogers Hall, or the Observatory. Coincidentally, the pump house was also where Bananas, the black bear mascot, was housed.

The standpipe behind the Maples

The standpipe, interestingly enough, became a battleground tradition between the freshmen and sophomores classes for decades. Each class would paint their class number on the tank and paint over the other class number, typically late at night, and guard it as long as possible from being defaced by the other class.

An unfortunate tradition was that the freshmen class was always forced to line up after their adventure up the standpipe and went through a gauntlet of paddles for successfully erasing the sophomore number and painting their own. However, the tradition changed when the university joined the Orono Water Works and the sophomores painted a large “M” on the larger standpipe as a compromise to end the class rivalry of continual defacing and repainting of numerals.

After the first Phi Gamma Delta House burned down during a blizzard in 1924, George Hamlin, again, played a prominent role in the joint fraternal endeavor to build the Castle.

The first Phi Gamma Delta House

The Destroyed Phi Gamma Delta House

Great picture of our first Phi Gamma Delta House and the last QTV House after it was extensively renovated and became Mount Vernon House in 1899, a women’s dorm, and in 1933 a fire would destroy it.

The view looking toward the site where our ‘Castle’ would be built on land given to the brotherhood by brother Hosea Buck. Mount Vernon House, first on the right, was our last Q. T. V. Chapter House. It was remodeled and became Mount Vernon House, a women's dorm, and it was destroyed by a fire in the early 1930’s. The second building was our first Phi Gamma Delta House, which was destroyed by a fire in 1924.

After brother Hosea Buck, 1893, donated the land upon which our ‘Castle’ sits, professor Hamlin gave generously of his time to survey the land, and he was a supervising presence during the entire construction period from 1924-1925. Not surprisingly, he inspected the progress for every detail and consideration, inside and outside the house, through the entire construction process. He attended to every practical and aesthetic concern to assure that it would be the most elegant fraternal house on campus. We are fortunate that he remained fraternally resolute and attended to all these essential concerns in order to help create the most beautiful fraternal home at the University of Maine.

Indeed, far and wide, in scope and ambition, George Hamlin was conscientious and intensely loyal in his service within the University of Maine community and our Phi Gamma Delta brotherhood. He was the first librarian at Maine State College, a professor of mathematics, surveying, civil engineering, as well as the treasurer of the college. Clearly, he was a preeminent figure in the history of the University of Maine. Truly, his legacy at Maine is imperishable, as is his equally great fraternal legacy. His passion, care, and involvement in the life of Phi Gamma Delta was equally energizing in industry and life-long commitment. In fact, it was unbreakable. He was always concerned about the structural integrity and beauty of the house and the well-being of the brotherhood. He was an advocate and champion for our fraternal life, and without any confusion in heart, mind, and spirit, he remained a life-giving fraternal presence in our Phi Gamma Delta brotherhood. He was an all-round Q.T.V.-Omega Mu man from 1873-1951.

George H. Hamlin understood and believed in ideals and concrete reality, without ever yielding, and he always worked hard for the good in blending both to achieve a greater sustaining good as an educator, a Phi Gamma Delta brother, and a family man. He lived truly lived Jefferson’s generative, all-encompassing visionary statement about dreamers: …Dreamers of all past and future times….” In a word, persistence and determination through life is important for the future, a sustaining inheritance since 1848.

Omega Mu brothers in this picture: Frederick G. Quincy, John Reed, John W. Hatch,
George P. Gould, John S. Williams, George H. Hamlin, Calvin H. Nealley, Mellen E. Farrington, and James N. Hart.

George H. Hamlin, 1950
Pride of place in our brotherhood in living a life dedicated to the University of Maine, his family, and our
Omega Mu Brotherhood.

“What if the space be long and wide,
That parts us from our brother’s side
A soul-joined chain unites our band,
And memory links us hand in hand.”
(Phi Gamma Delta fraternity song)