Mantor Library, University of Maine Farmington

Charles Collins (C.C.) Rounds served as the third principal of the Western State Normal School, later known as Farmington State Normal School, from 1868 to 1883. Prior to coming to F.S.N.S., Rounds had worked as a printer, taught in South Paris, Maine, and served as a principal at schools in Cleveland, Ohio and Auburn, Maine.

Under his leadership, Farmington Normal School developed a reputation for scholarship and high standards of teacher preparedness. Rounds, along with State Superintendent Warren Johnson, devised and implemented what became known as the Model School. It was a key part of teacher training at the Normal School and provided the students an opportunity to practice teaching under the supervision of experienced faculty. By the turn of the century, the Model School was operating well enough to merit acceptance by the town and be considered a respectable option for schooling some of the town's children.

In 1880, a year-long Advanced Course was established, specifically designed to train teachers to teach in high schools. Many of its graduates went on to distinguished teaching careers. The three of Rounds children — Agnes, Arthur and Ralph — graduated from the Farmington Normal School in 1880 and from the Advanced Course in 1883.

There were also improvements to the school facilities under Rounds’ leadership. In his final report to the Board of Trustees in 1883, he mentioned the renovations to unfinished parts of the Academy building, improvements in the classrooms, purchase of much needed apparatus and books for the study of physics and chemistry, a science laboratory, and the beginnings of a library.

After leaving Farmington Normal, C.C. Rounds served as principal of the State Normal School at Plymouth, New Hampshire until 1896. His youngest, Katherine (“Katie”) graduated from Plymouth Normal during his tenure there.

In 1896, Rounds began a new career teaching at educational institutes and lecturing throughout the country. He also spent some time in France and England observing their educational practices and pedagogy. While in London in 1896 attending a lecture on the Armenian massacre, Rounds was the victim of a pickpocket and lost the much-treasured pocket watch he had been given by the students and teachers of Farmington Normal School. Personal diary entries show he thought fondly of the students and staff he had known during his time in Farmington and was pleased whenever he met with former students as he traveled the country lecturing and teaching at educational institutes.

Rounds was much respected as scholar and educator. In addition to having earned B.S. and MS. degrees from Dartmouth College, he also received honorary degrees from Bowdoin College and Colby College and a Ph.D. from Bates College.

Throughout his professional career, Rounds was very active in key educational organizations. He helped establish the Maine Pedagogical Society, was a member of the Committee of Twelve on Rural Schools, served twice as President of the New England Normal Association and of the Normal Department of the National Educational Association, was a founding member of the National Council of Education, and was the State Commissioner from New Hampshire to the Paris Exposition of 1889.

C.C. Rounds died in 1901 and is buried in Riverside Cemetery in Farmington, Maine.

Sources: The Farmington Normal, Vol. 1, No. 1 (1901); First Quarter-Century, 1864-1889. State Normal School Farmington, Maine, George C. Purington © 1889; University of Maine at Farmington: A Study in Educational Change (1864-1974), Richard P. Mallett, © 1974; UMF Archives: C.C. Rounds diaries, letters, and personal papers of the Rounds family, with research by Kate Elizabeth Matthews Pollard, DDS.