Leonard Woods (1839–1866)

Leonard Woods, the fourth president of Bowdoin College, was born in Newbury, Massachusetts, on November 24, 1807. Woods was the fourth of ten children of Abbie Wheeler Woods and the Rev. Leonard Woods, who was the first professor in the Theological Seminary at Andover, Massachusetts. After preparing for college at Phillips Andover Academy, Woods matriculated at Dartmouth in 1824. He later switched to Union College, where he earned a reputation as a Greek scholar, graduating in 1827. He received advanced degrees from Colby (D.D., 1839), Harvard (D.D., 1846), and Bowdoin (LL.D., 1866).

Only 32 years old, Woods became one of the youngest college presidents in the United States when he accepted the presidency at Bowdoin in 1839, a position he held until 1866. During his tenure the College completed the construction of Adams and Appleton Halls as well as the Chapel. A bachelor all his life, Leonard Woods died in Boston, Massachusetts, December 24, 1878.

Painting credit: Bowdoin College Museum of Art, Brunswick, Maine Commissioned Gift of the Bowdoin College Class of 1857