From its earliest days, Colby College, known as Waterville College until 1867, has had a marked influence in the world. The college opened its doors to “young women on equal terms with young men.”

In the year 1871 the college took the most forward step in its history. Among the educational institutions of New England, Colby College had at least one pre-eminence. The college was among the first to recognize the right of women to the privileges of higher learning. Generously and without solicitation the college offered courses four years earlier than the opening of either Wellesley or Smith in Massachusetts and at a time when liberal studies for women were still in the experimental stage.

This sudden change of policy did not result at first in any large accession of feminine element. Only one woman entered the first year and four entered two years later (constituting the five founders of Sigma Kappa). Colby College is the second oldest college in Maine and Sigma Kappa the only Greek letter society founded in the state. In 1873 there were at Colby College, among the freshmen the names of four young women of Maine, this being the first class to number more than one woman in its enrollment. Two years previously, however, Mary Caffrey Low, of Waterville had blazed the way of the four. These were Louise Helen Coburn, Elizabeth Gorham Hoag, Ida Mabel Fuller and Frances Elliott Mann.