Jonathan Fisher, a founding trustee, described the urgency and importance of the school's mission: Granted a charter on February 25, 1814, by the Great and General Court of Massachusetts, the Maine Charity School shared space with Hampden Academy before moving to its Bangor location in 1819.

A noted scholar and writer, Pond joined the faculty in 1833, became president in 1856, and remained in that capacity until his death in 1882.

In 1858, running a $3000 deficit, it considered consolidating with Bowdoin College or Andover Theological Seminary, but was able to recover.

[5] The school website states that its "spiritual successor" is the BTS Center, a non-profit "educational venture"[6] offering opportunities for professional development for both clergy and laity, as well as robust non-degree programs exploring issues of contemporary Christianity and spirituality.

Two of its later buildings, the Denio House and the Gymnasium, were designed by Wilfred E. Mansur, a prominent Bangor architect, in the 1890s.

The last addition to the campus was the Moulton Library, designed by Crowell, Lancaster, Higgins & Webster and built in 1959.