The Hutchinson Center opened in 2000 as an outpost of the University of Maine Orono (UMO). The Center was the idea of Charles Cawley, President of MBNA, which paid for its design and construction, estimated at over $12 million. Mr Cawley, who was committed to education at all levels and for all residents in the communities in which MBNA had offices, worked with Fred Hutchinson, then president of UMO, for whom the Center was named, to create an adult education center in Belfast. In its early days the Hutch provided undergraduate and graduate classes, housed the second largest Senior College in Maine, and provided space for other educational and cultural events. Initially, the Center was headed Jim Paterson.
In addition to construction costs, MBNA paid all program costs for approximately 2 years at which time the center became profitable. MBNA also retained ownership of the Hutchinson Center, which it rented to the University for $1 a year. In 2006 MBNA was sold to Bank of America. Unsure what to do with the Center, Bank of America subsequently gifted it to the University of Maine.
In 2007 it was clear that more classrooms, especially science and art classrooms, were needed. The University and Belfast area residents worked together to develop an expansion plan the University estimated would cost $4 million. A community committee headed by Jim Paterson, who had then retired, and Judy Stein agreed to work to raise $2 million from the community and the University agreed to float a $2 million bond to pay for the second wing, which opened in 2009.
By then the Center was thoroughly entrenched in the community and many community members had a sense of pride in it.