[MOOSE RIVER] is a town in Somerset County settled in 1820, part of an area called Holdentown.

Organized several times as a plantation for special purposes in 1852 and in 1903. It  finally incorporated as a town on October 7, 1957 from Moose River Plantation, named for the nearby river.

The Town Office and most commercial activity lies along U.S. Route 201/Maine Route 6. The Scott Road (or the Moose River Road) proceeds east into the heart of the township.

The Jackman Lumber Company mill operated from 1914 to 1926 when it was destroyed by fire. (See ruins at left.) Located on Heald Stream in the village of Jackman Mill, it employed more than 600 men in the mill and in the woods. The mill could saw 25-30 million board feet of lumber per year.

Management built and ran a boarding house and company houses for the workers. A locally extensive rail line ran deep into the woods and back to the railroad station in Jackman.

The famous Holden House landmark noted below was established in 1842 as an inn by Samuel Holden the first settler. It served lumberjacks and cattle drivers for over a century.

Jackman’s Main Street (U.S. Route 201/Maine Route 6) merges with that of Moose River.  The two towns, otherwise isolated, share a single community.  The historic Moose River Congregational Church is in Jackman.

Form of Government: Town Meeting-Select Board.

Additional resources

Brown, Marcia B. and Nancy A. Napp. Moose River Bow Trip: Resource Assessment. Augusta, Me. Maine Bureau of Public Lands. 1988.

Calvert, Mary R. The Kennebec Wilderness Awakens.

The History of Moose River Valley: Jackman, Moose River, Dennistown, Long Pond, Parlin Pond, Holeb, Skinner and Lowelltown. Jackman, Me. Jackman Bicentennial Book Committee. 1976. [Maine State Library]

“Canada Road.” The Mechanics Magazine. Volume I. March, 1830. Boston: Samuel N. Dickenson. 1830.

Faulkner, Alaric and Rodrique, Barry. “Canada Road Survey Part I: Jackman to the Canadian Border.” Orono, Maine: University of Maine, Department of Anthropology. Copy on file at the Maine Historic Preservation Commission, Augusta. 1994-95.

*Maine. Historic Preservation Commission. Augusta, Me.   Text and photos from National Register of Historic Places: http://pdfhost.focus.nps.gov/docs/nrhp/text/95001459.PDF and http://pdfhost.focus.nps.gov/docs/nrhp/photos/95001459.PDF

Sprague, John Francis. Jackman and the Moose River Region. Dover. 1915. (Reprinted from Sprague’s Journal of Maine History. v. 3, no. 2, July, 1915)

National Register of Historic Places – Listings

Holden, Samuel, House

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[US 201 east side, .25 miles north of junction with Maine Department of Transportation Road] The 1829 Samuel Holden House is a modest frame cape built by the first settler in the Jackman Moose River area. It is the third house built by Holden, the previous two having been log cabins, one of which was destroyed by fire. In addition to its serving as the home to the large Holden family, this building housed the community school for several years and was the post office during Holden’s tenure as postmaster. Samuel Holden (1772-1858) was born in Groton, Massachusetts, the son of a Revolutionary War veteran. In 1811 he and his family moved to Norridgewock. The family moved several times to North Anson, Caratunk and finally to Moose River in 1819. Tragically their house and all its contents was destroyed by fire in May of 1820. A second cabin was built, and in 1829 that cabin was replaced by the existing frame house.

The house is a modest 1 ^1/2 story timber framed capestyle that has one and two-story ells. It is sheathed in weatherboards, and the original main building stands on a dry laid field stone foundation. The frame construction indicates that Holden had access to sawn lumber. In both its traditional overall form and very simple detailing, the new house reflected the frontier conditions in which it was built. It would serve an important community function during the succeeding two decades. Until the first schoolhouse was built in 1849, classes were held in the Holden house under the supervision of one of Samuel Holden’s daughters. When Holden served as postmaster from 1834-1843 the house became the settlement’s post office.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Holden may have ventured into the Maine wilderness drawn by the construction of a road (which came to be known as the Canada Road) linking central Maine to Quebec. In 1817, the Massachusetts General Assembly authorized the construction of that segment of the road leading from Bingham’s Million Acres grant to the border. Moose River is about midway along this route. In 1829 Jane (Farnsworth) Holden mentioned construction of the road in a letter to her relatives in Massachusetts, and the erection of the present dwelling (which is the oldest standing frame house on the Canada Road) along this road. It may be related to the family’s expectations about the future traffic. Samuel and Jane (Farnsworth) Holden occupied the house until their deaths in 1858 and 1859, respectively.

It apparently remained in the family having been acquired by Helon Colby, a grandson. After several ownerships, including serving as a boarding house, the house was acquired by the Town of Moose River in 1993.* [Kirk F. Mohney B&W photos]

In 2019 the house was on the grounds of the Moose River Golf Course at 701 Main Street. Holden is buried in the family’s cemetery across U.S. Route 210 in Holden.