Granite Industry in Maine

Granite moving mechanism in Augusta (2002) [See crane below right]

Granite: The Product and the People The 19th century granite industry provided jobs for men on the islands as well as on the mainland. The Wiscasset, now historic, jail was completed in 1811 with granite walls from the Edgecomb quarries.  As early as 1832 many rooms, walls and arches of Fort Knox in Prospect were…

Mills, Janet

Governor Janet Mills (2018)

Janet Trafton Mills (1947-    )  was sworn in as the 75th Governor of Maine on Wednesday, January 2, 2019. She was born and raised in Farmington, where she still proudly lives today. The granddaughter of Aroostook County potato farmers and the daughter of a long-time high school English teacher and the U.S. Attorney for…

Capitol Park

Capitol Park (2004)

Capitol Park is significant as a landscape design, dating from 1827, that survives with its spatial structure intact. It is unique as an early example of a designed landscape and as a remarkable survivor within the Capitol complex. Although the park has accommodated a variety of functions, it continues to perform its primary function of…

Crossword Governors

Governors Crossword

This crossword puzzle focuses on Maine governors, their impact and backgrounds. Search the Encyclopedia for answers as needed. Print pages 1 and 2 for puzzle and clues. – – __Across 2.     The governor’s office is located in the __________ 6.     Republican governor, then U.S. Senator, who lost his Senate reelection bid to Edmund Muskie 7.    …

Sewall, Sumner

Sumner Sewall, Maine Senate President, courtesy Maine State Archives

Sumner Sewall was born in Bath on June 17, 1897, the son of a wealthy Bath banker and shipbuilder, and grandson of Arthur Sewall, was educated at Bath public schools before attending Harvard University in 1916. In the middle of his freshman year, he joined the American Ambulance Field Service and served for six months…

Elections, Campaign Debates

Candidates for Governor Selections from Maine Public Broadcasting Network Debate, November 1, 2006 This election debate was co-sponsored by the Margaret Chase Smith Policy Center and hosted by Fred Bever. Responses are complete but each selection has been condensed by deleting intervening transitions. Some questions were posed by panelists, some by the candidates. These are…

Elections, Governor Results

Elections for governor were initially held annually. In 1880, a two-year term was introduced and lasted through 1958, when four-year terms were instituted. (See election procedures.) The tables below report the election year, votes for Democrats, Republicans, and the next largest vote getting party. Percentages are given for Democrats, Republicans, and the next largest vote-getting…

Civil War

Little Round Top at Gettysburg Battleground National Park

“It happened so unexpectedly, so abruptly, that she forgot to scream. . . . Breathless, spellbound, she moved on tiptoe to the porch, one hand pressed trembling across her lips. The field of oats shimmered a moment before her eyes, then a blue mass swung into it and it melted away, sheered to the earth…

Bowdoin College

Massachusetts Hall (2002)

is a liberal arts institution located in Brunswick. In June 1794 Massachusetts Governor Samuel Adams signed an act to establish Bowdoin College promoted by James Bowdoin III, who gave financial support to its formation and named it in honor of his father, James Bowdoin II. Massachusetts Hall, Bowdoin’s first building was constructed, with delays, between…

A Sample of Governors Addresses

Inaugural Address, Governor William King, 1820 Inaugural Address, Governor Hannibal Hamlin, 1857 Inaugural Address, Governor James B. Longley, 1975 Inaugural Address, Governor Joseph E. Brennan, 1979 Inaugural Address, Governor Joseph E. Brennan, 1983 Inaugural Address, Governor John R. McKernan, Jr., 1987 Inaugural Address, Governor John R. McKernan, Jr., 1991 Inaugural Address, Governor Angus S. King,…

LePage, Paul R.

Paul R. LePage (governor

(from the governor’s official internet site, April 25, 2011) Paul LePage has spent most of his life tackling one challenge after another, the kinds of challenges that defeat most people. The oldest son of eighteen children in an impoverished, dysfunctional family, Governor LePage left home at the age of eleven to escape domestic violence and…

King, Angus S. Jr.

Governor King and his wife, Mary Hermon (2002)

(1944- ) was born on March 31st, 1944, in Alexandria, Virginia, was president of two of his classes at the local high school, graduated from Dartmouth College in 1966 and the University of Virginia Law School in 1969. While in high school, he attended Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “March on Washington” on August 28, 1963,…

Brennan, Joseph E.

Joseph E. Brennan

(1934- ) was a U.S. Representative born in Portland on November 2, 1934. He attended public schools, then received a B.S. from Boston College in 1958, and an LL.B. from the University of Maine Law School in 1963. State public service began as a member Maine House of Representatives (1965-1971), followed by terms in the…

Longley, James B. Sr.

James B. Longley, Sr. in the governor

(1924-1980) born in Lewiston, attended public schools, Bowdoin College, and received a law degree from the University of Maine in 1957. After his service with the Army Air Corps during World War II, he returned to enter the insurance business and became quite successful with his form Longley Associates. He served Governor Kenneth Curtis chairing…

Curtis, Kenneth M.

Governor Ken Curtis, wife Polly, and daughter Angel (from a Christmas card sent to friends while governor.)

(1931- ) was governor of Maine from 1967 to 1975, and was Chair of the Democratic National Committee in 1977. William Curtis moved to the to the Town of Leeds in 1800 in what is now Curtis Corner, once a post office and railroad stop, both of which are now gone. Generations of Curtis families…