When Maine separated from Massachusetts in 1820, the vast Maine timberlands were put on the block for speculation, which drew investors and fortune hunters. By the 1830s, Bangor was building 500 structures annually. Dow Air Force Base provided an economic and civic boost during the Cold War until closing in 1968. The creation of Bangor International Airport turned the potential liability into an asset.
Capital since 1832, originally “Cushnoc,” it was the site in 1628 of the Pilgrims’ trading post, and in 1754, Fort Western. The Blaine House governor’s residence is here. The Pine Tree State Arboretum has 200 acres of rolling hills and meadows and a diversity of habitats.
Maine has about thirty universities, colleges, community colleges, two-year associate degree granting institutions, and the separate institutions of the University of Maine System. Each has its own identity, mission, and appeal to students from different areas of the state, with varying interests and levels of academic achievement. In 2003 the public technical colleges were renamed…
Model of a fully restored Pinnace Virginia in the Workshop in Bath The Popham Colony on the Kennebec River was the first organized attempt to establish a permanent English settlement in what we now call New England. The French had their own colony on an island in the St. Croix River, between Maine and New…
HIGH SCHOOL BASEBALL Virtually every high school in Maine has a baseball team. Some have produced strong players who have excelled in college and in the major leagues. As with other sports, championship categories have evolved over the years, with schools moving from one “class” to another as populations changed and new classes were added.…
Originally, the area was known to the Native Americans as Massabesic and was acquired from Chief Fluellin in 1661 by Major William Phipps. Later a Shaker community settled on a hill overlooking what is now called Shaker Pond. Alfred is the county seat of York County and was the site of a Civilian Conservation Corps camp in the 1930’s.
The Maine economy has passed through stages typical of most states, with an initial focus on extractive activities (fishing, logging, slate and granite quarrying, other mining, and ice harvesting), and moving from subsistence farming to substantial agricultural development (apples, blueberries [see video in Hiram], potatoes, poultry). More Economic Data Ice harvesting, from ponds, streams or…
Most text from Jennifer Vashon, Wildlife Biologist. Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife. Images, video and supplemental text by Jim Henderson. Along with Moose, the Encyclopedia features 15,000 images of lakes, farm buildings, barns, farmhouses, villages, cities, mountains, rivers, Did You Know… ♦ A lactating cow has the highest nutritional requirements of any moose…
the most populous of Maine’s counties, contains approximately 20% of the state’s population with less than 3% of the state’s land area. Four of the ten largest communities by population are in Cumberland County. See an 1857 map of the county in the Map Cabinet. The City of Portland dominates the cultural and commercial environment…
is home to Maine’s second largest population center – the Lewiston-Auburn area, and is fourth in overall population among Maine’s counties. It was established in 1854 by taking several towns from Cumberland, Kennebec, Lincoln, and Oxford counties. See an1858 map of the county in the Map Cabinet. A commercial and industrial hub, it has been…
the “rooftop of Maine,” John Steinbeck. This northernmost county, known as “the County,” is the state’s largest, established in 1839, during the “Aroostook War.” Famed for its potato growing, the County’s premiere crop has declined steadily, as has its population. Nevertheless, agriculture still dominates the County’s economy and its culture.
Maine has sixteen counties, as well as hundreds of local governments. The earliest established was York, in 1652; the latest, Knox in 1860. The structure and functions of county government are similar throughout the state. For a brief sketch of each county, click on its name in the map at right. Aroostook is the largest…
January 31 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 1764 Incorporation of the town of Topsham. 1801 Incorporation of the town of Strong. 1824 Incorporation of the…
January 30 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 1789 Incorporation of the town of Cushing. 1792 Incorporation of the town of Sidney. 1797 Birth date of…
January 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 1822 Incorporation of the town of Dutton (now Glenburn) and Parkman. 1833 Incorporation of the town of Waltham. 1834 Incorporation of the town…
January 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 1657 Birth date in France of Jesuit Father Sebastian Rasle, killed when English colonials raided Norridgewock in 1724. 1789 Incorporation of…
January 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 1893 James G. Blaine dies at the Seward House in Washington, D.C. 1915 The Bath bark William P. Frye was stopped by Germans…
January 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 1739 Incorporation of the town of Brunswick. 1814 Incorporation of the town of Phippsburg. 1826 Incorporation of the towns of Cutler, East Machias,…
January 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 1821 Incorporation of the town of Concord. 1871 Birth date in Boston of Maud Wood Park, first President of the League of Women…
January 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 1692 Abenaki Indians burn the village of York (Candlemas Massacre) * 1816 Incorporation of the town of Kingfield. 1825…