2022 Greater Kennebec & Androscoggin River Valleys

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Maine’s History Magazine Volume 31 | Issue 2 | 2022

15,000 Circulation

Greater Kennebec & Androscoggin River Valleys

Maine’s 103rd Infantry Regiment A long legacy of service

Augusta’s Capital Driving Park A hot spot for harness racing in the 1880s

The Strand Theatre In Jackman The best show in town

www.DiscoverMaineMagazine.com

Greater Kennebec & Androscoggin River Valleys

Inside This Edition

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3 It Makes No Never Mind James Nalley 4 The Old Soldiers Home At Togus Do they really just fade away?

Jeffrey Bradley 8 Augusta’s Capital Driving Park A hot spot for harness racing in the 1880s Brian Swartz

Maine’s History Magazine

Greater Kennebec & Androscoggin River Valleys

Publisher Jim Burch

Editor

Dennis Burch

Design & Layout Liana Merdan

14 Marquis King’s Bestseller A work of Oxford history Charles Francis 17 Auburn’s Erwin Dain Canham Putting principles first James Nalley 22 Gardiner High School In 1866 Nay-sayers influenced educational attitudes Brian Swartz 26 Skowhegan’s Joseph Weston Patriot martyr of Arnold’s march Charles Francis

Advertising & Sales Dennis Burch Ryan Fish Tim Maxfield

Advertising & Sales Manager Tim Maxfield

Field Representative Don Plante

Subscriptions Liana Merdan

Contributing Writers Sue Anderson Jeffrey Bradley Greg Davis

Charles Francis James Nalley Brian Swartz

Published by CreMark, Inc.

31 The Disappearance Of Judge Joseph Crater Belgrade’s connection James Nalley 36 Wilton’s Changing Names Originally called Harrytown Charles Francis 42 Maine’s 103rd Infantry Regiment A long legacy of service Greg Davis 48 The Strand Theatre In Jackman The best show in town Sue Anderson

10 Exchange Street, Suite 208 Portland, Maine 04101 Ph (207) 874-7720 info@discovermainemagazine.com www.discovermainemagazine.com Discover Maine Magazine is distributed to town offices, chambers of commerce, financial institutions, fraternal organizations, barber shops, beauty salons, hospitals and medical offices, newsstands, grocery and convenience stores, hardware stores, lumber companies, motels, restaurants and other locations throughout this part of Maine.

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SUBSCRIPTION FORMS ON PAGE 41

Front Cover Photo:

Main St. in Fairfield, ca. 1920s.

Item # LB2007.1.100721 from the Eastern Illustrating & Publishing Co. Collection and www.PenobscotMarineMuseum.org All photos in Discover Maine’s Greater Kennebec & Androscoggin River Valleys edition show Maine as it used to be, and many are from local citizens who love this part of Maine.

Photos are also provided from our collaboration with the Maine Historical Society and the Penobscot Marine Museum.

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DiscoverMaineMagazine.com

It Makes No Never Mind

by James Nalley

B

y the time of this publication, the Christmas season will be in full force and Mainers will be continuing their holiday traditions in light of such a volatile year. One of these traditions is Christmas wreath making. Dating back to the earliest settlers from mainland Europe, particularly the Germans, the creation of these aromatic Christmas decorations from Maine’s evergreens has been a regular holiday mainstay. In fact, with the growing attention on skilled local artisans throughout the state, an increasing number of shoppers across the country are skipping the cheaper, mass-produced wreaths at department stores for these genuine works of art handmade from fresh balsam fir.

Although there are numerous wreath -making companies, ranging from those in Down East villages (e.g., Wreaths of Maine and Maine Wreaths, Inc.) to small towns in Aroostook County (e.g., Wreaths by Natalie, Aroostook County Wreaths, and Down on the Farm Maine Wreaths) and Washington County (Worcester Wreath Co.), the stories are similar. Central Maine Wreath is another prime example. Founded more than 40 years ago in Skowhegan, Ambrose “Tom” McCarthy was one of the first to design fresh handmade wreaths.

According to the company, “With the owner Tom McCarthy on-site overseeing all aspects of daily activities, his sister Phyllis in the factory managing the production, and the second generation in the offices and in the retail store, you will see and know who handles your order from beginning to end.”

As for the wreaths themselves, their most well-known meaning is related to Christmas and Christianity, as their circular shape is said to represent eternal life and the unending love of God. Traditionally made of evergreens, the thorny leaves of the holly oak, and red berries, the latter two symbolize the crown of thorns worn by Jesus and the drops of blood that it drew. Although traditional Pagan wreaths were also evergreen circles, they included four candles, representing the elements of Earth, wind, fire, and water. Their wreaths were typically used in rituals that would ensure the continuance of the circle of life. However, for most people, the wreaths are viewed as an invitation to the spirit of Christmas to enter the home and bring good luck to everyone within, despite the winter chills.Interestingly, there are certain “twists” (pun-intended) to wreaths from around the world. In the European Alps, wreaths are made with lavender

to represent friendship and connections to those lost, while in Poland, Christmas wreaths are made of straw/hay, as a reminder of the Christmas manger.

Then, there are the Dresden (Germany) ornament wreaths. Dating back to the late 1800s, they were originally made of old candy molds or brass ornaments.

Still in circular form, the brass figurines represent the holidays and good fortune.

As many of you know, it has been my tradition to close with a theme-inspired jest. However, in light of the spirit of Christmas and to everyone affected by the turmoil of this previous year, I am reminded of Maya Angelou’s poem Amazing Peace, which stated: We shout with glorious tongues at the coming of hope. All the earth’s tribes loosen their voices to celebrate the promise of Peace. We, Angels and Mortals, Believers, and Non-Believers, Look heavenward and speak the word aloud. Peace. We look at our world and speak the word aloud. Peace. We look at each other, then into ourselves, we say without shyness or apology or hesitation. Peace, My Brother. Peace, My Sister. Peace, My Soul.

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The Old Soldiers Home At Togus Do they really just fade away?

by Jeffrey Bradley

M

aine more than once has blazed a socially responsible path for the rest of the nation to follow, and no less so when it comes to the care of veterans. The National Home for Disabled Soldiers in Chelsea admitted its first citizen-soldier on November 10, 1866. Today, the Togus Veterans Administration Medical and Regional Office Center, just east of Augusta, continues its role as the first federal facility to provide health benefits for veterans.

The Civil War struck small towns in Maine particularly hard. Of the ninety-eight soldiers that Chelsea sent into

battle, for instance, twenty-eight were killed and many more were wounded.

Recognizing that the standard remedies of home care and community assistance would no longer be enough, the government opened its first “military asylum” with the especial mandate of caring for Maine’s wounded volunteer veterans in a long-term commitment that has since remained constant.

Snug among its rolling hills and prosperous with mills and ice houses, Chelsea was once a part of Hallowell.

In isolated Togus there is a picturesque stream that follows a southerly course before spilling into the Kennebec. At

one time the onsite springs were the main attraction. Togus, an abbreviated Indian term meaning “mineral water,” was initially developed by a wealthy granite merchant from Rockland as a summer resort, but that failed, and the US government eventually took over.

Originally run as a convalescent boot camp, the patients lived in barracks and wore uniforms. Envisioned as being self-sufficient, the property was provided a brickyard, sawmill, and shoe shop along with sundry vegetable gardens for looking after by the inmates. Reflecting that era’s sensibilities, these early veterans were also

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DiscoverMaineMagazine.com tasked with raising their own livestock and maintaining the grounds, buildings, and hospital equipment (‘No Slacking’ obviously the motto here!) but without that kind of dedicated effort it is doubtful the enterprise would have succeeded. And by 1880 the original wooden housing had been replaced by that of substantial brick with room for 1,000 men. Later, a nursing home and a hospital were added. Over the years veterans from the Spanish-American War, World Wars One and Two, and Korea also came to be served. In keeping pace, the facilities were expanded and modernized, with the mandate morphing from providing domestic in-house and medical care to a more modern concept of outpatient services and rehabilitation.

The grand original administrative headquarters known as the “Governor’s House” was built in 1869 and subsequently listed on the National Register

of Historic Places.

Burials first occurred on the grounds in the Eastern Branch section in 1867, then in the Western Branch section until 1961, when both were enfolded into a national cemetery.

Togus remained a bucolic out-ofthe-way enclave devoted to needy veterans until 1890 when a narrow-gauge railway changed all that. Built to deliver coal and supplies from Randolph, the enterprising Kennebec Central Railroad involved itself in turning the drowsy campus into a popular excursion getaway. With the cheap new transit people flocked from all over the region to enjoy such exciting attractions as a zoo and hotel, to go on a Sunday picnic, or to attend the baseball games, band concerts — even the theater that regularly booked shows directly from Broadway! So enthusiastic was the response that an electric streetcar line was installed from Augusta in 1901 to

manage the overflow crowds. Veterans, too, now found it remarkably easy to visit the once-distant Gardiner across the Kennebec River. And the fabulous little “dinky” short-line railroad bustled passengers and freight up and down its 5-mile, 20-minute length until 1929 when the coal contract ran out.

That coal came upriver all the way from the coast via barge and had to be hauled by rail from Randolph as stipulated under the government contract.

With its quaint historical buildings scattered among 500 acres of scenic surroundings, the 155-year-old Togus has remained true to its core mission of caring for the citizen soldier as it settles into a tranquil maturity.

But there is also a dark side: it is haunted. In following the former train bed (now the Old Narrow Gauge Volunteer Trail) from its terminus in Randolph, across Windsor Street for a mile or so up the meandering Little (cont. on page 6)

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(cont. from page 5) Togus Stream, and just past the pond, you will find that it suddenly vanishes.

And here’s where things get spooky.

The shades of long-dead soldiers that suffered from grievous injuries or embittered solitude may or may not be encountered flittering about the margins of trees, while eerie rustlings and

inexplicable murmurs intrude on the silence whenever those shimmery apparitions appear. Worse, legend holds that hurried footsteps heard coming from behind must be turned and quickly confronted lest you yourself be doomed to wander those gnarly and dim-lit woods alone.

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Augusta’s Capital Driving Park A hot spot for harness racing in the 1880s

by Brian Swartz

T

o experience the thrills, spills, and money-making opportunities of harness racing, Capital Driving Park in Augusta was the place to be in mid-August 1888.

Known by several names, among them Augusta Trotting Park and Capital Driving Park, the facility was located near Capital Park. Straddling the hilly shore along Bond Brook and the Kennebec River, Augusta offered little smooth terrain where horsemen could compete on a level track, but this bit of flat land near the river sufficed.

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with sunshine and clouds that “looked threateningly,” spat “a few drops of rain” on people flocking to Capital Driving Park on Thursday afternoon, August 16.

The tootling and thumping musicians of the National Band “favored the spectators with some of their best selections, finely rendered,” the race fan noticed. The grandstand filled to SRO status; “a large crowd was upon the grounds in addition,” he observed.

The people lining the rails watched as judges D.W. Goodwin, E.L. Norcross, and J.W. Withee took their seats at 2 p.m. The day’s first race involved

13 “green horses … that have never been trotted for money,” the race fan commented.

Only seven horses — New Haven Boy, Lamont, Herolight, Watchmaker Jr., Nellie Call, Young Rolfe, and Billy Knox — “responded to the call.” New Haven Boy took the pole, and the other six horses aligned on him; at the “go” signal, Herolight tore into the lead with Billy Knox hot on his hooves.

Fans cheered as Herolight passed the quarter-mile mark at 0:31 seconds.

Suddenly Watchmaker Jr, burst from the trailing horses and made a serious run, almost drawing even “before turn-

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ing down the back stretch,” where “he broke badly.”

Herolight blew past the three-quarter mile mark in 1:58 and swept to victory in 2:38.

Eleven horses were entered in the next race, intended “for horses in the 2.42 class,” the race fan scribbled on his score sheet. Only six horses “answered to the bell,” and if 21st-century Mainers think that competitors in the Kentucky Derby have unusual names, these six horses answered to Huldah, Courier, Busy Boy, Emma A., Rob Roy, and Alice Oates.

Huldah held the pole as the first heat started, “but Courier soon sailed ahead of her,” according to the race fan. “Rob Roy did some good trotting” in the “well contested heat,” but Huldah and Courier were “too fast company” for the competition and swept first and second, respectively, across the finish line.

The top four horses (Huldah, Courier, Rob Roy, and Alice Oates) then lined up at the starting gate for a second heat in their class. The race fan watched as “Huldah got a good sendoff … broke but once during the heat,” and won with Alice Oates not far behind her.

And Huldah would not be denied victory in the third heat, fishing at 2:37¾ with Alice Oates not far behind in second place.

“By far the most interesting race of the afternoon” was that involving horses in the 2.34 class, the race fan commented. “Several horses … had many friends upon the grounds … who showed their appreciation” by cheering lustily as the horses trotted onto the track.

Five of the seven horses entered for the race appeared: Hector, Ticonic, Black Crook, Cushnoc, and Maud M. Opposing owners immediately pro-

tested in writing the presence of Black Crook and Maud M. Confused, the judges conferred with “the National rules” and with the drivers, who “had received no notice of suspension.” Not knowing “but which horses may have been re-instated,” the judges let them start.

Heavy betting occurred prior to the race. Located at the pole, Hector initially took the lead for the first heat, “but Cushnoc soon passed him, and had it his own way all through,” the race fan noted. “He came in a long way ahead and amid the hearty cheers of the big crowd.”

Hector, Ticonic, Maud M., and Black Crook finished second through fifth, in that order.

The drivers and horses returned to the starting gate for the second heat, with Cushnoc holding the pole this time. He broke into the lead at the start, (cont. on page 10)

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(cont. from page 9) but “by a favorable spurt Hector shot ahead of him” before the quarter-mile mark, the race fan noticed. Then Cushnoc retook the lead, “won the heat and was loudly cheered as he came down the home stretch and under the wire.”

The five 2.34 class horses lined up for a third heat, which Cushnoc again won.

Though the day’s racing had officially ended, Herolight owner C.N. Nelson decided to extend the action. He “generously offered to give one-half of the money he had won” toward “a new race,” the race fan thrilled.

Money changed hands as horses that had already competed that day lined up for the consolation race. Up to the starting gate came Billy Knox, Lamont, Watchmaker Jr., Young Rolfe, Nellie Call, and New Haven Boy. With Billy Knox and his owner Charles Sylvester at the pole, the race began.

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At the three-quarter mile mark, Sylvester’s sulky collided (apparently with the inside rail) and “was badly smashed,” the astounded race fan wrote. Pitched onto the track, Sylvester was “dragged a long distance,” but remained “clinging to the reins until help arrived.”

Nellie Call won the heat.

A new sulky was harnessed to Billy Knox, and Ira Woodbury placed as the driver. The scuffed-up Sylvester settled into the sulky behind Young Rolfe.

The six horses lined up for the second heat. Watchmaker Jr. took an early lead, but Nellie Call soon trotted past and went on to win in 2:55, just three seconds longer than her winning time in the first heat.

This had been “a grand day for the races,” the race fan concluded.

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Marquis King’s Bestseller A work of Oxford history

by Charles Francis

M

arquis King published a book in 1903. The word ‘published’ is used here in the sense of self-published. The book is, in part, a history of the town where King was born and grew up, Oxford. Just one hundred and twenty-five copies of the book were printed in 1903. Today that book may be regarded as a significant piece of Maine historical research and as a bestseller.

Just how significant is King’s book?

And why might it be considered a bestseller if just a hundred and twenty-five copies were printed back in 1903?

Marquis King’s book as first published was intended for a select group

of readers. King was a member of several historical societies. The work was intended for them. In other words, the book was aimed at a limited and sophisticated readership. It would seem that while King wanted his work recognized, he wanted the recognition with the critical few who are supposed to know that his intent was not to ‘throw caviar to the crowd,’ as some writers of the period were seen as doing.

The book may be called a bestseller because King’s work is in print and available even today. You can get it from Barnes & Noble, Amazon, or most any major bookseller. You can order the book through a bookstore. You

What’s going on in there?

can find it in a fair number of Maine libraries. In short, the book has gone through numerous editions.

Marquis King’s book is Annals of Oxford Maine From its Incorporation, February 1829 to 1850. Annals is a work of local history. It is also a treatise on the families who first settled what is now Oxford and the communities in close relationship to Oxford. Treatise means in part a methodical investigation of a subject. Marquis King’s Annals includes an in-depth investigation of the genealogy of Oxford’s first families. This is why Annals is a bestseller.

Annals continues to be in demand not for its history but for its genealogy.

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DiscoverMaineMagazine.com Annals is not the only work by Marquis King that is still available. The Maine Legislature published one of his works, Changes in name by special acts of the Legislature of Maine, 18201895. It’s available in paperback. Baptisms and Admission from the Records of First Church in Falmouth, Now Portland, Maine is yet another work in a similar vein. King is not the credited author of the latter work though he undoubtedly did most of the research. The author is the Maine Genealogical Society. King was the driving force behind the Society. Note: This is not the same Maine Genealogical Society as exists today.

A sense of Marquis King should be developing in the reader’s mind given the above-cited works... there are more by the way. Marquis King researched family history. He delved into the genealogical records of specific areas of Maine. He did research in Oxford because he was born there. He did re-

search in Augusta because he held elective office there. He did research in Portland because he lived there. In particular, he researched First Parish Church records because that was the church he attended.

Marquis King’s research was meticulous. It was as near to being perfect as such work can be. This is why his books are in demand today. The fact that his books are in demand speaks to the interest people have in family history and genealogy. In particular, it speaks to the interest in the Maine genealogical record.

Marquis King’s name should be better known today. It should be known for something other than his genealogical research. King was a photographer, a very good one. The interest developed while King was in his late teens. The Maine Historical Society has published examples of his photographic work.

The photographs capture a vitality of a Maine that now can only be imagined.

Marquis King was born in Oxford in 1835 to Samuel and Eliza (Shaw) King.

Seven years before he was born, the Marquis de Lafayette made his grand tour of the United States. The tour was an extraordinary event. It spoke to America’s roots. The tour was a memorable event. It was memorialized all across America. There is a Fayetteville in North Carolina and one in Alabama and one in Arkansas. There is Fayette, Maine. And Samuel and Eliza King had their newborn son christened Marquis Fayette King.

One can only imagine what it was like for a youngster to grow up with the name Marquis Fayette. There were plenty of Revolutionary War veterans around in those days. There were veterans of the War of 1812 around too.

All had fought the Redcoats and all had seen Lafayette when he came to Maine.

How many times did young Marquis King hear stories about Lafayette? It (cont. on page 16)

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(cont. from page 15) has to be a great many. King grew up with a sense and appreciation of the past. The past was real to him, something to be held on to and treasured.

King held on to the past by writing his books, by preserving family history and genealogy.

Marquis King grew up in a family with military and pioneer traditions.

His father was a militia colonel and an early developer of Craigie’s Mills.

Colonel King was a Hebron selectman.

When Oxford was created out of Hebron, the Colonel was a selectman there too. Marquis King’s grandparents on both sides were early settlers of Paris.

King included an in-depth presentation of his family history in Annals. He did the same for other Oxford and Hebron families. That’s why those seeking their family history seek out King’s Annals today.

Marquis King deeply loved Oxford.

The very first paragraph of Annals

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speaks to this love. The description is of Shepardsfield, the first name given to the area. It reads in part as follows: “This territory, being so nearly equidistant from the equator and the pole, is not subject to long-continued or exces-

Marquis King’s book is Annals Of Oxford Maine From Its Incorporation, February 1829 to 1850.

Annals is a work of local history.

sive heat or cold, and as the wind seldom comes from any one point for more than three or four days successively, the various climatic changes attendant

upon the wind, follow one another in rapid and agreeable succession.” This could very well be a description of a promised land or a Garden of Eden.

One can but wish to have lived there and then.

Perhaps one must have roots in Oxford to appreciate the gift Marquis Fayette King bequeathed to future generations. With a work like Annals, one connection leads to another. If one is descended from one old New England family, he or she is descended from many. The connections go on an on.

It is said that we are all fiftieth cousins. Maybe Marquis Fayette King had a sense of this. It could explain why he devoted so much time and effort to making Annals the almost perfect work it is.

Discover Maine

17

DiscoverMaineMagazine.com

Auburn’s Erwin Dain Canham

by James Nalley

Putting principles first

I

n 1908, a non-profit news organization began publishing a daily newspaper in Boston, Massachusetts.

Called The Christian Science Monitor or simply The Monitor, it eventually earned a reputation of avoiding sensationalism and producing a distinctive brand of “non-hysterical journalism,” as stated by Alex Beam in the Boston Globe (June 9, 2005). However, this approach was mostly due to the leadership of an Auburn-born journalist, who became the longest-serving editor of the newspaper. In fact, his seemingly tireless efforts of encouraging responsibility, while protecting freedom of speech and putting principles first, was seen in the newspaper’s coverage of World

War II (1941-1945), the founding of the United Nations (1945), and the establishment of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) (1949).

Erwin Dain Canham was born in Auburn on February 13, 1904. At the age of 8, while attending public school, he began helping his father manage a small newspaper in Sanford. According to The New York Times (January 4, 1982), “Canham recalled that when he was 8 years old, he stood on a chair in front of an old-fashioned wall telephone and took down items for publication.” At the age of 14, he became “a general reporter for the paper, due to the World War I manpower shortage.” He eventually graduated from high school

in Auburn and was accepted to Bates College in Lewiston. It was there where he served as captain of the debate team, became a member of Phi Betta Kappa, and worked for up to eight daily newspapers until he graduated in 1925. Over the next year, he primarily reported for The Monitor before attending Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar.

When most students would have mainly focused on their graduate studies, Canham chose to continue reporting for The Monitor on his breaks, covering the League of Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, and building a long list of contacts for future endeavors. By the time he graduated from Oxford in (cont. on page 18)

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(cont. from page 17) 1928, he had made such an impression that The Monitor put him in charge of its Geneva bureau. He remained there until 1932, after which he returned to the United States to head the Washington, D.C. bureau. According to an article on Canham in The Washington Post (January 4, 1982), “Roscoe Drummond, a close friend of Canham’s who eventually replaced him as head of The Monitor’s Washington bureau, gave Canham the nickname ‘Spike’ because it was the ‘most far-fetched or incongruous one’ he could think of for Canham’s personality, since he was ‘such a scholarly type’ of person.”

In 1939, Canham returned to Boston as the general news editor of the paper and just two years later, he assumed the role of chief editor. In this position, he had a significant influence on how The Monitor covered current events, with the most important one being World War II. As stated by The Monitor in a biographical article (January 4, 1982)

IN E-

IN

D

TA K

E-

by Saville Davis, Canham considered that the overall purpose of journalism was to “tell the facts, which is to professionals, a kind of daily astonishment.”

He also believed that “in telling these facts, it is important to avoid institutionalism and false pride.” He was also “intimately aware of the dilemma that was created by the writers of the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, who gave the press almost unlimited power with no legal, enforceable requirement of responsibility.” With this in mind, Canham stated that the paper should “never leave out news just because it is unpleasant, nor seek to throw a rosy glow over a world that is often far from rosy.”

Interestingly, his leadership got him noticed in certain political circles.

However, unlike some newspaper editors, Canham accepted a variety of outside posts. For example, in 1948 he was vice-chairman of the U.S. delegation to the United Nations Conference on the

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DiscoverMaineMagazine.com Freedom of Information and president of the American Society of Newspaper Editors. During the Eisenhower administration, he was chairman of the National Manpower Council and a member of the Commission on Information, the latter of which helped form U.S. policies on the use of information and propaganda.

According to the article The Christian Science Monitor: Its History, Mission, and People (2012) by Keith Collins, “In 1955, Canham even helped mediate a cell block takeover at the Charlestown State Prison in Boston.”

At that time, he was “asked, along with six other men whom the prisoners respected, to listen to their stories and see their living conditions. In the end, the hostages that the prisoners had taken were released. Canham later referred to the experience as one of the most meaningful in his life.”

By the mid-1960s, the explosion of radio and television had changed the

power of newspaper reporting. According to Canham himself, he argued that “radio and television had forced newspapers to go beyond ‘the mere reporting of an event’ and that editors should ‘press the task of reporting more deeply and widely.’ However, he also warned that reporters must avoid coloring their articles with opinions.

In the 1970s, while continuing to lead The Monitor as chief editor, Canham served on President Nixon’s Commission on Campus Unrest. In 1975, he accepted an assignment by the U.S. government to oversee a referendum in which the residents voted to withdraw from the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands. He was then appointed as the last Resident Commissioner of the Northern Marianas Islands from 1975 to 1978. Afterwards, he kept a home in Saipan and frequently traveled between there and his other home in Cape Cod, Massachusetts.

However, throughout his long ca-

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reer and busy schedule, Canham never lost his sense of self and lightheartedness. For example, according to The Monitor (1982), “As for Canham himself, he tackled his solemn tasks with the lightest touch. At morning news conferences, when the day’s paper was planned, he would often pour out good-humored and sometimes hilarious accounts of his travels in the realms of politics and journalism.” (cont. on page 20)

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(cont. from page 19) In late December 1981, Canham underwent abdominal surgery at Guam Memorial Hospital. However, he died on January 3, 1982, at the age of 77.

He was buried in Guam. As for his legacy, aside from the fact that he led The Monitor for nearly three decades and helped it earn its first Pulitzer Prize, he never lost sight of his purpose in life. In this regard, perhaps it was best stated

by Canham himself: “Such an approach explains the attitude of confidence in good, which underlies the entire experience of The Monitor. The newspaper, like the individual Christian Scientist, does not ignore or dismiss the assertions of evil that confront the human experience. It has to deal with them…

It also seeks to put the news in a sound perspective, giving greatest emphasis to what is important and reducing the merely sensational to its place in an accurate system of values.”

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Gardiner High School In 1866 Nay-sayers influenced educational attitudes Brian Swartz

B

efore Gardiner High School ended its winter term on Thursday, March 1, 1866, the public was invited to visit classes and see how students were doing.

But “the number of visitors was small, showing a lamentable” lack of interest by parents, commented the local Kennebec Reporter. Two of seven high school directors showed up, as did only one Gardiner school-committee member. Two ministers, “one layman, and about a dozen ladies” checked out what students were doing.

“The order of the school was good, showing a marked improvement in this respect during the year,” wrote a Reporter staffer, perhaps co-publisher

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The staffer popped into various classrooms, witnessed “one of the best recitations in Arithmetic to which we ever listened,” watched students “analyzing and parsing … Milton’s Paradise Lost,” and watched “beginners” (today’s freshmen) learn about geometry and American history.

“We have not passed a day more pleasantly of late, than that we spent in the High School, listening to these recitations,” the newspaperman stated.

The Reporter’s publishers had hoped “to see a little more interest manifested by our citizens generally.” Officials elected to run the Gardiner schools should have been there March 1. As for

parents, if they “would now and then look in upon the exercises,” doing so “would encourage the teachers and animate the pupils.”

The Reporter discussed the Gardiner residents “who are constantly grumbling” about the high school while “endeavoring to defeat appropriations to sustain it.”

Thinking they knew everything about the schools without darkening the doors, such bellyachers “are those who know the least about it,” the paper commented.

The sidewalk school directors’ anti-education attitude permeated down to Gardiner’s younger generation, too.

Throughout the Gardiner school sys-

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DiscoverMaineMagazine.com tem, even to the lower grades, “there is a sort of public opinion prevailing among the pupils, that their dignity and rights are sadly interfered with, by being obliged to attend school,” noticed the Reporter’s staffer.

Even grammar students saw school as an educational jail and claimed, “one of their inalienable rights” was “to be free from the restraints and drudgeries of the school room,” he observed.

In the lower grades existed “very little ambition to prepare” for Gardiner High School.

A different problem existed there, a problem that continues among many older high-school students to this day.

Most boys looked forward to working in “a store” or “the mills.” Rather than valuing their education, older boys wanted jobs; school was only a roadblock to that goal.

“The highest ambition of many … girls are to be regarded as ‘young ladies,’” a societal category that meant

fancy dresses, dances, and attention from wealthy men, the newspaperman commented. For such students, the goal was “impossible” to achieve “while they attend school.

“We think the parents are more to blame for this state of things than [are] the scholars,” the Reporter stated.

“They talk against the school and find fault with the management.”

Parents were “impatient if their children trouble them at all, evenings and mornings, with the lessons to be learned,” the newspaperman pointed out. Parents sympathized with children complaining about “the length and severity” of the homework.

Referring to parents, “they grumble because there is a regular course of studies to … pursue and talk as if the [educational] system” should be tossed out, the Reporter commented. It was no wonder, “when fathers and mothers talk in this way, that the children are not interested in their studies” and pre-

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ferred not to attend school.

This across-the-generations’ anti-education attitude meant that Gardiner taxpayers were not getting the biggest bang — “the full benefit of the money” — for their bucks, the newspaperman wrote. Gardiner residents needed to “cease this querulous spirit.”

Despite complaints that all high schoolers “are required to study Latin and Greek,” this was not true. Directors had established “two courses of study,” and parents chose which route their children took.

One course prepared boys for college and gave “girls the same opportunity for acquiring a knowledge of the languages,” the Kennebec Reporter stated. The other course prepared “the boys for business, with like facilities for girls.” This course included many subjects, such as algebra, astronomy, botany, geology, geometry, and philosophy, but some parents wanted their children to take what should be called (cont. on page 24)

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(cont. from page 23) the “college-prep” program.

These parents did not ask if their children would attend Gardiner High long enough to become proficient in Latin, the newspaperman commented.

Other parents placed children in the business program but were “unwilling to send them [to school] long enough to acquire a good understanding” of the offered classes, he wrote. “After a term or two, the whole [effort] is abandoned, and precious little benefit has been derived from the school.

“Whose fault is it, but that of the parents?” he asked.

“We have children of our own to be educated and are desirous that our present school system should be sustained for the benefit of the children of the city” and “improved and perfected, so that it may in time be equal to that in Bangor, Bath and Portland,” the newspaperman wrote.

“It will be a shame and disgrace to Gardiner, if it is not,” he concluded.

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Skowhegan’s Joseph Weston Patriot martyr of Arnold’s march

by Charles Francis

T

he story of the suffering and trials and tribulations of the soldiers who toiled up the Kennebec and across the Height of Land to Quebec on Benedict Arnold’s ill-fated expedition in the fall of 1775 is a familiar one to every secondary school student who has taken Maine history. Some who learned of the great trek in school may even recall a few of the names of those that accompanied Arnold as they went on to make a mark for themselves later. These names include Daniel Morgan, Henry Dearborn, and Aaron Burr.

Few, however, know that a small number of Maine men volunteered to join

Colonel Arnold’s forces once it began its arduous journey in Maine. One of those Maine men was Joseph Weston of Skowhegan.

Those who have read Kenneth Roberts’ novel Arundel know that the first great challenge faced by the Arnold Expedition was the falls at Skowhegan. It was here, however, that the patriotism of those living on the Maine frontier made itself evident. The residents of Skowhegan Island and the surrounding area put their backs into helping Arnold’s men get their cumbersome bateaux around this first great impasse the expedition faced. It was also here that

the only resident of Skowhegan known to have left his home as a volunteer to the Patriot cause did so. This individual was Joseph Weston.

For those who wonder if there was a town of Skowhegan in 1775, the answer is no. Skowhegan did not become a town until 1823 when it separated from Canaan. Even at that point it was not Skowhegan, but rather Milburn.

The name Skowhegan was not adopted until 1836. And, to be perfectly correct, Canaan did not exist in 1775 either.

It was not incorporated until 1788. In other words, the future Skowhegan was very much on the Maine frontier when (cont. on page 28)

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(cont. from page 26) Benedict Arnold and his men camped on Skowhegan Island in early October of 1775.

What was to become Skowhegan was first settled in 1771. According to tradition, two men and three boys traveled up the Kennebec with twenty head of cattle, stopping on the western shore of the river some three miles below Skowhegan Island. The men were Peter Heywood and Joseph Weston.

Heywood was Weston’s brother-in-law.

The two had obtained grants of land from the Kennebec Proprietors. That fall, two of the boys, nineteen-yearold Isaac Smith and eleven-year-old Eli Weston, were left behind to winter over in a crude log cabin and tend the cattle while the others returned to their families.

In 1771 Joseph Weston, who would join the Arnold Expedition four years later, was thirty-nine years old. He was born in Concord, Massachusetts on

March 7, 1732. His wife, the former Eunice Farnsworth, was born in 1735.

The couple were pioneers in the truest sense of the word. Eunice Farnsworth Weston was the first white woman to settle in what would become Somerset County.

Joseph Weston returned to the future Skowhegan with his family in the Spring of 1772. The summer saw Peter Heywood bring his family up the Kennebec, and the family of Jonathan Oakes join the Westons and Heywoods.

By the time Benedict Arnold arrived at Skowhegan Island in the fall of 1775, a small frontier settlement had sprung up in the Skowhegan Island area.

Even though Joseph Weston was hundreds of miles from his birthplace and nearby Lexington where “the shot heard ‘round the world” was fired, he was clearly of like mind with the minutemen of his hometown. When Benedict Arnold and his eleven hundred

men left their camp on Skowhegan Island, Weston went with them as a guide to help with the difficult portages at Teconnet Falls and the Great Carrying Place. Unfortunately, Joseph Weston’s patriotic zeal would bring about his death.

Shortly after reaching the juncture of the Dead and the Kennebec Joseph Weston came down with a fever. Sent home, he worsened, dying on October 16 of fever brought on by the extreme early cold that brought down many of Arnold’s other men.

Even though Joseph Weston never actually enlisted in a militia company or the Continental Army, the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) have recognized him as a valid Revolutionary War ancestor. Today the Skowhegan DAR chapter, the Eunice Farnsworth chapter, helps keep his memory alive.

Nine of the children of Joseph and

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DiscoverMaineMagazine.com Eunice Farnsworth Weston survived into adulthood. It is thanks to one of their grandchildren, Eben Weston, that much is known of the early history of the Skowhegan area. Most of the early records of the communities that would become Canaan and Skowhegan as well as Bloomfield were destroyed by fire. Eben Weston, however, compiled voluminous records of the period. Today his work is preserved by the Skowhegan Historical Society as well as in the Maine State Library.

Skowhegan Island has changed greatly since the days when Joseph Weston and other area residents helped portage Arnold’s weighty bateaux at the falls so many years ago. A portion of the area where Arnold’s men camped is now the Skowhegan Island Heritage and Recreation Area. Recently the Arnold Park Pines were nominated to the Register of Historic Trees. This registry identifies trees that were living at the

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time of and in close proximity to events that shaped the nation’s history. Perhaps it would be in keeping with this living memorial to the men of the Ar-

nold Expedition to add a memorial to Joseph Weston, the Skowhegan pioneer who gave his life to the cause of liberty.

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The Disappearance of Judge Joseph Crater Belgrade’s connection

by James Nalley

I

n the summer of 1930, the first investigations of what would become The Hofstadter Committee (or the Seabury Commission) began in New York City. Established by the New York State Legislature, its purpose was to investigate the corruption in the city, especially among the courts and the police department. At that time, New York Supreme Court Justice Joseph F. Crater was on vacation with his wife at their summer home in Belgrade, Maine.

Between late July and early August, he traveled back and forth between Maine and New York, leaving no information for his wife. On August 6, the 41-year-

old Crater vanished near Times Square, earning him the title of “The Missingest Man in New York.”

Born on January 5, 1889, in Easton, Pennsylvania, Crater was the oldest of four children. He graduated from Lafayette College in 1910 and received his law degree from Columbia University in 1916. After starting out as a law clerk, he worked his way up to become a successful lawyer in New York, with many political connections. In April 1930, then Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed Crater to the state bench. However, according to History. com, the governor “passed over the of-

ficial candidate by the powerful (and corrupt) Tammany Hall political machine.” As a result, “Rumors swirled that Crater, whose alleged fondness for showgirls had already earned him a shady reputation, had paid off the Tammany bosses for his lucrative new job.”

In late July, Crater and his wife, Stella Mance Wheeler, were at their summer home in Belgrade. However, after receiving a telephone call, he promptly left for New York, stating that he had “to straighten those fellows out.” According to the book Judge Crater, the Missingest Person: How He Disappeared and Why They Couldn’t Find (cont. on page 32)

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(cont. from page 31) Him, by John Gibson, “Crater arrived at his Fifth Avenue apartment, but instead of dealing with business, he made a trip to Atlantic City, New Jersey, with his mistress, showgirl Sally Lou Ritzi.”

After returning to Maine on August 1, he again left for New York on August 3, promising to return in time for his wife’s birthday on August 9. Mrs. Crater eventually told investigators that he was “in good spirits and behaving normally” before his departure to New York. According to Gibson, “On August 6, Crater spent two hours going through his files in his courthouse chambers, reportedly destroying documents. He then had his law clerk, Joseph Mara, cash two checks totaling $5,150 (more than $75,000 today). At noon, he and Mara carried two locked briefcases to his apartment, after which he let Mara take the rest of the afternoon off.”

That evening, Crater bought one ticket to the Broadway comedy Danc-

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DiscoverMaineMagazine.com ing Partner at the Belasco Theatre.

Then he went to Billy Haas’s Chophouse on West 45th Street, where he ate dinner with Ritzi and a lawyer, William Klein. Like Crater’s wife, Klein later stated that Crater was in “a good mood that evening, with no indication that anything was worrying him.”

Although Crater’s dinner companions agreed about his mood and the day of his disappearance, their accounts differed about his departure from the restaurant. For example, according to The New York Times on September 16, 1930, Klein testified that “The judge got into a taxicab outside the restaurant at 9:30 p.m. and drove west on 45th Street,” which was confirmed by Ritzi.

However, Klein and Ritzi later changed their story, stating that they “entered a taxi outside the restaurant, while Crater walked down the street.”

What made things more confusing was that there were no immediate actions taken after Crater’s disappearance. For instance, although Mrs. Cra-

ter began making phone calls about his disappearance within the first week, it was only when he failed to appear for a court hearing on August 25 that his peers became alarmed. On September 3, the police were notified, and Crater made the front page of many newspapers across the country.

After the official investigation began, detectives discovered that Crater’s safe deposit box was empty and the two locked briefcases that he and his assistant had taken were missing.

What made things more intriguing was that three women that Crater had been involved with had strange disappearances of their own. First, Ritzi suddenly left New York and was found living with her parents in Youngstown, Ohio, even though she had spent most of her time as a showgirl in New York.

Second, another showgirl, June Brice, was seen talking to Crater the day before he disappeared. According to the New York Press, a lawyer representing (cont. on page 34)

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(cont. from page 33) Crater’s wife believed that Brice was the center of a blackmail scheme and that her gangster boyfriend had killed the judge. Mysteriously, Brice disappeared the day that a grand jury was to convene. She was eventually found in a mental hospital in 1948. Third, Vivian Gordon, a high-end prostitute, had liaisons with many influential people, including Crater. In February 1931, after losing custody of her daughter and angry about the decision, Gordon agreed to meet the head of the city’s official inquiry and eventually testify about the ongoing corruption in the police department. As stated in the article The Dead Woman Who Brought Down the Mayor

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As for Mrs. Crater, she remained at their vacation home in Belgrade until January 1931. Meanwhile, without her husband’s income, she was unable to maintain their Fifth Avenue apartment in New York. She did, however, find work as a telephone operator in Belgrade for roughly $12 per week.

In 1939, approximately nine years after Crater’s disappearance, a judge declared that the former New York Supreme Court justice was legally dead, thus allowing Mrs. Crater to collect approximately $20,000 in life insurance.

Mrs. Crater died in 1969 at the age of 70. Regarding the unsolved case, it was eventually closed in 1979.

Despite ongoing rumors and unsubstantiated claims, such as the “secret” letter (by the wife of a former police detective) stating that he was buried in Coney Island, no skeletal remains were

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found. However, Crater’s disappearance has been a frequent topic in popular culture. For instance, according to Americanheritage.com, the phrase “to pull a Crater” means “to disappear.” He was also mentioned in various television shows, such as The Dick Van Dyke Show and The Golden Girls. Regarding the latter, Rose, when looking for a late-night snack, peeks in the refrigerator and says, “You’ll never guess what I found,” to Dorothy’s reply, “Judge Crater?” Finally, as a publicity stunt for the 1933 film Bureau of Missing Persons, First National Pictures advertised that they would pay Crater $10,000 (equivalent to approximately $200,000 today) if he would claim it in person. He never showed.

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Wilton’s Changing Names Originally called Harrytown

by Charles Francis

M

any Maine towns bear the name of a famous or heroic individual. There are towns named after presidents like Washington and Jefferson. There are towns named after important figures in Maine history like Lincoln, named after Governor Enoch Lincoln, and Coburn Gore, which bears the name of the influential Coburn family. Then there are towns that were named after individuals who made a name for themselves on the field of battle. Chamberlain pays tribute to Joshua Chamberlain. In like manner, the town which would become Wilton once paid tribute to a hero of the Indian Wars, Colonel William Tyng.

The town of Wilton was incorporat-

ed as such in 1803. Abraham Butterfield, one of the most substantial figures in the community, wanted it called Wilton. He was originally from Wilton, New Hampshire. Butterfield was also willing to pay the costs associated with incorporation.

Before Wilton became Wilton it was known as Tyngstown or more formerly as the Plantation of Tyng’s Township.

Intriguingly, there was an even earlier name, Harrytown.

Harrytown was probably the oddest name ever chosen as a Maine place name. The reason for this was that it did not honor an individual who played an important role in the settlement of Maine or even in Maine history. Harry-

town was named for a Native American leader who has gone down in the history books as an avowed enemy of the settlers of New Hampshire and Massachusetts.

There are some other points of note to be made about the use of the place names Tyngstown and Harrytown.

Strictly speaking, they reference more than just the present town of Wilton.

Tyngstown and Harrytown originally included a larger area which is sometimes referred to as the Tyngstownship grant and included much of modern-day Temple, New Sharon, and Farmington as well as a small area of New Hampshire.

There is a connection between Wil-

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DiscoverMaineMagazine.com liam Tyng and Harry. Tyng appears in the records as responsible for ending Harry’s life. He did it on the shores of Lake Winnipesaukee.

William Tyng is best known for organizing the Chelmsford (Massachusetts) Snowshoe Patrol in 1703. At that time he was a militia captain and Queen Anne’s War had just erupted in New England as one of the many French and Indian wars that characterized the region during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Captain Tyng led his militia company on an attack of Harry’s Indians, who were camped at Lake Winnipesaukee late in 1703.

In 1785 the Massachusetts General Court created the Tyngstownship grant in recognition of the accomplishments of Captain Tyng and his Snowshoe Patrol. The grant was made to individuals identified as the 60 Proprietors. For the most part, they were the heirs of the members of Tyng’s militia company. Sometimes the grant is identified

as that belonging to Captain William Tyng & Co., which is a bit misleading as it tends to imply that Tyng headed a corporation.

Solomon Adams is the individual usually credited with coming up with the name Harrytown. Adams explored the grant the year it was made. The first settler is usually identified as Samuel Butterfield. In 1790 Butterfield built a sawmill and grist mill in what is now East Wilton. The mills were on Wilson Stream which had a drop of some one hundred and fifty feet. Later Butterfield added a canal and developed a system of water power which led to Wilton’s first great economic boom, including the development of the first Bass shoe plant. It was Samuel Butterfield who called the settlement Tyngstown.

The development of Tyngstown wasn’t just a matter of people moving onto the grant. The Massachusetts General Court — as it did with all grants — included a number of stipulations

that had to be met if the 60 Proprietors were to realize their formal ownership.

These terms were typical of those made by the Court in the post-Revolutionary War period. At least thirty families had to settle in the township within six years. A school, as well as a church, had to be built. In addition, there had to be a Protestant minister of good standing to provide for the spiritual needs of the community.

Besides Samuel Butterfield, the early settlers of Tyngstown included Elisha Bass, Cyrus Blanchard, Adam Watt, and Ebenezer Brown. Like Samuel Butterfield, these other four individuals went on to become influential community members. They and others like them operated saw and grist mills, a cannery, and even a cotton mill. They also illustrated the diversity of the people who were settling the township.

Cyrus Blanchard, whose father had fought at Lexington, was a Baptist. So, too, was Ebenezer Brown, although he (cont. on page 38)

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(cont. from page 37) differed from Blanchard in that he was a Free Will Baptist. (Brown was also a Baptist lay preacher.) Abraham Watt was a Quaker. Baptists and Quakers were a minority, however. The majority of settlers of Tyngstown were, like Elisha Bass, Congregationalist. There were also a small number of Methodists.

Possibly the biggest difference between Tyngstown and present-day Wilton was the community center. The first settlers lived for the most part in the eastern part of town, what today is East Wilton. Wilton Village, of course, would come to surpass the original center of Tyngstown.

Today it is hard to imagine a time when Wilton looked to New Hampshire and Massachusetts as the home of its founders. Yet that is the way it was when Wilton was Tyngstown and before that Harrytown.

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Snowmobile racers at the Moosehead Lake Carnival in Greenville in January 1966.

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Maine’s 103rd Infantry Regiment

by Greg Davis

A long legacy of service

T

he National Guard, older than our nation itself, has the longest continuous history of any military organization in the United States.

In the immediate vicinity of Rumford, the forerunner of the guard, a state militia, dates back to the Civil War with some units in the Bangor and Waterville area dating to the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812.

Company B, 103rd Infantry Regiment of the Maine National Guard was the Rumford contingent. They trained in the municipal building and other sites until an armory was built in 1941.

Rumford men served on the Mexican border and in World War I. Some ancestors of local residents could have

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been among those who formed the 103rd’s predecessor, the Second Maine Infantry.

A Capt. Emerson organized a company of infantry in Bangor, the first volunteer infantry company in the U.S., and it was accepted into immediate service by then Governor Washburn who said, “Rendezvous the troops; the state will pay.”

Two other companies, the Gratten Guards and Bangor Light Infantry, then volunteered and were incorporated into the Maine regiment. The regiment participated in the Civil War engagements at Bull Run, Peninsula, Manassas, Virginia 1863, Gettysburg, Wilderness, Spotsylvania, and Cold Harbor.

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One of the early commanders, Joshua Chamberlain (later a four-term Maine Governor) was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for the regiment’s famous defense of Little Round Top at Gettysburg on July 2, 1863.

The Second Maine Infantry was the first to leave Maine to fight in the Civil War and was the first Union contingent to set foot on the soil of Virginia. At Falls Church, Virginia they faced the Confederate lines for three weeks.

The regiment was next called out for federal duty on May 2, 1898 for the Spanish-American War. Some men made up a battalion of heavy field artillery but did not see any action. Follow-

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DiscoverMaineMagazine.com ing the war with Spain, the regiment was once again formed as a militia unit.

Trouble on the Mexican border in 1916 necessitated the call to arms once again, and the regiment was hastily mobilized and rushed to the border where it remained on duty until mustered out four months later. On April 13, 1917 the Second Maine Infantry was recalled to active service. The regiment, under the command of Col. Frank M. Hume, did guard duty at bridges and public property before training for entry into World War I. On Aug. 21, 1917 the regiment was expanded to 2,002 officers and men and redesignated the 103rd Infantry Regiment of the 52nd Brigade, 26th (Yankee) Division. It then moved to Westfield, Massachusetts where another 1,500 men were absorbed from New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Vermont, and Rhode Island detachments. These men of the 103rd Infantry Rgt. re-

ceived final training in the Neufchateau area of France. In February of 1918 the men first saw action just north of Soissons. Later fighting in Chateau Thierry to relieve the 2nd Division, the Maine participants were engaged in the great counterattack started by the Allies in July of 1918.

Men of the 103rd captured Torcy, France in the first offensive launched by an American unit in the war. In that action, some 25 German prisoners were taken.

The regiment participated in the St. Mihiel salient, where 800 prisoners and large amounts of supplies were taken.

They were at Verdun and experienced heavy fighting through the morning of the armistice. This was not without some cost. The regiment entered the war with about 2,900 men, and only 900 survived. Rumford area casualties included Lucien Arsenault and John Lavine of Mexico, Harry Bryant and

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Napoleon Willette of Rumford, and Albert Lavergus of Canton.

After serving valiantly in World War I, the men of the 103rd Infantry were mustered out at Camp Devens, Massachusetts in 1919. The 3rd Maine Infantry was redesignated 103rd Infantry in 1922, thereby saving for posterity the numerals “103.”

From the end of World War I to 1932 the Maine unit was commanded by Harry M. Bigelow of Portland. Under the command of Col. Spaulding Bisbee, the 103rd was once again inducted into federal service as part of the 43rd Infantry Division on Feb. 24, 1941.

Prior to World War II induction, the unit had helped out in times of fires and floods. Almost every regiment of the unit served in the Lewiston-Auburn shoe strike of 1937. Men were on duty for 28 days straight because of the tensions. (cont. on page 44)

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(cont. from page 43) A defiant vow to defend the inalienable rights of mankind is contained in the regiment’s slogan: “To the Last Man.” The regimental badge is a blue Maltese cross on a white background.

The cross signifies Civil War service.

On the arms of the cross are six fleursde-lis, symbolizing the unit’s World War I engagements in France.

At its induction into federal service in 1941, the 103rd was made up of National Guardsmen from Augusta, Portland, Auburn, Lewiston, Buckfield, Mechanic Falls, Biddeford, Rumford, Newport, Waterville, Dexter, Millinocket, Belfast, Skowhegan, and Gardiner.

The original 103rd possessed a decidedly French accent, and commands in many of the companies could be given and understood in French. As World War II progressed, the personnel of the regiment changed rapidly until it was a conglomeration of accents from

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throughout the U.S. The 133rd Engineer Battalion, Maine National Guard, Portland, carries the 103rd’s lineage. At the end of World War II, as part of the 43rd Division, Maine’s 103rd became an armored unit for a time before being given the engineering battalion designation. Thus, no unit now carries the 103rd numerals.

When called to duty in 1941, men from throughout the state boarded trains and buses for the Portland Exposition Building, where they completed the processing for federalization.

Many Rumford, Mexico, and area men formed Company B and were given an enthusiastic send-off by their communities.

A 103rd veteran, Ivan Churchill noted that the Rumford men left from the old railroad station. An old newspaper clipping states, “Thousands of resi-

dents of Rumford, Mexico, and other nearby towns crowded the grounds at the station as the militia boarded the long train. There were shouts of cheer and good luck, mingled with solemn faces and some tears as mothers and sweethearts bid farewell to the lads, wondering whether it was to be just a year’s training or more...”

The Rumford Falls Times article noted the train left at 8 a.m. with the local contingent under the command of Capt. Ulric Bouffard who had also bid goodbye for the company nearly a quarter of a century before when it left for World War I service.

Under the command of Col. Spaulding Bisbee, the 103rd departed Portland by train and truck convoy to Camp Blanding, Florida where men spent the next year undergoing rigorous training which included maneuvers in Louisiana and the Carolinas.

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Former 103rd member Gerard Lavoie noted the song We’ll be Back in a Year, Little Darling came out about the time he and his fellow soldiers departed. “Well, we didn’t come back in a year. With Pearl Harbor it was four and a half years later,” he added.

After the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor, the 103rd, as part of the 43rd Infantry Division, moved to Camp Shelby, Mississippi, and on to Ft. Ord in California where it awaited embarkation for overseas service. The 103rd finally left San Francisco on Oct. 1, 1942 with its troopship arriving at Auckland, New Zealand on October 22nd. There they underwent special jungle training in preparation for what lay ahead.

Ivan Churchill, a former machine gunner, said Rumford area men served in five major Pacific Theater campaigns. They were in the lines for 63 days without relief at one point during

fierce fighting in which a number of local men lost their lives. The 103rd’s World War II casualties totaled 339 men, most killed in action.

After training in New Zealand, the regiment was ordered to defend the island of New Caledonia which had served as a nickel supply for Japan for many years and thus was a primary target of its war machine.

The regiment participated in the mop-up of Guadalcanal. Although its Marine counterparts got most of the publicity, 103rd soldiers were among those who captured part of Anderson Field on Guadalcanal. They also participated in Operation Clean Slate which cleared the Japanese from the Russell Islands. They continued in the New Georgia offensive through January of 1944.

After a short rest period in New Zealand, the 103rd participated in the

amphibious landings at the Lingayen Gulf in the Philippines and many of the subsequent battles on the island of Luzon. One of its major achievements was the capture of the Ipo Dam which provided a third of the water supply for Manila. The 43rd Division (and 103rd Rgt.) took the dam before the Japanese could detonate charges placed on the structure. If they hadn’t, Manila would have been flooded. The 103rd’s campaign in the Philippines lasted a total of 173 days.

In the course of the war, the men were involved in the testing of some new weapons. They observed the first use of napalm (jellied gasoline) and tested some recoilless weapons. Gerard Lavoie remembers using a recoilless, shoulder-held bazooka, “One time, we fired into a cave and the shell blew the whole top off the mountain because there was so much ammunition stored (cont. on page 46)

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(cont. from page 45) in there,” he said.

The effectiveness of such highly accurate weapons is noted in a declassified wartime report. “One to four rounds were fired on each type target, scoring an average of better than 75 percent direct hits, and produced the following results: Cave entrances were closed, enemy troops were eliminated, artillery positions and AAA gun positions were destroyed, and sandstone barricades were penetrated up to 24 inches.”

The 103rd awaited the invasion of Japan, in what was to be known as Operation Olympic. The dropping of atomic bombs on Nagasaki and Hiroshima precluded that operation, with the Japanese suing for peace. The regiment participated in the occupation for a short period before returning to the States via San Fransisco, about three years after it had departed from that location.

The regimental colors are in the Hall of Flags at Augusta, but many local men still have vivid memories of their service. From its staff hang 18 battle streamers, dating back to Bull Run and Gettysburg. Its memory is kept alive through reunions which began at the Sons of Italy Club in Lewiston in 1956.

The Maine National Guard was not federalized again until the Berlin crisis of 1961. At that time some Maine men were involved with the Berlin Airlift to thwart the Soviet Union’s attempt to close off the city. More recently, many Guardsmen went to Saudi Arabia and Kuwait with Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm, as well as contingents traveling to other hot spots around the world since that time.

Peacetime Guard work has included the construction of athletic fields, bridges, campsites, picnic areas, and other facilities for local and county governments.

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The Strand Theatre In Jackman

by Sue Anderson

L

The best show in town

et me take you on a trip to those thrilling days of yesteryear; to the twenty-five cent picture shows, the Saturday matinees and the sock hops of the Elvis era. For the people of Jackman, these memories always include the Strand Theatre; a place not just for movies, but for community gatherings of many types — a place of fun and mystery.

The building, according to Jackman tax records of 1918, was first owned

by Adelord Fournier, who also owned the ‘picture machine.’ It was built in the early 1900s. Mr. Fournier was a family man, and at the time lived in the split-level living quarters in the basement of the theatre building. His daughter, Bella Fournier, was born there in 1919. Bella’s son, Paul Chaisson, shared some of his mother’s memories of the theater with me. He was one of five children; Elaine, Conrad, Paul, Mike and Lynda.

Paul shared that the projector for the theater was in a rickety balcony which also had fifteen or so seats, but they were only used as a last resort. It was during this time that the Strand became a community gathering place. It

was used for High School graduations, basketball games, roller-skating and dances, as well as the silent movies of the era. He knew that his mother particularly remembered Mrs. Alma Dunn who, among others, played the piano to accompany the action of the movies.

The theater changed hands twice during the 1920s. First it was sold to Mr. Omer Poulin, who sold it just a few years later to Mac and Pauline Bennett Whalen who owned it until the early 1930s. They in turn sold it to Edward and Mary Childs Gilbert who kept it until a rather bizarre incident precipitated the sale, once again, of the Strand building. Legend has it that Mrs. Gilbert was ‘missing’ after a show one night and when employees went looking for her they found her in the ticket booth sitting on her stool — dead. According to some reports she ‘haunted’ the theatre. There are accounts of the piano playing by itself, brooms hitting the floor, doors flying open and other ‘occurrences.’ Mr. Gilbert died shortly after his wife, and their heirs, having no interest in running a theater, quickly sold the property to Lyle and Jeanette Holden. The Holdens owned and op-

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erated it for twenty years, while living in the deluxe apartment in the cellar during part of the time.

In talking with Mrs. Holden, I gained a wealth of knowledge about the Strand. I sat with Mrs. Holden and listened to her talk about the place as if it were yesterday. She remembers the salesmen coming to the theatre and trying to ‘sell’ her on what pictures she should show, much like the vendors come to the stores today. The movie companies would ship the film on its giant reels to Waterville, and it would be brought to Jackman via truck, which also made other deliveries in town. Mrs. Holden stated that often she would watch the truck drive right past the theatre, forgetting to drop the film. She would then have to jump in her car and drive to Waterville to pick up the film and have it back in time for the seven-thirty show.

High school graduations were still held at the theatre until 1960 when the S.A.D. complex was built, which today is our Forest Hills Consolidated School with a gym for school and local activities. Dances with live bands were held in the theatre at that time also. The

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DiscoverMaineMagazine.com Holdens held two dances on holidays, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. A free childrens’ matinee every Christmas, with two hours of cartoons, also with popcorn in red mesh handmade bags, delivered by Bella Chaisson, daughter of the original owner, as Santa. And of course, there were Saturday afternoon record hops for the teens, as this was the Elvis era.

Martha McBride remembers the Strand Theatre as a young girl. She and her friends would buy a coke and M&M’s for a quarter and sit in the front row and watch the movies and marvel at the sights and sounds. Today that same snack would cost twelve bucks!

Marilyn Hagerty remembers rallying other parents to send their children to the movies when hers wanted to go.

The theatre would not open unless they could cover their overhead with a certain amount of moviegoers.

In 1973 the Strand Theatre was sold by the Holdens to two young men from New Jersey. Michael Mastrogiacomo discovered Jackman through his friend Larry J. Harth. He grew to love the town. To quote Mr. Harth and his friend, “The warm attitude of the people and most of all their honesty is certainly quite a change from places like New York.” Numerous fishing and hunting trips to Jackman took them past the theatre building, which had been closed for over a year. When they saw it for sale they leaped at the opportunity. They changed the name to ‘The Northland Theatre,’ employed Jimmy Smyth as projectionist, and reopened to a large crowd with a Paul Newman movie. Back then, movies were normally shown four times a week, but when tourist season came along the theatre went on a six-day-a- week schedule.

When Mr. Harth left the partnership in the Northland Theatre he donated the popcorn machine to the Boy Scouts via Blair Van Camp, who was then a part of the Scouts. In corresponding with Mr. Harth he stated that some of the mov-

Crocker Lake Camps in Jackman, ca. 1934. Item # LB2007.1.101096 from the Eastern Illustrating & Publishing Co. Collection and www.PenobscotMarineMuseum.org ie posters from the Vaudeville/Traveling shows were glued to the walls, and some were used as ‘wallpaper’ in the bathrooms.

In 1990 Somerset Demolition and Supply in Fairfield Center took down the 90-year-old building in less than three days. Ken Works, who, led the five-member team, found souvenirs in the building that made his business a hobby as well. Artifacts such as an autographed 65-year-old circus poster advertising the 24th annual “George M. Bragg and his big vaudeville circus,” which appeared at the Strand for three nights starting Feb. 2, with tickets at twenty-five and thirty-five cents — a scant price indeed for a circus known as

the ‘best from ocean to ocean.’ Someone had hand printed the year 1925 on the bottom, which would have placed the show at the Strand when the theatre was owned by Marc and Pauline Whalen. The one thing that the demolition crew failed to find was the ghost of Mary Gilbert.

The lot was vacant for awhile until Raynald Cloutier and Daniel Begin bought the land and placed two mobile homes on it, which they used to house Canadian workers. Now, when one drives by, and if he or she knows the history of that spot, they picture in their minds the building, the times, and the events that were held at the Strand Theatre.

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1890 Primitives.................................................................11 3D Equipment Mobile Repair Service..............................38 A-1 Seamless Gutters......................................................20 ABC Pool & Spa Center..................................................19 ADA Fence Company, Inc. .............................................29 Advantage Insurance.......................................................34 Affordable Well Drilling Excavation & Forestry...................20 All Points Transportation..................................................36 Allied Realty - Deanna Singer..........................................27 American Awards Inc.......................................................21 Androscoggin Pest Solutions...........................................18 Another Man's Treasure....................................................9 Archie's Inc. Rubbish Removal........................................43 Asian Café........................................................................10 Augusta Fuel Company....................................................21 Back Office Solutions Maine............................................24 Bean Maine Lobster.........................................................13 Beaulieu Garage Doors....................................................11 Belanger Tree Care..........................................................11 Belgrade Regional Health Center.....................................33 Ben's Auto Body..............................................................41 Bessey Insurance............................................................34 Best Western Plus Augusta Civic Center Inn...................23 Bethel Family Health Center............................................33 Bingham Area Health & Dental Center.............................33 Bingham Motor Inn & Sports Complex............................39 Blanchet Builders, L.L.C. ................................................29 Bob's Cash Fuel..............................................................46 Buen Apetito Mexican Grill..............................................30 Capital Area Tree Service..................................................9 Central Maine CBD..........................................................24 Central Maine Community College..................................17 Central Tire Co. Inc. .......................................................30 Chalet Moosehead Lakefront Lodging.............................40 Chuck Wagon Restaurant................................................32 Clark Auto Parts..............................................................47 Collins Enterprises...........................................................35 Colonial Valley Motel........................................................35 Comfort Inn Civic Center..................................................23 Conlogue's Building & Property Management.................36 Cote's Transmission...........................................................8 Cushing Construction.......................................................32 Damboise Garage............................................................25 Dan's Automotive Repair & Sales...................................43 Dave's Diner.......................................................................9 Design Architectural Heating...........................................17 D&H Insurance................................................................34 Dixfield Discount Fuel, Inc. .............................................34 Downtown Diner.................................................................8 E.R. Palmer Lumber Co. .................................................40 Ed Hodsdon Masonry, Inc. ...............................................7 Edmunds Market..............................................................45 Elmer's Barn & Antique Mall............................................10 Engine 5 Bakehouse.......................................................42 EverClean Water Treatment Systems.............................25 Farmington Farmers Union & Union Rental.....................44 Feed Commodities International......................................25 Fine Line Paving & Grading.............................................38 Four Seasons Restaurant................................................47 Franklin Savings Bank.....................................................36 Franklin-Somerset Federal Credit Union...........................3 Freeport Antiques and Heirlooms Showcase.................13 Freightliner of Maine Inc ...................................................3 G&G Cash Fuels..............................................................20 Gardiner Apothecary........................................................22 George's Banana Stand...................................................26 Giberson Funeral Home..................................................38 Glen Luce Logging, Inc. .................................................33 Goin' Postal - Auburn......................................................16

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Gray Family Vision Center...............................................14 Greenwood Orchards Farmstand & Bakery....................33 Greg's Auto Repair..........................................................42 Gridiron Restaurant.........................................................18 Hall & Smith.....................................................................39 Hammond Lumber Company..........................................31 Hardys Motorsports.........................................................45 Harris Drug Store............................................................40 Harvest Time Natural Foods...........................................22 Healthreach Community Health Centers.........................33 Hi-5 Maine Hemp and Cannabis.....................................20 High Tide Low Tide Seafood...........................................38 Hilton Garden Inn Auburn Riverwatch.............................16 Hodgdon Well Drilling, Inc. ..............................................4 Hog Heaven Bar & Grill...................................................44 Home Auto Group...........................................................37 Hometown Heat Pumps..................................................26 Hungry Hollow Country Store............................................4 Ideal Electric Electrical Contractor..................................24 Image Auto Body.............................................................46 J.P. Clarke Plumbing Services........................................36 J.T. Reid's Gun Shop........................................................6 JT's Finest Kind Saw......................................................37 Jackman Auto Parts........................................................48 Jean Castonguay Excavation Trucking & Logging..........34 Jimmy's Shop 'N Save.....................................................47 Jordan Lumber Co. ........................................................37 Judd Goodwin Well Company.........................................40 Kennebec Valley Chamber of Commerce......................21 Kim's Garage & 24 Hour Towing Service.........................10 Kirkpatrick's Service & Repair...........................................9 Kramers Inc. ...................................................................31 KSW Federal Credit Union..............................................30 Lakeview Lumber Co. ....................................................10 Laney's Pit Stop..............................................................27 Langlois' Auto Body & Auto Sales...................................19 Larsen's Electric..............................................................43 Lavallee's Garage...........................................................46 Law Office of Brian Condon, Jr, Esq. ............................20 Lewiston Auburn Metro Chamber of Commerce............19 Liberte Auto Sales..........................................................18 Lincoln Street Radiator Shop.............................................7 Linda Bean's Maine Kitchen & Topside Tavern..............13 Linda Bean's Maine Wyeth Gallery................................13 Linda Bean's Perfect Maine Vacation Rental................13 Linkletter & Sons, Inc. .......................................................4 Long Green Variety..........................................................42 Luce's Meats & Maple.....................................................39 Macomber, Farr & Whitten Insurance................................8 Madison Area Health Center...........................................33 Maine Historical Society....................................................5 Maine Instrument Flight...................................................22 Maine Pellet Sales LLC.....................................................5 Mainely Puppies Plus, LLC...............................................6 Maine’s Outdoor Learning Center......................................7 Marston Industrial Services Inc. .....................................25 Mattson's Flooring & Window Treatments.......................22 McAllister Accounting And Tax Services.........................42 McNaughton Construction...............................................31 Mid-Maine Chamber of Commerce..................................29 Mike Wainer Plumbing & Heating....................................38 Ming Lee Chinese Restaurant.........................................29 Monkitree..............................................................22 Montello Heights Retirement Community........................18 Moose River Lodge & Motel............................................40 Moosehead Sled Repair & Rentals, LLC.......................39 Mount Blue Motel............................................................35 Mt. Abram Regional Health Center..................................33 Naples Packing Co., Inc. ................................................43

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NewGen Powerline Construction....................................29 Northeast Laboratory Services.........................................4 Northland Motel...............................................................48 Ogunquit Beach Lobster House.....................................13 Old Mill Pub Restaurant..................................................27 One Day At A Time Coaching..........................................31 Otis Federal Credit Union...............................................33 Our Village Market..........................................................44 Oxford Casino....................................................back cover Oxford Federal Credit Union............................................15 P2 Tax & Accounting......................................................26 Pat's Pizza - Auburn.......................................................17 Penobscot Marine Museum............................................12 Perkins Management......................................................30 Phil Carter's Garage........................................................11 Pine Tree Orthopedic Lab................................................32 Pitcher Perfect Tire Service.............................................33 Prime Financial Inc. .......................................................30 P.W.I. Pest Solutions.......................................................19 Quinn Hardware..............................................................28 R&B's Home Source.......................................................38 R.E. Lowell Lumber Inc. .................................................20 R.F. Automotive Repair...................................................43 R.J. Energy Services, Inc. .................................................8 Randy's Full Service Auto Repair, LLC..........................28 Rangeley Family Medicine..............................................33 Rare Woods USA............................................................34 Record Building Supply, Inc. ............................................6 Redington-Fairview General Hospital.............................28 RMS Mortgage / Guild Mortgage - Debbie Bodwell..........17 Rick's Repair...................................................................41 Rita's Catering.................................................................42 Robert's Auto Center.........................................................7 Rolfe's Well Drilling Co. .................................................22 Ron's Transmissions.........................................................7 Rottari Electric..................................................................6 Route 26 Antiques & Flea Market..................................14 Russell & Sons Towing & Recovery.................................16 Sackett and Brake Survey Inc.........................................28 Smile Again Dentures, Inc. ............................................18 Solon Corner Market.......................................................26 Sounier Flooring..............................................................24 Sprague & Curtis Real Estate..........................................21 Staples Gun Shop...........................................................27 Sterling Electric...............................................................36 Stevens Electric & Pump Service Inc ...............................5 Strong Area Health & Dental Center..............................33 Strong Hardware & Building Supply................................45 Styling Dog Grooming Boutique........................................7 The Kingfield Woodsman...............................................37 The Sterling Inn Bed & Breakfast....................................39 The Town of Carthage.....................................................43 The Wood Mill of Maine...................................................44 Tilton's Market...................................................................8 Trailside One Stop..........................................................39 Trash Guyz......................................................................14 Tri-State Staffing Solutions................................................9 Twin Town Homes, Inc. .....................................................6 V.W. Harding Water Conditioning....................................10 Valley Gas & Oil Company..............................................44 Vasvary Electric................................................................9 Vintage Maine Images......................................................5 Weber Insurance Group..................................................34 Western Maine Family Health Center.............................33 Whittemore & Sons Outdoor Power Equipment.............27 Wilson Funeral Home........................................................5 Winslow Supply, Inc. .......................................................11 Woodlawn Rehab & Nursing Center................................29 Wood-Mizer of Maine......................................................42

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— 2022 Greater Kennebec & Androscoggin River Valleys —Valleys Greater Kennebec & Androscoggin River

ALWAYS OPEN,

ALWAYS FUN! Maine’s home for wicked good fun, with 24/7 casino action and our convenient hotel, pub and event center!

OxfordCasino.com

Experience round-the-clock casino excitement on our expanded gaming floor, including nearly 1,000 slot machines and 30 table games! With a hotel featuring over 100 rooms and a pub-style restaurant offering the best in Maine and New England cuisine, we’re building excitement every day!

Oxford Casino Hotel is just minutes from the Maine Turnpike on Route 26!

Persons under 21 years of age may not enter the gaming area unless licensed as employees. Gambling problem? In Maine, call 2-1-1 or (800) 522-4700 for help.