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City Profile
‘A capital opportunity’ in By DENISE FEDOROW | The Municipal
Augusta, Maine, has the distinction of being the third smallest capital city in the United States. It is in the heart of the Kennebec Valley in central Maine and is located on both sides of the river at the head of the tide. The Native American name, Cushnoc, means “head of the tide.” Augusta was named after the daughter of Henry Dearborn, an American soldier and statesman who served under Benedict Arnold in the expedition to Quebec. Traders first came to the area in the 1600s to establish a trading post. In 1754 Fort Western was built to protect the site from Indian attacks, and a village soon grew up around the fort. Loretta Lathe, executive assistant to the city manager and Augusta native, said, “I think the most interesting fact about Augusta is we have the oldest wooden fort in the country, and it’s right next to city hall.” Old Fort Western Descendents from the original Plymouth Colony tried to settle the area that was called Cushnoc — now Augusta — and called themselves the Kennebec Proprietors. However, they were unable to do so because the King Phillip war erupted in 1676 — the first in a series of wars in New England. The Province of Massachusetts was worried the French would meet up with several tribes of Indians and wipe out all the English settlements. The proprietors approached Royal General William Shirley and made a proposal: If the Province of Massachusetts built a provincial fort at what is now Fort Halifax, it would build a fortified storehouse at Cushnoc as long as Massachusetts 38 THE MUNICIPAL | SEPTEMBER 2021
would man both forts and General Shirley accepted. Construction for both forts began in 1754. The purpose for building those forts was two-fold — to encourage resettlement of the Kennebec River and to provide necessary stores to Fort Halifax. Provincial stores would come up the Kennebec River and be unloaded and stored at Fort Western. The English capture of Quebec in 1759 reduced the threat of war in the Kennebec Valley. Within a year, the number of soldiers was reduced to 10. Fort Western continued as a supply depot to store the Indian trade goods destined for Fort Halifax. The English gained control over the Kennebec Valley, and by 1767, the forts became militarily obsolete and Fort Western was decommissioned in 1767. Fort Western was a complex with a storehouse and a home for Captain James Howard and his family. Lathe said the north end has tenement apartments. “It was Augusta’s first store — it was the heart of everything back then,” she said, adding, “There are block houses on each corner — one has a beautiful gift shop, another has a cannon.” Today, the city owns the property and the old fort hosts lots of school kids, summer camps, tours and other events. The fort is open
