Dec. 12, 2015: Dale Sparrow, 46, a fishing boat captain, experiences chest pains at 3 a.m. while aboard the Danny Boy about 40 nautical miles southeast of Portland. He alerts the Coast Guard, which makes the rescue with an assist from a $4.3 billion Navy destroyer. You just never know who’s going to be in […]
This Day in Maine History
On this date in Maine history: Dec. 11
Dec. 11, 1957: The iconic film “Peyton Place,” whose title entered the English language as a synonym for a community full of tawdry secrets, holds its premiere in Camden, where much of it was filmed. The Camden Theater hosts a capacity crowd of 610, including celebrities chased by searchlights, for two showings of the movie, […]
On this date in Maine history: Dec. 10
Dec. 10, 2010: Bushmaster Firearms International announces it plans to close its assembly plant in Windham, effective the following March 31. Founded in 1973, the company employs 73 workers in Maine at the time of the announcement. Bushmaster’s parent company, North Carolina-based Freedom Group Inc., says in a news release that the Windham staff will […]
On this date in Maine history: Dec. 9
Dec. 9, 1814: Near the end of the War of 1812, participants in a two-day meeting held at the Portland customs house conclude that they should appeal to President James Madison to save them from “treacherous” policies implemented by Massachusetts, of which the District of Maine is still a part. The delegates are particularly incensed […]
On this date in Maine history: Dec. 8
Dec. 8. 1819: U.S. Rep John Holmes, Democrat-Republican from Maine, submits a petition to the House advocating for the admission of Maine as the 23rd U.S. state. U.S. Sen. Prentiss Mellen, a Massachusetts native residing in Portland, does likewise in the Senate. Holmes later becomes one of Maine’s first two U.S. senators. Mellen is appointed […]
On this date in Maine history: Dec. 7
Dec. 7, 1851: A massive fire breaks out around 5 a.m. in the Larrabee & Jordan grocery store in Portland, on the eastern side of Commercial Wharf, destroying many wharves and commercial buildings along the city’s waterfront. Twenty-seven stores and nine vessels burn. The city’s Eastern Argus newspaper gauges it to be the worst Portland […]
On this date in Maine history: Dec. 6
Dec. 6, 1819: Voters approve a draft of the forthcoming state of Maine’s new constitution. The “yes” side gets more than 90 percent of the vote. Dec. 6, 1931: Botanist Kate Furbish, 97, dies in her hometown, Brunswick, after a six-decade career in which she walked all over the state to describe, depict and catalogue […]
On this date in Maine history: Dec. 5
Dec. 5, 1933: The U.S. Constitution’s 14-year prohibition of alcohol consumption, an outgrowth of the Maine Liquor Law of the 1850s, comes to an end when Utah becomes the 36th state to ratify the 21st Amendment. The Constitution requires that for an amendment to take effect, it must be passed by a two-thirds majority in […]
On this date in Maine history: Dec. 4
Dec. 4, 1816: The Massachusetts General Court dissolves a Brunswick convention held to determine the results of a Sept. 2 referendum on whether Maine should separate from Massachusetts. The decision is a blow to pro-separatists, who badly mismanaged their accounting of the referendum result. Dec. 4, 1899: U.S. House Speaker Thomas Brackett Reed (1839-1902) of […]
On this date in Maine history: Dec. 3
Dec. 3, 1987: Former Gov. Robert N. Haskell dies in Bangor at the age of 85. Haskell served five and a half days as governor in January 1959. Haskell, an electrical engineer who was promoted to president of the Bangor Hydro-Electric Co. in 1958, became governor when Gov. Edmund S. Muskie resigned on Jan. 2, […]