Dec. 2, 1895: U.S. Rep. Thomas Brackett Reed (1839-1902), a Republican from Portland, becomes speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. He serves in that office until March 1899, a period that encompasses the sinking of the USS Maine in Havana harbor and the Spanish-American War, which started because of that sinking. Reed unsuccessfully seeks […]

Nov. 30, 1989: A massive fire destroys most of the long-vacant former Edwards Manufacturing Co. mill complex in Augusta at the base of Sand Hill. The fire, which could be seen up to 20 miles away, began inside an elevator in the north end of the building, according to some workers there. Reported at 3 […]

Nov. 29, 1882: Calais native James Shepherd Pike dies at 71 after a journalism career that brought him fame first for his ardent anti-slavery, anti-Confederacy views, and later for his sensationalistic criticism of corruption that thrived under Ulysses Grant’s administration as well as what Pike portrayed as the abominable misrule by freed Blacks in the […]

Nov. 26, 1861: Humorist Artemus Ward (1834-1867) makes his debut as what today would be called a stand-up comedian, in New London, Connecticut. Ward, whose real name is Charles Farrar Browne, was born in Waterford, Maine, and used Yankee speech mannerisms and deliberately misspelled words in his columns published under the “Artemus Ward” pen name […]

Nov. 25, 1997: For the first time, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission orders the dismantling of a working hydroelectric facility – in this case, the Edwards Dam in Augusta – over the objection of its owner. FERC denies the Edwards Manufacturing Co.’s application for a renewal of its license to operate the dam. The commissioners […]

Nov. 24, 1916: Sir Hiram Stevens Maxim, a native of the Piscataquis County town of Sangerville and the inventor of the machine gun, dies at 76 in London while the armies of World War I, underway just across the English Channel, are making prolific use of his weapon on the battlefield. Maxim’s innovation was making […]

Nov. 23, 2018: The Portland Press Herald reports that although nearly 50,200 people used the direct high-speed ferry service between Portland and Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, during the year – the busiest season ever – the ferry probably will not be returning. Bay Ferries, the vessel’s operator, plans to move its service to Bar Harbor. The […]

Nov. 22, 1963: President John F. Kennedy, who gave a foreign policy speech at the University of Maine only a month earlier, is assassinated in Dallas, Texas. Kennedy originally is buried in a 30-by-20-foot plot surrounded by a white picket fence at Arlington National Cemetery. About 16 million people visit it during the first three […]