USA > Maine > Somerset County > Bingham > Bingham sesquicentennial history, 1812-1962 > Part 3
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1870 voted: "To reject three names mentioned for the Jury box."
1872 voted: "To hold town meetings in Bingham Village for the next three years."
1874 voted: "To tax dogs."
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1890 voted: "To build Austin Stream Bridge." Voted: "Not to build a town house."
August, 1897, voted: "To pass article for water protection and not to buy a chemical fire engine."
1900 voted: "To buy a chemical fire engine."
1903 voted: "For street lights."
1904 voted: "To buy fire engine."
1906 voted: "To allow poles and lines for Farmer's Telephone Company."
1907 voted: "To extend as right of way Murray Street to location of Somerset Railroad."
1908 voted: "To allow poles and lines for Maine Telephone and Telegraph Company."
1921 voted: "To construct a tomb."
1929 voted: "A note of thanks to the United Shoe Findings Com- pany for land given the Town of Bingham for school playground."
1940 voted: "To accept and give a receipt for books and papers from Concord upon its de-organization."
1949 voted: "To incorporate the Bingham School District."
1959 voted: "To join with municipalities of Bingham, Moscow, Caratunk, The Forks, and West Forks to form Administrative School District 13."
Recorded on the back page of Book A is a statement of the town's stock of ammunition as of August, 1812: 25 pounds of powder, 30 pounds of balls, and 100 flints which were deposited with Joshua Goodrich, treasurer of the town.
Sheep marks were recorded in 1818.
A small copy book contains the census of the Town of Bingham taken by the Selectmen as it existed on the first day of March, 1837. The census was taken for the purpose of receiving the town's pro- portion of the Surplus Revenue deposited with the State of Maine by the United States, and recording the sum paid to each head of a family and other persons over twenty-one years of age, together with the amount received from said State on the first three installments. The first and second installments were received on the twentieth of April, 1837, and amountd to $1,068.38. The third installment was received July 15, 1837, and amounted to $333.62, making a total of $1,402.00.
Vital Statistics were haphazard in the early years. Marriage rec- ords were kept better than birth and death records, although Ephriam
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Wood, while he was clerk, made a genealogical record of the early families. It was not until the year 1892 that a State law was passed requiring that records be kept, and since that year the records are pretty accurate.
In the year 1953, upon the advice of Parker B. Stinson, Registrar of the Division of Vital Statistics, and through free service of the Genealogical Society of Salt Lake City, Utah, all birth, death, and marriage records up to that date were filmed and a copy filed at the State Bureau in Augusta.
Seventeen town clerks have kept the Town Records over the period of one hundred and fifty years.
In 1952, the office of the town clerk was destroyed in the fire that burned Dutton Hotel, but the records were taken out intact, and at the annual meeting this year the Town voted to comply with the State law and construct a fireproof vault, so, when another anni- versary celebration occurs, it may be that the records and the events of this anniversary can be found in that vault.
- EVA D. BACHELDER, Seventeenth Town Clerk of Bingham
The Old Ferry located where the Bingham-Concord Bridge now stands. This photograph was taken by Willis B. Goodrich in 1891 from Old Bluff Mountain looking east.
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Bingham Schools and Schoolhouses
I T WAS MORE THAN TWENTY YEARS after the first settlers came before the incorporation. Some of the settlers had brought children with them, others had started homes and families in the years between and must needs have had schools. We are told that they did have schools which were held in their own homes or in a new barn in summer. Jabez Hill has told us of William Trumble, an Englishman, also a cobbler by trade, who held a school in his cabin near the river on the west side of the town as the first school teacher. But his fondness for his cups was sometimes a drawback.
Ephraim Wood, who was one of the first two settlers, has also been described as an educated young man, who sometimes exchanged teaching for farming. No doubt the men of the settlement would have been glad to have changed work with him to have so fine a man as a teacher for their children.
One of the first problems of the new town was its schools and schoolhouses. Mrs. Eva Bachelder, our town clerk, has told us that one of the first expense accounts at their town meetings was the schools. At the first town meeting $125 was raised for the support of schools to be paid in rye and wheat. The article to see how much money the town would raise to build schoolhouses was dismissed. Schools were still kept in the homes. The town voted to establish two Districts on the river and one on Fall Brook. Abner Baker was school agent for District No. 1, Silas Parlin for District No. 2, and Turner Willey for District No. 3. In 1813, it was voted that "each district should build its own schoolhouse and that District No. I should ascertain the middle of the district and there set the house."
According to the records, District No. I on the river was the first to build a schoolhouse, which was begun in 1814 and finished in 1815. But there is nothing in the records to tell where, what manner of house or whether it was built of logs or lumber from Joshua Goodrich's sawmill, but the story has come down through the generations that the first schoolhouse stood in front of the cemetery which had been given from the north half of Joshua Goodrich's farm on the river and, like many other early schoolhouses, was used as a place of worship as well for many years. That it was large enough to accommodate seventy or eighty, and that it was heated
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at first with a great kettle of red hot coals. An interesting bit of description comes from an old letter written by Rev. Lewis Goodrich, who as a boy went to school there. "It would be amusing to some of you to see those big boys and girls pile into the old schoolhouse to the number of seventy or eighty. The old schoolhouse was near the cemetery. We were quite tame in those days-we did not know enough to be very ugly, that is we could not stop to attend to such nonsense. Beside we were the grandchildren of Grandfather and Grandmother Goodrich and could not be otherwise than pretty good."
How long it stood there or what became of it, no one remembers. But the spot has been located and a large boulder with a plaque bearing the words, "BINGHAM'S FIRST SCHOOL HOUSE 1815," placed there by the descendants of two of the early families as a permanent reminder of the old schoolhouse, of all it stood for in the town and of the men who gave us our first schools and our town.
The second schoolhouse in District No. I was built about 1845 or 1850 and stood on the lot near where Paul Reed's house now stands. It has been described as standing with gable end toward the street, with a door in the end opening into a large hall where two more, one on either side, opened into the school room. The floor was built on an incline with seats running east and west. The boys on the south side and the girls on the north side. The teacher's desk was at the end of the room on a raised platform. The house was heated by an iron stove on which the boys thawed their ink bottles in the winter.
This building was believed to have been moved to the lot where. all schoolhouses have since stood. It must have been enlarged and remodeled for it was divided into two parts with the little school in one end and the "big school" in the other. This is where the first high schools, which were private schools, were taught with more advanced studies, for which a tuition was paid according to the studies taken. The building has been described as the old red schoolhouse, and when discarded for a more modern one, it was divided and part of it, we are told, was used in the ell of the house now owned by Joseph Bourque, and the other half was moved to the corner of the lot and used for a dwelling until that was moved away in about 1895, and also used in another house.
VILLAGE SCHOOLS AND SCHOOLHOUSES
When the Quimby Elementary School was built in 1951, two old buildings were discarded. The older of the two which stood next to the street was built about 1878. This was a two-story building. The schools were still ungraded and the little children went down- stairs to "the little school" and the older ones went upstairs to "the-
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big school." In the upper room of this house, the Sunday evening and mid-week prayer meetings were held until the new Congrega- tional Church was built in 1895. The bell which called the children to school was given by the Good Templers Lodge, a temperance organization which disbanded in 1902 and left money enough to buy the bell and build the belfry. It was hung that fall, according to W. R. Jordan, superintendent, in the 1903 Town Report.
The first teachers who taught in this building were: Mrs. Carrie Blunt Lowe, daughter of Dr. Nathan F. Blunt, and her husband, Manley Lowe.
The Mckinley building, which stood on the back of the lot, was built in 1894 when an increasing population caused a congestion in
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SCHOOLHOUSE BUILT 1878. Miss Nellie Baker, teacher.
the schools. It was first used for the Primary grades downstairs and the Intermediate grades upstairs. Mrs. Abbie Andrews Hilton and Mrs. Cora Reynolds are remembered among the first teachers upstairs, and Miss Amy Bates, later Mrs. Charles Knapp, and Miss Lephia Dinsmore, later Mrs. J. C. Gregory, among the first teachers down- stairs. Mrs. May Baker Tupper later taught in the Primary school, and will probably be remembered as having taught longer than any other.
In 1890, the town voted to adopt a certain type of textbooks and they also began to furnish the textbooks for the pupils.
It was in the 1890's that serious consideration was given to establishing a free High School in Bingham. The State was encourag- ing small towns to do so by giving financial help and thus making
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it possible for the young people of small towns to have the advantage of more advanced studies without leaving home to attend the private schools which were not always within the reach of all.
Gradually a system of grading evolved. High School studies were added. Il 18g3; a class of young ladies were graduated from Bingham Grammar School. This was the first graduation from any of the Bing- ham schools. In 1894, another class of seven girls and one boy were graduated from the same course. The superintendent was Dr. A. A. Piper, a local physician. The teacher, Mrs. Eva Bourke, in both classes.
An attempt was made to work out a High School course which could be adapted to a one-room school. In 1891, W. R. Jordan, a young lawyer who had located here, became superintendent. That year a class of three girls and one boy were graduated from Bingham High School, and they were the first to receive High School diplomas. A class of one the next year, and another class of five were graduated in the next two years. From then, with few exceptions, classes have continued to be graduated from Bingham High.
Charles E. Ball succeeded Mr. Jordan in 1907 when we became part of the Union with several other towns under one superintendent, who could give all his time to the work. He served until 1914. During that time the school increased in numbers and improved in work until, in 1910, it became evident that they had outgrown the one-room school and the High School building on Owens Street was built.
Howard Bowen became superintendent in 1923 and served until 1943. He was followed by Hollis Ingalls.
RURAL SCHOOLS
As the east part of the town became more populated, there were nine school districts. It is difficult at this time to locate them, as the rural section has gone back into forest lands and there have been no rural schools for many years. But we do know that District No. I was on the river, now Bingham Village. Number 4 was on what has been called Mahoney Hill, and No. 9 was in the Hollway neighbor- hood, and we believe No. 7 was the so-called Clark district. In the earlier years, schools were sometimes kept in the spare room of one of the larger homes and the teacher "boarded 'round." Some of the earlier schoolhouses were log houses. We are told that the building in the Withee district on the Lake Road was always a log schoolhouse. In another district, we are told that a log schoolhouse was burned when the man on whose land it was built was clearing land near and burning the trees. In the process it caught fire. But as each district had at first to build its own schoolhouse, some were perhaps better than others.
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Mrs. Bachelder has culled from the town records a few stories: "In 1823, it was voted to build a schoolhouse in District No. 5 and that the building committee may each receive one tax in labor and material for the building, which is to be 16x20 ft .- and that the building be in use by June I."
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Also voted in 1823 to build a schoolhouse for District No. 2 (which may have been on the river road). The same to be assessed on the Polls and estates of the District. To erect it on the rise of the hill on the south side of Tom Holt's land. The building to be 20X24 ft. with 9 ft. posts with seven square windows-plastered overhead and the walls to the window stools. With a hiproof and an iron stove. "Joseph Maynard bid off the house for $212 under the superintending school committee, Nichols Smith, Obed Wilson and Wm. McIntire."
"In 1835 it was voted to raise $50 to finish the school building in District No. 4 upon conditions that the town have the privilege of using it for Town Meetings free of expense." This must have been the Mahoney Hill schoolhouse which was located near the center of the town and was used for many years for town meetings. Since the closing of the rural schools, it has been sold to Leon Atwood and is now occupied by Mrs. Marion Stockson.
Small but well built houses in No. 7, known at one time as the Clark district, and in No. 9, known as the Hollway district, also in the Gilman district which were in use as long as schools were kept in the rural section of the town. A bill for materials to be used either in building or repairing and painting a schoolhouse in District No. 8, amounting to $41.62, was found in one of Simeon Goodrich's account books in 1853.
1949 to 1962 SCHOOL DISTRICTS
The end of World War II brought an increase in population as well as an increase in prosperity. By 1949, it was necessary to find accommodations outside the regular school buildings. The basement of the Parish House of the Congregational Church was offered and accepted. Buildings to replace the two white school buildings on Main Street which were both inadequate and unsafe, became a matter for urgent consideration.
By a special act of Legislature in 1949, permission was granted to the Town of Bingham to form a School District. Edmund Melcher, who had long served on the school board, was elected president of the board, and a study of plans, finances and methods carefully made.
This project became a community effort, supported by groups and individuals who gave their time, labor and money willingly. In 1950, Mr. Melcher resigned and Mr. Glen Wing was elected in his
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place. In the school report of 1951, the efforts of Mr. Earl Taylor, Wilbur Dunphy who did all the work of excavation, Allen and Lang- don Quimby, Kennebec Inc., the Lions Club and the Goodwill Club are cited for their special help. It had been planned to build four rooms at once, adding the others as soon as practical financially.
In 1951, the Allen Quimby Veneer Company offered to build the remaining six rooms. Needless to say, this offer was gratefully accepted, and the town voted to raise funds in order to build the gymnasium.
The two old white schools that had done service for so many years were moved, the long one-story elementary school and adjoining gymnasium were built and dedicated with ceremony January 5, 1952.
Some changes were made at once. A sub-primary department was installed and Mrs. Alma Gilman, who had previously had a kinder-
New Upper Kennebec Valley Memorial High School of School Admin- istrative District, No. 13, built at a cost of $500,000 is nearing completion. Located on an elevation on the east side of the Town of Bingham, the greater part of the building is surrounded by trees. Photo taken from the end of Goodrich Street by Eva D. Bachelder.
garten as a private enterprise, was hired as the teacher, a position she still holds. New courses were added both in the elementary schools and in the High School. Edward Dingley was hired as coach and to instruct in physical education. Soon afterward a driver-training course was included in the new curriculum.
Mr. Hollis Ingalls, superintendent through the years of construc- tion, resigned to accept a position in Machias, Maine, and Mr. Robert P. Brown was hired to replace him.
There was little time for the community to rest on its laurels. A growing need of space and facilities in the High School built in 1910 began to trouble the citizens who were interested in problems of education. Meetings were held several times during 1958-1959 to
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study the Sinclair Act with a view to joining several towns and organiz- ing a School Administrative District.
The first attempts at such organization met with opposition in several areas, but the need was so obvious that in September 1959, School Administrative District No. 13 was legally organized and established. Bingham directors are: Arthur Gamache, one year; Wilbur Dunphy, two years; Bernard Austin, three years. Moscow: Laurel Clark, one year; Alice Beane, two years; James Cahill, three years. Caratunk: Garth Merrill, one year; Walter York, two years. The Forks: Alma Morris, two years; Irene Campbell, three years. West Forks: Edmund Comber, one year; Carroll York, three years.
The building overlooking the valley should be a source of pride to all communities, groups and individuals who have given of their time and money to forward its erection. It will be dedicated to the memory of the veterans of the two World Wars and the men engaged during the Korean Conflict, who served from the various towns of School Administrative District No. 13, and from Pleasant Ridge, as The Upper Kennebec Valley Memorial High School.
MRS. ELIZABETH G. JORDAN
BINGHAM BAND-Taken 1890 or '91-Left to right: George Dyer, small drum; Arlie Dinsmore, cymbals; Sam Smith, bass drum; George Dyer, Elmer Baker, Forrest Colby, Albert Cassidy, H. H. Patten, Ervin Moore, Fred Preble, Guy Baker, Arthur Dinsmore, Bardwell Baker, Byram Smith, Oscar Lander. Back of Sam Smith, at corner of the house is Ephraim Baker. Back of George Dyer is Hiram Smith. Going in at back door, no doubt is Milford Goodrich as he lived there at the time.
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Religious Influences and Churches
"IN GOD WE TRUST" was the motto of our Founding Fathers, and the men and women who went out to develop the new country, build new homes, and establish new towns must needs take it with them. Life in an unknown land with new problems, demanded a faith like Abraham's, and they brought their religion with them. Family worship was established early in their homes, and thanks were given ere they ate their simple meals. Hospitality abounded, and it was said of one home that an extra plate was always laid for the possible stranger who might come that way. The Sabbath was reverenced and strictly observed. They became daily aware of their needs, not only of material things, but those of the mind and heart which bound them together as they shared each other's problems. Lacking a public place, their homes and even a clean new barn became a place for neighboring groups to gather for some simple form of worship and to keep their faith alive.
THE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH
Mrs. Elizabeth Goodrich, wife of Joshua Goodrich, Jr., was a leading spirit in these things, and soon after coming here she organized what was called a "Society Meeting" which met every Sabbath at her home, unless perchance, some missionary or minister from the older towns below found his way up the river to hold a preaching service. "This paved the way," wrote her pastor many years later, "for the organization of the Congregational Church." This Church was or- ganized on July 24th, 1805, by two missionaries, the Reverend Alexander McLean from the American Tract Society, and the Reverend Jotham Sewell of the Massachusetts Missionary Society. It became the first organized body above Carratunk Falls.
The membership was very small at first and growth was slow. There were only eight members besides Mrs. Goodrich. They were: Joseph Russell, Ephraim Wood, Josiah Heald, Sarah Fletcher, Betsy (Good- rich) Russell, Lephe (Goodrich) Wood, Bridget Heald and Alles. Whipple.
Even after the organization of the Church there was still no place. for public worship. In 1815 the first schoolhouse was built and this. was used for many years for both worship and school. "A very useful
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building," wrote Lewis G. Goodrich, "a place held dear to many of us where we took our first lessons in learning and religion."
By 1836, the town had increased in size and prosperity. In re- sponse to Mrs. Goodrich's oft repeated words, "You are building better homes for yourselves, but none for God," the Union Free Meeting House Society was formed, the old white Church on the hill below the village was built, and was dedicated on October 29th, 1836. The Rev. Obed Wilson preached the dedicatory sermon.
There were in the community at this time people of various reli- gious persuasions: Congregationalists, Methodists, Universalists, and Baptists. The Church building was so arranged that any one of the various denominations might have the use of it at some time. There were fifty-two pews, one for each Sunday of the year, and any person owning a pew might, if he wished, choose the minister to preach on the Sunday corresponding to the number of his pew. However, since the Congregational Church was the only organized group, it soon became a home to them, and in March, 1837, the Rev. Josiah Tucker was installed as first pastor. For the next twenty-five years the Church was not long without a minister, and it increased both in numbers and usefulness.
In 1863 the Revere Bell was purchased and brought here from Skowhegan. It had been purchased in Boston originally in 1820. It made the journey from Skowhegan by ox-team. It was placed in the belfry and often rang out Union victories as well as for Church services. It still is rung on special occasions.
In 1892, when Rev. James C. Gregory, a young minister, became the Pastor, the Church had begun to feel the need of a building with more room for its activities, the work of the Church and for its young people. Under the leadership of Mr. Gregory the Church on Meadow Street was built at a cost of $7,851.23. It was dedicated, free of debt, December 15, 1895. Again the Church felt an increase in interest and larger opportunity for service.
In 1905, while William R. Richmond was pastor, the Church observed its Centennial with services on both Sunday and Monday. Up until this time the Congregational Church had received financial assistance from the Maine Missionary Society and it celebrated its anniversary by becoming self-supporting. Four years later, in 1909, when Rev. Thomas B. Hatt became pastor, the parsonage was built at a cost of $2,631.11. This building has served as a home for our ministers since that time.
In 1923 Arthur R. Macdougall, then a student at Bangor Semi- nary, accepted a call to become pastor. Among the changes made
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during his pastorate was the reorganization and incorporation of the Church body, and the building of the Parish House to accommodate the needs of the Church School and the activities of the young people and other church work. At present still more space for this work is needed.
In 1955 the Church observed its Sesquicentennial with appropriate. services. During the 157 years of its existence, twenty-one men have served as pastor for one or more years. They are: Rev. Josiah Tucker, 1837-1841; Rev. Cyrus Stone, 1841-1843; Rev. Henry Smith, 1845- 1846; Rev. Sydney Turner, 1846-1857; Rev. George Fargo, part-time, 1847-1858; Rev. George Hathway, 1861-1862; Rev. John K. Deering, supply, 1863-1865; Henry O. Thayer, 1865-1867; Rev. William Rand, 1 869-1870.
Rev. Albert H. Thomson, 1877-1879; the Rev. Mr. Edwards, 1882- 1884; Rev. T. F. Millett, 1884-1890; Rev. G. W. Hamilton, 1890-1892; Rev. J. C. Gregory, 1892-1900; Rev. George Wright, 1900-1902; William Richmond, 1903-1909; Rev. T. B. Hatt, 1909-1920; Rev. C. W. Robinson, 1920-1922; Dr. Arthur R. Macdougall, 1923-1959. Lowell G. Kjenstad began his present service as pastor in 1959.
Ministers serving longest have been Rev. Sydney Turner, Rev. T. B. Hatt and Rev. Dr. Arthur R. Macdougall. The Rev. Henry Smith, Rev. Sydney Turner, the Rev. Albert H. Thompson, and Dr. Arthur Macdougall were ordained here.
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