USA > Maine > Lincoln County > Bristol > History of York, Maine, successively known as Bristol (1632), Agamenticus (1641), Gorgeana (1642), and York (1652) Vol. II > Part 37
USA > Maine > York County > York > History of York, Maine, successively known as Bristol (1632), Agamenticus (1641), Gorgeana (1642), and York (1652) Vol. II > Part 37
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Almon La Bonte (K)
Harold E. Matthews
George D. Weare
Frank M. Matthews
Roger S. Weare
Arnold Moulton
Harold C. Wing
B. Allen Moulton
John E. Wing
Harry H. Mozart (D)
Dean Woodward
Elmer R. Young
NURSES
Minnette Butler Iva Keene
Annie Thyng
On November 15, 1919 it was resolved to place :. tablet on Jail Hill in memory of "those who served in the late war with Germany." (Ch. Rec.)
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Lionel T. Ingalls
1
Lawrence Ellis
CHAPTER XXIX THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
The annals of this town have now been brought down to a point where the perspective is too close to deal with current events with historical detachment. Actors in the present generation are too near to be assayed carefully vith a due sense of proportion of their historical values. Yet it would be evading the requirements of a chronicler to omit some of the important events which have tran- spired in the last third of a century even though they were of a highly controversial character. The author is suffi- ciently separated from any connection with persons and events to present the story of some of these matters with- put giving them a partisan flavor.
TWO HUNDRED FIFTIETH CELEBRATION IN 1902
The most important event of the beginning of this century was the celebration of the incorporation of York by the Puritan government of Massachusetts in 1652. At the annual town meeting of March 1902 in answer to a petition of citizens it was voted to commemorate that event. While this was a proper subject for commemora- tion it undoubtedly gave the incorrect impression that it was the beginning of York as a settled community - a conclusion that may not have been entirely removed. An appropriation was made and a committee of sixteen ap- pointed to carry out its provisions. This committee con- sisted of the following named citizens: J. Perley Putnam, Chairman Board of Selectmen, Joseph P. Bragdon, Harry H. Norton, Malcolm McIntire, Henry Plaisted, William T. Keene, Samuel T. Blaisdell, William O. Barrell, Josiah N. Norton, Charles H. Junkins, George F. Plaisted, J. Howard Preble, George E. Marshall, Joseph W. Simp- son, Daniel Weare and John F. Plaisted, to which were added Walter M. Smith, Edward O. Emerson and Rev. Frank Sewall, D.D. as representing the York Historical and Improvement Society. Special committees on Parade, Water Carnival, Music, Fireworks and Entertainment were selected to promote the project which was set for
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HISTORY OF YORK
August 5. At sunrise on that day a salute of fifty guns and ringing of church bells ushered in the programme.
The historical parade, half a mile in length, under Mr. J. Perley Putnam as marshal with W. J. Simpson, W. T. Keene, A. M. Bragdon, Frank H. Ellis, J. P. Bragdon and F. G. Winn, as aides, formed at York Beach, headed by the United States Marine Band, and started at ten o'clock. Twelve floats illustrating incidents and char- acters in the annals of the town from 1614 to 1845 included the following scenes: I. Capt. John Smith showing his map of the coast to Prince Charles; II. Col. Walter Norton arriving to take possession of his grant; III. Thomas Gorges, first Mayor of Gorgeana, and his officers; IV. Governor Godfrey refusing to submit to the Massachusetts Usurpation; V. Massacre of 1692; VI. St. Aspinquid; VII. Col. Jeremiah Moulton presented with gift from George II for valor at Louisburg; VIII. Maj. Samuel Sewall, builder of the bridge across the river; IX. Town Clerk Daniel Moulton reading the Resolutions of 1774; X. Soldiers leaving for Lexington April 21, 1775; XI. Visit of President James Monroe, 1816; XII. Palo Alto cannon from Mexican War, and historical characters. The Kear- sarge Fife and Drum Corps followed this section and a floral parade with children from the public schools marched behind from the Beach to the Harbor, then to the Village and Corner, doubling back to the Village where the formal commemorative exercises were held. This feature of the day was held on the Green in rear of the Town Hall at two o'clock under the guidance of the Presi- dent of the day, Walter M. Smith, Esq. of Stamford, Conn., a summer resident. A platform had been erected against the building and on this were assembled a most distinguished gathering of national, state and local men of prominence. Grouped around the President of the day were seated Mr. Justice McKenna of the Supreme Court of the United States; Gen. Joshua L. Chamberlain, Ex- Governor of Maine; Woodbury Langdon and Francis Lynde Stetson, both of New York; Dr. J. B. Ayer, Boston; Hon. Edward S. Marshall and Jeremiah McIntire of York; John J. Lord, Esq., Weymouth, Mass .; J. Windsor Brathwaite, Esq., Kennebunkport; A. G. Cumnock, Esq., Lowell, Mass .; Hon. Thomas Brackett Reed, Ex-Speaker of the National House of Representatives; Mr. William
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Dean Howells, New York; Mr. Thomas Nelson Page of Washington, D. C .; Samuel L. Clemens (Mark Twain) of New York; Rev. William J. Tucker, D.D., President of Dartmouth College; Hon. Frank W. Rollins, Ex-Governor of New Hampshire; Charles Eustis Hubbard, Esq. of Boston; and Hon. Augustus F. Moulton of Portland.
Musical selections by the Marine Band preceded the iterary programme. Rev. David B. Sewall made the nvocation; Rev. D. C. Abbott read Psalm XCV, and the Commemorative Hymn by Watts was sung. Hon. John C. Stewart then delivered an address of welcome to the distinguished guests, followed by the principal oration by Hon. James Phinney Baxter, President of the Maine Historical Society. At the closing of his scholarly relation of the historical significance of York in the development of English colonization in Maine the large audience sang the national anthem. Letters of appreciation and regret at inability to be present were received from His Excellency, Theodore Roosevelt, President of the United States; John T. Hill, Governor of Maine; the Governor of Massa- chusetts; Hon. William P. Frye and Hon. Eugene Hale, U. S. Senators from Maine; President Charles William Eliot of Harvard University, a lineal descendant of Rev. Isaac Lyman of York; President William DeWitt Hyde of Bowdoin College; Hon. William H. Moody, Secretary of the Navy; Hon. James O. Bradbury of Saco; Capt. John Dennett of the U. S. Revenue Cutter Service; Charles Ray Palmer, LL.D., New Haven, Conn .; Hon. Charles Francis Adams, Quincy, Mass., President of the Massa- chusetts Historical Society; John Fogg, Esq., New York; William Bruce King, Esq., Washington, D. C .; James D. Smith, Esq., New York; Henry B. Cleaves, Ex-Governor of Maine; and Maj .- Gen. Augustus B. Farnham, Adjutant General of Maine.
This was followed by short addresses, mostly of an impromptu character, by Thomas Nelson Page, President Tucker, Mark Twain, Francis Lynde Stetson, Ex-Speaker Reed (a descendant of an early York settler), and General Chamberlain. "America" was then sung and the benedic- tion by Rev. Sidney K. Perkins closed the afternoon exer- cises. A reception to the distinguished guests at Coventry Hall, the old Judge Sewall Mansion, added a social feature to the public exercises and was attended by those who
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have been mentioned and many other participants in the celebration from this and surrounding towns.
An open air concert by the Marine Band on the Green from 6.30 to 7.30 was followed by an illuminated boat parade on Lake Gorges from 8 to 9, and an aerial display of fireworks on the south shore of the lake ended the festiv- ities. It was an entirely successful celebration, and the Directors of the Old York Historical and Improvement Society issued a handsome volume in 1904 which contains a full account of the proceedings including the full text of the oration of Mr. Baxter, a brief history of York pre- pared by Frank Dennett Marshall, Esq., the speeches of the distinguished guests and a paper on "The Churches and Ministers of the Town of York" prepared and read by Rev. Sidney K. Perkins at the commemorative service on the Sunday prior to the town celebration.
TOWN DIVISION CONTROVERSY
When this town developed its wonderful qualities as a: summer resort the natural topography of the town! brought about the inevitable problem of division which set everybody by the ears during the acute stage of its consideration. The superficial area, covering about fifty- seven square miles, contains in its borders the usual closely settled village on the water front, and the back country - several miles distant from the shore with the usual scat- tered population residing on the farms. The area now comprising York Harbor, York Beach and York Village grew rapidly as the summer playground of a large and dis- tinctly important people, many of them nationally known. They brought wealth and invested it in splendid resi- dences, adding much to the taxable value of the town. Naturally, they had no voice in its civil affairs. Many of them were connected with the town by descent or by recent family alliances and naturally wished to have and enjoy some of the conveniences of modern life - improved highways, municipal lighting and more extended water supply. This grew to be the old story of the town against the country which has been fought out in various New England towns. The farmers then had little interest in such improvements. The resources of such a large town did not permit asphalted highways, electric lighting and water on tap in the remote farm districts. These two ele-
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ments had nothing in common as respects an equitable division of town appropriations. The farmers, here as elsewhere, disliked to be taxed for these modern contrap- tions and could outvote movements for supplying them to the transient summer visitors. Such appropriations for these local benefits were so reluctantly yielded that the differences in outlook ended in the creation of a sentiment for the separation of these two elements geographically. At first merely academic discussions arose without definite action until 1907 when a movement was formally launched to accomplish division of the ancient town.
After a preliminary skirmish by the proponents, which proved to be lacking in legal requirements, in 1907 the movement was halted to comply with statutory provi- sions. In 1908 a notice was served on the townsmen that a bill would be introduced in the next session of the State Legislature setting off a part of the town to form a new one. On February 16, 1909 Hon. B. F. Hamilton, Senator, presented the'draft of an Act to divide the town and to establish the Town of Yorktown. The essential feature of the proposal is to be found in Section I of the bill which reads as follows :
"All that part of the town of York lying southerly of the following described line, namely, beginning on the line dividing the towns of York and Wells at a point where Josias River crosses said line, thence running in a southwesterly direction in a straight line to the town line dividing the town of York from the town of Kittery at a point on the northwesterly side of the road leading from York Corner to Ports- mouth, N. H. and commonly called and known as "the Post Road," together with the inhabitants thereof, is hereby set off from the town of York, incorporated into a separate town by the name of Yorktown, and said town of Yorktown is hereby invested with all the powers and privileges, and subject to all the duties and obligations incident to other towns of the State."
The following sections related to the financial features of the division: Section 2 provided that the inhabitants of the new town of Yorktown should pay all taxes already assessed to the town of York, and that all corporate funds held by York should be applied for the purpose raised. Any excess or remainder should be divided proportionately to the valuation of property and polls as made in April 1908. The County Commissioners were empowered to make this apportionment. Section 3 provided that the
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HISTORY OF YORK
existing obligations of the town of York should be paid upon the same basis of valuation and polls. The contract with the York Shore Water Company was to be divided according to the number of hydrants in each territory. The poor under support were to be apportioned with reference to their origin locally in each town. Bridges and highways were similarly allocated as to maintenance. Section 4 related to the High School building which was to be used and owned by the two towns jointly. Section 5 provided for a division of "all the other property of the town of York" according to the valuation of April 1908, and the records of York were to be retained by Yorktown i with free access to same by each town. Section 6 related ! to the legal formality of notifying the voters of Yorktown to make choice of town officials.
The issue was now joined and the battle on. Josiah Chase, representing York in the House, led the remon -- strants who presented a formidable array of 380 signatures ; against the proposal, and he was the eager champion off the cause. The leader of the petitioners was Edward S .. Marshall, who was supported by Francis Lynde Stetson off New York, Thomas Nelson Page of Virginia, Dr. S. W .. Allen of Boston, Joseph W. Simpson and other well -. known residents and property owners among the summer: colony. Legal counsel consisted of Hon. J. C. Stewart,, Hon. B. F. Cleaves and Hon. Oscar E. Fellows for the: proponents, and Hon. James O. Bradbury and George F .. Haley, Esq., for the remonstrants. At the hearing in! Augusta March II, 1909 about a score of witnesses testi -- fied on one side or the other. The entire Board of Select -- men were against it. The chairman, Joseph P. Bragdon,. explained that if the measure was carried Yorktown would! have a valuation of $2,071,702 and forty miles of road,, and York would have a valuation of $321,686 and a hun -- dred miles of road to maintain. The Committee on Towns,, by whom the matter was heard, by a vote of 7 to I re -- ported that the bill ought not to pass. The chairman of the' Committee, Hon. Patrick Therriault of Aroostook, made? a minority report substituting a new bill.
Jockeying in parliamentary tactics followed. The con- troversy was interlocked with the existing controversy about the town's "new" bridge, and the merits of the division measure were somewhat obscured by this other
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sectional trouble and by the aftermath of its equally bitter struggle. Personalities inevitably entered into the whole situation with the remonstrants numerically in the majority.
The new bill proposed by Senator Therriault substi- tuted the name of "Gorges" wherever "Yorktown" appeared in the original draft and provided that the line of division should run as follows :
"All that part of the town of York lying southerly of the following described line, namely: Beginning at northerly line of the Portland Road, so called, at the Kittery line, thence by said northerly line of said Portland Road to the thread of Cape Neddick River; thence southeasterly by said thread of Cape Neddick River to the Atlantic Ocean; thence by said shore line of the town of York to the boundary line between the town of said York and Kittery; thence northwesterly by said Kittery line, together with the inhabitants thereof is hereby set off from the town of York, incorporated into a separate town of 'Gorges,' and said town of Gorges is hereby invested with all the powers and privileges and subject to all the duties and obligations incident to other towns of the state, said town of Gorges is to assume and pay for the new bridge, so called, across York River at York Harbor, so that said town of York shall have no further concern or expense concerning said bridge."
All south of this division line was to be called Gorges, a meritorious improvement over Yorktown and gracefully recognizing the historic connection of Sir Ferdinando Gorges as the first Lord Proprietor of its territory. As a gesture to the remonstrants to help pave their way to a compromise the new town of Gorges was to assume all obligations for the "new bridge" and its future main- tenance. By a vote of the Senate 24 to 5 the minority report was accepted.
In the House Mr. Chase had as his opponent Frank D. Marshall, also a native of York, but a representative from Portland, and the usual amenities credited by tradition to Gaston and Alphonse were omitted in the fight for supremacy. Mr. Chase lost in his manoeuvres to non- concur with the Senate as well as to refer the matter to the next Legislature. The members were evidently impressed with the arguments for division. The highest vote against him was 93 to 22, but he succeeded in securing an amend- ment by a vote of 99 to 33 by which a referendum to the electorate of Maine was incorporated. Mr. Chief Justice Pattangall, then a representative of Waterville, remarked
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HISTORY OF YORK
that "the amendment by the gentleman from York is so harmless and so eminently fair that even the lobby ough not to be consulted in regard to it." It will be confusing to follow the various motions offered by both sides to secure technical advantage. Finally, by a vote of 69 to 58 the bill as amended for the referendum clause was passed anc the controversy through this rather questionable method of determining a purely local measure was to be put be. fore the people of the state for decision. It is difficult to see what knowledge of the merits of this question could be expressed by a voter in Aroostook, Knox or Somerset Counties. But this first appeal of the modern initiative and referendum panacea was presented to the voters o: Maine at the biennial election of September 12, 1910 and the vote was 31,722 against division to 19,692 in favor In this town it was lost by the impressive vote of 436 to 90 and it was stated by the remonstrants that out of 44] voters, all in the proposed town, 382 were opposed to division. Thus Maine settled one of York's great con- troversies of the twentieth century and since then the national and state policies respecting highways has re- moved this phase of discontent while the extensions of water, and electric light and power eradicated the last objections of the petitioners from the realm of sectional controversy. York is now a strong united township unvexed by any local divisions. The controversy had its lesson for both sides.
TOWN WATER SUPPLY
York Shore Water Company was organized under the Private and Special Laws of 1895, to serve the towns of York and Wells, or any part thereof, with pure water, and to take, hold and protect the waters of Chase's Pond and the streams tributary thereto and running therefrom. The incorporators were Josiah Chase, Lindley M. Webb, Will R. Howard, Wilson L. Hawkes, Hartley W. Mason, Jeremiah P. Simpson, John E. Norwood, John H. Varrell and John L. Chase. Construction was commenced Febru- ary 13, 1896, and water was turned on at York Village May 23, 1896. The waters of Chase's Pond are 151 feet above tide water, and the supply is from gravity system through two 16-inch mains at the Pond.
In 1907 a new dam was built at the outlet, raising the
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THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
waters of the Pond, and in 1908 a second supply main was extended therefrom to York Corner and on as far as the residence of John C. Breckenridge near Rice's Bridge. In 1913 York River was crossed at Sewall's Bridge and the supply extended both east and west on the south side. Other extensions were made from time to time so that in 1932 the system extends from the Wells line on the north sto within a short distance from the Kittery line on the south; in all about 30 miles of deep laid mains and 15 , xmiles of summer service pipes, a total of about 45 miles in the distribution system.
Josiah Chase was the first president of the Company, dand until his death in 1928 was the moving spirit and con- strolling factor in its development. He was a lawyer, and upon termination of his duties as Deputy Collector of the Port of Portland, he returned to York and devoted almost his entire energies to the development of the Water Com- tpany. To his foresight and faith the town is indebted for this exceptionally pure and inexhaustible water supply which immediately stimulated the development of the town.
In 1929 the Legislature created York Water District, sla public municipal corporation, with authority to take over all of the plant, property and franchises of the York Water Company, either by purchase or by the right of eminent domain.
The territorial limits of the District begin at the mouth of York River; thence upstream to a point 500 feet above Rice's Bridge; thence on a line running northeasterly parallel to and holding a distance of 500 feet from the northwesterly side of the State Highway, known as the Post Road; to a point 500 feet beyond the Passaconaway Road at Cape Neddick; thence easterly parallel with said road and 500 feet north thereof to the highway leading from York Beach to York Cliffs; thence by the Shore Road to the channel of Cape Neddick River; thence to the Atlantic Ocean and southerly to the point of beginning at the mouth of York River.
In August 1929, the inhabitants of the Water District, with but three dissenting votes at a special election, accepted the act of the Legislature, and at the same time Charles C. Goodrich, Joseph W. Simpson, Lester M. Bragdon, Charles H. Todd and George A. Chase were
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HISTORY OF YORK
elected Trustees of the District. The Trustees chose Charles C. Goodrich President and Lester M. Bragdon Clerk and Treasurer.
The Trustees and the Water Company were unable to agree upon a purchase price and in May 1930 the Trustees, acting under the terms of the act, proceeded to take the property by the right of eminent domain. The Supreme
1 ! Judicial Court appointed three appraisers to fix the value. Meanwhile, covering a period of more than a year, emi- nent engineers had been engaged in examination of the system. A hearing was held in Portland before the appraisers, and on November 3, 1930 they made an award of $376,734.21 as the fair present value of the plant, prop- erty and franchises of the York Shore Water Company. On payment of this award, the property of the Company passed to the Water District and the Trustees assumed ( the powers and obligations of conducting its affairs.
YORK TODAY
The ancient town, now entering its fourth century, yet retains its vigor and maintains a normal progress in ! material growth and social development. Sharing, as it does, with the state in its offerings of special attractions : as an important part of the Playground for Americans, it " has wisely profited by this valuable addition to its local :' interests. Nor has it been spoiled by too much "improve- . ' ment" of its terrain. Large tracts of forests yet remain to ( attract the wandering tourist. Enough fine highways of ,' the latest modern construction make the present mechan- ical means of travel, through national and state coopera- tion, a pleasurable indulgence. Thousands of motor cars : traverse them daily. Nor has the most recent method of transportation, the airplane, been neglected. As the last words of this history are being written residents of this old town are frequent passengers by air to New York and return, a fact which could not be satisfactorily explained to its first settler without quoting Mother Shipton's Prophecy.
As of 1931 the valuation of the town is $4,371, 573, and. its debt is only slightly in excess of one hundred thousand dollars. The tax rate is $50.50 per thousand on a low valuation, a condition of material prosperity that is of the most satisfactory character. York can face the morrow
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secure and unafraid. To the future historian of this town, perhaps yet unborn, this story of the past three centuries is here left for him to continue when this present work has become obsolete and sought as a rarity in antiquarian book shops.
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APPENDIX
ARMS OF SIR FERDINANDO GORGES
I. The arms in the first quartering, lozengy or and azure, a chevron gules, are associated with the possession of the Manor of Wraxall (Somerset) held, together with certain other properties, by the Gorges family from the middle of the thirteenth century to the middle of the eighteenth century, when it passed by an heiress to other families.
Wraxall was the property of Richard de Wrokeshale (Wraxall) in the reign of King John (1199-1216). It passed by the marriage of his daughter and heiress to the Norman family of de Moreville, who bore the arms, lozengy or and azure.
From the de Morevilles Wraxall passed to another Norman family, de Gorges, through Ellen de Moreville, daughter and co-heiress of Ives de Moreville, who before 1255 married Sir Ralph de Gorges, a Crusader.
The arms borne by Sir Ralph were a gurges (whirlpool)."Gurges" (or "gorges" in Low Latin), is an example of what is known as "cant- ing Heraldry." These arms appear on a Roll of Arms of the time of King Henry iii (1216-1272), which is quoted in Heralds' Visitation of Somerset, 1623 (original). The Visitation reads as follows:
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