USA > Maine > Cumberland County > Windham > Sketches of the history of Windham, Maine, 1734-1935; the story of a typical New England town > Part 6
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Appropriations for schools have grown as follows: 1770, 30 pounds ; 1780, 400 pounds *; 1800, 100 pounds ; 1830, $1,046; 1860, $1,450; 1934, $22,346.40.
Windham had an irregular system of so-called "high schools" up to 1893. It was the practice of the town to have one or more terms of "high school," annually in the John A. Andrew, Arlington, and Center districts. Any student in the town who could read in the "Fourth Reader" was eligible to attend the nearest "high school." The author attended such a school in the John A. Andrew District in the fall of 1887, taught by Joseph W. Knight of Standish, a famous local teacher of that day. It was an excellent school, and he got so good a training that, the following year, he was able to enter Gorham High School with the same group of boys and girls who had been his classmates in the fine Gorham schools five years before. The "high school" subjects taught in such a school were algebra, geometry, bookkeeping, Latin, physics, and astronomy.
* It is interesting to note the comparatively large sum of money (400 pounds) appropriated for schools in 1780, as compared with 30 pounds ten years earlier and 100 pounds twenty years later, in 1800. This is due to the depreciation of the currency in the Revolution. In 1780 the 400 pounds appropriated was worth much less than even the 30 pounds of ten years before.
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In 1893 the Windham High School was established by state law and has been a success from the first. In 1910 the present high school building was erected. The school has the certificating privilege with the New England College Entrance Certificate Board, and this is positive proof that it maintains an excellent course of study and has first class instruction. The annual report of the school officials for 1934 shows that the town schools are fully abreast of the times in every department.
It may be.of interest, at this point, to give the program of a school day in the ungraded John A. Andrew School, as actually in use in the spring term of 1893.
A. M.
P. M.
OPENING
9:00 - 9:05
PRIMER
1:00 - 1:10
PRIMER 9:05 - 9:15
FIRST READER
1:10 - 1:20
FIRST READER
9:15 - 9:25 SECOND READER 1:20 -1:30
SECOND READER
9:25 - 9:35 THIRD READER 1:30 - 1:40
THIRD READER
9:35 - 9:45
FOURTII READER
1:40 - 1:50
FOURTH READER
9:45 - 9:55
FIFTH READER 1:50 - 2:00
FIFTH READER
9:55 - 10:05
U. S. HISTORY
2:00 -2:15
NUMBER WORK
10:05 - 10:25
ELE. GEOGRAPHY
2:15 - 2:30
RECESS 10:25 - 10:40
RECESS 2:30 - 2:45
ADV. ARITHMETIC
10:40 - 11:00
ADV. GEOGRAPHY
2:45 -3:00
ARITHMETIC
11:00 - 11:20
ELE. GRAMMAR
3:00-3:20
ELE. ARITHMETIC
11:20 - 11:40
ADV. GRAMMAR
3:20 - 3:40
BOOKKEEPING
11:40 - 12:00
FOUR SPELLING CLASS- ES OF FIVE MINUTES EACH 3:40 - 4:00
TOTAL NUMBER OF RECITATIONS - 26
For teaching this school the instructor received $8.00 per week.
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COMPARATIVE SALARIES-1900 AND 1934
Principal of Windham High School MARY L. HARLOW $396.00 in 1900
Principal of Windham High School H. L. BRADFORD $1,440.00 in 1934
Superintendent of Schools FREDERICK H. DOLE Salary in 1900-$119.00
The superintendent taught the Arlington School, teach- ing on Saturdays and visiting schools on Mondays.
Superintendent of Schools Salary from Windham
FREDERICK H. AIKINS in 1934-$476.40
The superintendent also receives compensation from two other towns and from the State.
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.
MAINE SEPARATES FROM MASSACHUSETTS- A LONG PERIOD OF PEACEFUL DEVELOPMENT
I N 1820 Maine was admitted as the twenty-third state in the Union. There had been attempts to bring about this separation for a great many years. Even before the establishment of the Union, on January 4, 1786, a convention met in Portland and drew up a set of "grievances," showing why the Counties of York, Cumberland, and Lincoln (then the only counties in the District) were too far from the seat of government (Boston) to secure their proper rights.
In 1792 the Maine Senators and Representatives asked the General Court to order a general vote of the people of the District on the subject of separation. The request was granted, and the first Monday in May, 1792, was set apart for the test. Two other counties, Hancock and Washington, had now been added. There was a majority of 450 votes against separation, much to the surprise and chagrin of its advocates. Three other attempts to secure a vote in favor of separation likewise proved that a majority of people in the District were not ready to separate.
Finally, acting on the petition of about seventy towns, the Great and General Court in 1819 consented to a separa- tion, provided a majority of 1500 votes were cast in its favor. The vote was taken on the fourth Monday of July, 1819, and resulted in a majority of nearly ten thousand votes for form- ing a new state, and it was so declared by the Governor. Windham's vote on this measure was 52 for separation and 86 against. Our neighbor, Gorham, had voted for and against separation on various occasions, but was 183 to 95 in favor of it, when this final vote was cast.
A convention was called at once to draft a state constitu- tion. Noah Reed and Josiah Chute were Windham's dele-
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gates to this convention. The constitution was ratified by popular vote the first Monday in December, 1819. Windham voted unanimously in favor of ratification. The new state was admitted to the Union by Congress March 4, 1820; and, according to the agreement previously made by the General Court, the formal separation from Massachusetts took place at midnight March 15-16. Any good American history will explain the action of Congress as a part of the Missouri Compromise.
Not long ago it was thought that the history of a people was chiefly concerned with wars and disasters. It is now universally recognized that periods of peaceful development have made the nation what it is. From the close of the Revolution to the Civil War there was such a period in Wind- ham. The wars that had occurred during this interval had touched the life of our people but little. The number of men in the active service in the War of 1812 had been small, while the Mexican War had but little direct effect in the North, where it was very unpopular.
We have already given a brief sketch of the development of the manufacturing and agricultural interests of the town. Lumbering brought in the greatest amount of ready money ; but, as the forests gave way to cleared land, this occupation rapidly declined. As the water powers on the Presumpscot and Pleasant Rivers were developed for other purposes than for saw mills, there arose a new element in our population, made up of strangers from without, who came here to work in our mills, where the native population could not supply men enough to keep pace with the growth of manufacturing. In some of these plants, especially at Mallison, Little Falls, and Gambo, the population became more and more a floating group. Men would come here to manufacture cloth or pow- der, would remain awhile, and then leave to do the same kind of work elsewhere. The building of tenement houses, in the place of small privately owned homes, also helped this condition.
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Windham grew to consist of two more or less separate groups : the older population, descendants of the original settlers, along with those later arrivals who had bought and cleared new farms; and the mill population, located in the manufacturing centers of Great Falls, Gambo, Little Falls, and Mallison. Apart from these mill villages were the vil- lages at North Windham and Windham Hill, which were the centers of trade for the surrounding farming population.
WINDHAM HILL
Through these two communities passed a tremendous traffic from the Coös region of New Hampshire and the intervening towns on its way to and from the port of Portland.
The coming of the automobile has brought back a stream of traffic through North Windham over the Roosevelt Trail, but it is a very different group than used to come from the North. Now they are pleasure seekers who whiz through in a steady stream all summer. Then the traffic was greatest in the sledding season and was conducted by the swearing team-
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sters from Coös and the North, as they urged their sweating beasts of burden on to the tremendous climb up Windham Hill and thence to the sea. At that time the "Hill" was the principal village in the town. There was the orthodox church. There was the famous tavern kept by "mine host," Jason Webb. There were the post office, the Masonic hall, the doc- tor, lawyers, the minister, stores and shops of all kinds. This prosperous village was ruined as a center of business for all time by the building of the stretch of road from Anthoine's to Windham Plains through Pleasant River Corner, which cut off the long, hard climb up Windham Hill and shortened the distance to Portland at the same time. With the coming of the railroad long distance hauls by team ceased, and the vil- lage of North Windham had a long season of quiet until the coming of the automobile.
The period that we are discussing, the period from the admission of Maine into the Union to the Civil War, saw the greatest increase in population and industry that Windham has ever experienced. Let us examine the population of the town by decades. Population of Windham in 1764, 250; 1790, 938; 1800, 1,329; 1810, 1,630; 1820, 1,793; 1830, 2,186 ; 1840, 2,274; 1850, 2,380; 1860, 2,635 (the peak) ; 1870, 2,426; 1880, 2,312 ; 1890, 2,216; 1900, 1,929; 1910, 1,954; 1920, 1,932; 1930, 2,076. These figures show that Windham lost 37% in population from 1860 to 1920. There has been a slight gain in the past decade, but the population is still 21% smaller in 1930 than in the peak year. In the same period the State of Maine has gained only 11% in population, a very slow growth as compared with the country at large. The causes are largely the same. Briefly, they may be summed up under these heads : western emigration ; move- ment of population from the country to the city (Boston and New York) ; a falling off in manufacturing ; speed, as repre- sented by the coming of the railroad in the nineteenth cen- tury and the automobile in the twentieth. Where in the '40's and '50's travellers out of Portland for the North and West
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would stop fifteen miles out in Windham and Gorham for the night, now those same towns are just places to pass through on the way from Portland to the White Mountains or Winnepesaukee, or more distant points. In order to attract even a transient summer population, it is necessary for Windham to advertise her natural resources of lake, stream, and farm. Again, this is not a local problem alone; it is the problem of the entire State of Maine.
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MANUFACTURING AT LITTLE FALLS
T HE first water power to be improved in Windham was, naturally, that nearest the settlement. This was, as we have seen, Nagwamqueeg, now called Mallison Falls. Naturally, again, the next power to be used was the one next above Nagwamqueeg; this is the power now called Little Falls. It is one of the best on the river and was improved for manufacturing purposes at an early period in the history of the town.
We do not know for certain who was the first man to use these falls, but, sometime previous to 1756, William Knight, first of the name in this vicinity, who had come from Man- chester, N. H., had a mill on this side of the river. It is also a historical fact that his son Joseph was taken prisoner in February of that year, while felling trees for the mill on Lot No. 1, first division of hundred-acre lots. The family tradi- tion, that Knight lived near the mill, makes it probable that he was the first settler in the present village of South Wind- ham. Joseph succeeded his father as proprietor of the mill, and, sometime after 1768, purchased the Gorham side of the falls also. He married and built a house on this property. There he conducted a prosperous business in lumbering for several years. At last, this man, twice taken captive by the Indians, was drowned in the river near the mill.
Among his children were two sons, named Joseph and Nathaniel, who appear to have inherited the property. They operated the saw mill with considerable success until 1823. In that year a company of Portland capitalists purchased the falls on both sides of the river. As the Casco Manufacturing Co., they built a cotton mill and commenced the manufacture of sheetings in 1824. The building of this mill made a decided improvement in the affairs of the little hamlet. The company built several large dwelling houses for the accom-
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modation of their operatives. Many people from other parts of Windham and neighboring towns settled in the village per- manently, and their descendants are the principal citizens there today. This mill continued its operations until it was destroyed in 1856 by fire of unknown origin.
Nothing was done on the falls until 1875, when the power was purchased by C. A. Brown & Co. They built a
LITTLE FALLS
large mill for the manufactue of "wood board." Several years later they built another mill. The plant is now owned and operated by the Robert Gair Co.
In 1840 there stood near the present pulp mill a grist mill. Within a stone's throw of this was a small, weather- beaten building, which contained a full set of woolen cards. These small structures were taken down many years ago to make way for the march of improvement, in the form of the larger pulp mills.
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GAMBO-OLD AND NEW
T HE water power bearing the name of Gambo is situated on the Presumpscot River, twelve miles from Portland, and is reached by the Mountain Division of the Maine Central Railroad. These falls have been utilized for manu- facturing purposes from an early period in the history of Windham and Gorham, but it is impossible to tell who built the first mill there. Jonathan Loveitt, who tells us under his own hand that he was born in 1743, came here in 1769 and bargained for a mill then standing on the falls. For some reason this bargain was never consummated, but he leased the mill and for many years carried on a large lumbering busi- ness there. No record exists of who owned the mill, but the Loveitt family tradition has it that the owners were Boston parties and that the structure stood near the present mill of the DuPont Company. Mr. Loveitt also had a grist mill in a part of the saw mill structure and employed as miller one Peter Bolton, a queer old fellow, whose pithy sayings and practical jokes made him popular with all the customers. In connection with the above-mentioned business Mr. Loveitt kept a grocery store for the accommodation of his workmen and the surrounding neighborhood. This store stood near the residence of the late Capt. John Williams. The last entry in the account book of Mr. Loveitt bears the date of 1815, and it is probable that he closed his business at that time.
In 1816 a man named Livy Buker built a small carding mill on the Gorham side of the river. There for several years he manufactured the wool of the farmers into rolls for spin- ning. He owned and occupied the place later known as "the house on the sand hill."
Sometime in 1814 or 1815 Capt. Philip Crandall pur- chased the farm next the river and lived there several years. He was a retired sea captain, was quite wealthy, and gave
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himself airs accordingly. He fell dead while driving his oxen, on May 17, 1832 ; his wife died the same month. Capt. Crandall's house stood near the present mill office.
In 1817 Lester Laflin and Edmond Fowler, natives of Southwick, Mass., purchased the privilege on Gorham side of the river and erected a line of powder mills of small capacity and commenced the manufacture of powder in 1818. They
OLD STONE MILL AT GAMBO
were apparently proceeding quietly in their business when the redoubtable Buker suddenly appeared as their rock ahead. Offended at the sale of the falls, he proceeded to make things as disagreeable as possible for the gentlemen by utter- ing the most diabolical threats against their persons and property. He claimed there was a law prohibiting the manu- facture of powder within half a mile of houses owned by other parties, and that his house stood within thirty rods of the mills. After the powder manufacture had been prosper- ously established, he told the owners they must buy him out
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or "take the consequences." They finally paid him three times the value of his property, and he left for pastures new. Messrs. Fowler and Laflin continued their business until their accidental drowning in Sebago Lake, June 22, 1827.
On January 13, 1833, Oliver Whipple of Lowell, Mass., bought the property of the heirs of Fowler and Laflin. He was a shrewd, clear-headed business man, and, believing there was no limit to the demand for powder, he purchased the privilege on the Windham side, along with the Crandall farm adjoining, then belonging to John Hamblen. He built a new line of mills on the site of Fowler and Laflin's old ones and gave employment to a large number of workmen. He was somewhat stern in manner and required implicit obedience to his rules, but was, nevertheless, popular. He installed as his agent his brother Lucius, a man of fine business capacity and greatly beloved by all who knew him. He was not only a fine business man, but very public spirited as well. He was on the board of selectmen five years. He died suddenly, leaving a family and a host of friends to mourn his loss. He was suc- ceeded by his brother James, a quiet, upright man, who, how- ever, lacked the capacity to run so large a business. Affairs progressed fairly well, however, until a terrific explosion on October 12, 1855, by which he and six others were killed. After this melancholy accident the aged Oliver Whipple sold his property to G. G. Newhall & Co.
The new firm added to the already flourishing business by repairing the damage and erecting, at a great cost, a line of mills on the Windham side of the river, together with several dwelling houses for the workmen. They continued their business until 1859, when several new partners were admitted, and the Oriental Powder Co. was incorporated. William Jackson was the superintendent. He was a far-sighted man and enlarged the plant by purchasing five to six hundred acres of land, covered with a heavy growth of wood and timber.
The Civil War found the company doing a safe and remunerative business, with easy facilities for an increase.
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Mr. Jackson at once obtained government contracts, and the mills ran night and day during the war. The immense quan- tities of powder were all transported to Portland by horse teams. Mr. Andrew D. Maxfield, the contractor, had several heavy teams of five or six horses each and huge canvas-covered carts, with a capacity of five and six tons of the deadly explosive.
After the war things went along in a normal fashion. Suddenly Mr. Jackson resigned, and Joseph Newhall was appointed agent. He was succeeded by his brother, Ezra F. Newhall, under whose management they prospered, until, in an evil hour for Windham, this company decided to consoli- date its interests with other powder manufacturers. The result was that, during the depression of 1893-5, the entire plant was idle. Mr. Newhall closed his relations with the company, and Mr. John B. Coleman succeeded as superin- tendent, with Karl Kaiser, a veteran powder maker, as foreman.
After the resignation of Mr. Kaiser the mills passed through several hands, and are now the property of the E. I. du Pont de Nemours Co. They have torn down all the powder mills. No explosive is now manufactured there. There is only a small mill for the manufacture of wood flour, used in the making of dynamite, and also the linoleum and plastic trades.
We are very fortunate in having received from Mr. Howard C. Mayberry, an employee at Newhall for the past forty-eight years, the following brief statement of his career there. This will show the different companies concerned with the plant better than any other record obtainable.
My Personal Experience at Newhall, Maine
I know that the above will not interest anyone but myself very much, but it has been a very interesting experience to me. Forty-eight years of continuous service without a vaca- tion or sickness to keep me away from my work.
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During the forty-eight years I have been under the differ- ent managements as follows: Oriental Powder Co., New York Storage and Delivery, Laflin & Rand Powder Co., Coleman Co., E. I. du Pont de Nemours Co., and Atlas Pow- der Co. I have been with the Atlas Powder Co. since they were incorporated, or twenty-five years.
HOWARD C. MAYBERRY.
Mr. Mayberry is a direct descendant of William May- berry, the second settler of Windham, who came here in 1738 or 40. He is to be heartily congratulated on his excellent health that has enabled him to continue his work without a vacation for any cause whatsoever, and also for his ability to hold a job continuously at the same plant during periods of prosperity and depression alike.
The queer name of Gambo, which the falls bore for nearly a century, has given rise to considerable dispute in modern times. Some claim it is an Indian word. Personally, we believe that the origin of the name was this:
A daughter of one of our early settlers told Mr. Samuel T. Dole that she had it from her father that a sea captain belonging in Gorham brought home from the West Indies a negro named Gambo. In the course of time the black man built a small house near the falls and lived a sort of wild life there. He was an excellent performer on the violin, and his music attracted the young people to his homely dwelling, so that it soon became a common saying, "Let's go to Gambo's." In the course of time his name became a synonym for the falls, and they were so called in all the old deeds and trans- fers for many years, or until the Portland & Ogdensburg became a part of the Maine Central system. The name was then changed to Newhall, in honor of the family identified with the powder manufactory. In 1893 a postoffice was estab- lished there, and William G. Newhall was appointed post- master.
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We are very glad to be able to give here an excellent copy of a picture of the old stone mill, so long associated with powder manufacture in Windham. The original picture is the property of the Atlas Powder Co. and was kindly loaned by them to us for this purpose.
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GREAT DISASTERS-POWDER MILL EXPLOSIONS
B OTH Dole's and Smith's histories of the town record three great disasters to property that have occurred in earlier times. The first was the Great Hurricane of July 31, 1767. According to Smith :
"It began near Sebago Pond, took an easterly direction, passing through the Town of Gorham, crossed the Presump- scot at Loveitt's Falls, passed through the middle of Wind- ham, directly over the Duck Pond, and through North Yarmouth to the sea It extended in breadth about three-fourths of a mile."
According to Dole's history, an eye witness, a Mr. Akers of Saccarappa, who was engaged in rolling logs at the river, gives the following account :
"The day was extremely hot and sultry, and not a breath of air was stirring all the morning. All the men, as well as the oxen, were suffering from the heat. Towards noon, while we were busily at work, we were startled by a strange rushing sound from the westward, on which we clambered up a steep bank to ascertain the cause. There, to our amazement, we saw a portentous looking cloud rapidly approaching the spot where we were standing. It appeared of a sulphurous hue that reminded us of the storm that overwhelmed Sodom and Gomorrah.
"On it came with tremendous speed, bearing before it a large tree torn bodily from the earth, shattered limbs, and other débris. Thoroughly alarmed by the awful sight, we hastened down the bank and waited in mortal terror until the fury of the storm should abate. This it did in a short time, leaving the sky clear and cloudless. No hail, rain, thunder, or lightning accompanied the hurricane. We found the oxen unharmed, but so hemmed in by fallen trees that it took several hours to liberate them."
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In 1775 occurred an extensive Forest Fire. It was caused by a peculiar incident. Mr. Uriah Nason, who lived in the north part of Gorham, had long been troubled by the depre- dations of bears among his crops. One old ranger, in partic- ular, caused him special difficulty. Finally, Nason found the old fellow's den among a lot of débris left by the hurricane, and he set it on fire to drive the bear out. A tremendous wind was blowing from the west, and the fire was soon out of con- trol. It crossed the Presumpscot at Loveitt's Falls and swept through Windham until it reached the Duck Pond, where the expanse of water arrested its course. Smith, in his his- tory, says that it burned out seven families, four near the Congregational Church on Anderson's Hill and three at Gambo.
The third great disaster was the Great Freshet of 1861. It will be fully described in the sketch of Pleasant River.
Besides these general disasters there were minor disasters occurring almost yearly at the mills of the Oriental Powder Co. Between July 19, 1828, and February 7, 1901, these mills had twenty-five explosions, by which forty-five men lost their lives, while many others were severely injured. The first explosion, on the July date above given, is thus quaintly recorded in the diary of Jonathan Loveitt, who lived nearby : "The Powder mill at Gambo blew off and seven men blowed off: Their names are as follows: Josiah Clark, Hanson Irish, Major Mains, Wm. Moses, James Green, Noah Babb and Daniel Moses Badly burnt ... all dead."
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