USA > Maine > Kennebec County > Waterville > The centennial history of Waterville, Kennebec County, Maine, including the oration, the historical address and the poem presented at the celebration of the centennial anniversary of the incorporation of the town, June 23d, 1902 > Part 6
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52
1. Act of Division and Incorporation. Wat. Records, Vol. I, p. 1-4. See chapter of historical documents.
2. See Biographical chapter.
3. Letter of Asa Redington to Hon. Daniei P. Ring. (In full.) See chapter of historical documents.
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meeting house, (Oakland) $1,000 was voted for town expenses and $300 for schools. The prospects of the new town were good. Already through the efforts of Reuben Kidder, Abijah Smith and others the "Waterville Social Library" had been estab- lished, which though not large, included books of the highest class.1 Many of these books are still in the city and it is hoped that they will find a proper place in the new public library. In 1791 only sixty-three tax payers were living on the "West Side" but the year following, Redington and Getchell built the first dam on the Kennebec and a large mill, which movement began our earliest business boom." Considerable business also was car- ried on by the earlier mills on the Messalonskee, the McKechnie, Pattee and others. Capt. John Clark and his son Geo. Clark had a shipyard, where in 1800 the ship Ticonic of 268 tons was built.3 The fisheries of shad, salmon, and especially alewives were of profit to many and of annoyance to others, for in 1804 "the dressing of fish between Capt. Geo. Clarke's shipyard and the road leading from Isaac Temple's landing was prohibited. Waterville became a distributing point for the cargoes of mer- chandise that came up the river on the "long boats." As the most of this merchandise consisted of rum and molasses, both of which came by the hogshead, it is charitable to suppose that it was intended for distribution rather than for home consumption. The collection of taxes was let to the lowest bidder, who in 1804 was Capt. James Stackpole at 534%. Later as much as 6% was paid. The most of the money for preaching voted by the town was paid to Rev. Joshua Cushman of Winslow, by an agreement with that town. In 1803 the town had been divided into ten school districts and in 1806 we find as school committee, Moses Appleton, Reuben Kidder, Timothy Boutelle, James Stackpole and Thomas C. Norris, a committee to inspire the teacher with dread and the scholar with awe. Squire Kidder was the town's first lawyer and he rendered it in many ways an important service. Hon. Timothy Boutelle was eminent through his entire career in Waterville for public spirit and high char-
1. Vid Public Libraries of Waterville, by Estelle Foster Eaton. Also Water- ville Social Library. See chapter of historical documents.
2. Vid "Early Settlers and Settlements," by A. A. Plaisted.
3. For shipping list Vid "Early Settlers and Settlements."
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acter. He served the town, the State, and the Nation in many official duties and in all with distinction and honor.
In 1806 the mail privileges of the town were greatly increased by the establishment of a stage line from Norridgewock to Hal- lowell by Peter Gilman. The old days of the Revolution, when the mail was brought at long and irregular intervals, during the winter on snowshoes, seemed primitive indeed, for this stage made two trips per week.
That home amusement as well as foreign travel was not neg- lected, we learn from Capt. Stackpole's diary which, under the suggestive date of July 27. states that he carried his children to the dancing school at Col. Sherwin's kept by one, Moore.
The Embargo Act of December 22, 1807, which by way of reprisai upon England, forbade American vessels to leave port. was a crushing blow to the shipping of Maine. A town meeting was called. A petition to the U. S. government for the removal of the Embargo was presented, but the spirit of patriotism pre- vailed and the town authorized a resolution approving the Embargo and chose a committee to prepare and forward to the President such resolution. The same year it was voted to build a powder magazine in the loft of the meeting house, probably as the driest place available though that the people were discrim- inating in the matter of their preaching is shown by their vote to pay $100 for preaching if Mr. Allen of Duxbury can be secured, otherwise $50.
In ISog the fire department makes its first appearance, in the election of Elnathan Sherwin, James L. Wood, Moses Dalton, Asa Redington and Eleazer W. Ripley as fire wardens, who were duly sworn. From that time on some of the foremost citizens of the town have served in the fire department. It has been to them a matter of patriotism, an honor and the secret of its efficiency to the department and a safeguard to the town. The first engine company included Capt. Abijalı Smith, Nehemiah
Note. In a tax list for 1809 so given to Baxter Crowell for collection, occur 276 names of resident tax payers. The list here given, contains 21 names of persons pay- ing over ten dollars: Moses Appleton, $19.30; Ebenezer Bacon, $10.44; James Bur- gess, $10.18; Thomas Cook, $11.51; George Clarke, $15.62; Jonathan Combs, $11.11; John Cool, $11.03; Isaac Corson, $21.28; Baxter Crowell, $13.70; Moses Dalton, $12.95; Daniel R. Emerson, $10.06; Jonathan Heywood, $10.17; Jeremiah Fairfield, $16.66; Nathaniel Gilman, $23.59; Keuben Kidder, $19.31; Joseph Mitchell, $10.42; William Pullen, $11.60; Asa Redington, $25.93; Asa Soule, $10.60; James Stackpole, $23.98; James L. Wood, $31.53.
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Getchell, James Stackpole, Timothy Boutelle, Russell Blackwell and many others. An engine was purchased. It consisted of a central tub into which water was poured by pails to be pumped out by an ordinary pump through a short and leaky hose. Some one wrote the name Bloomer upon it and the "Bloomer" it was through the many years of its somewhat doubtful service.
In 1810 Waterville sent to the Massachusetts Legislature, Eleazer W. Ripley. He was a Dartmouth graduate, had studied law in the office of Hon. Timothy Boutelle and had become prom- inent in town affairs. He was re-elected the next year, became State Senator but resigned to enter the army. His promotion for brave and meritorious service was rapid until he reached the rank of Major-General. He received the thanks of Congress and a gold medal inscribed "Chippewa, Erie and Niagara." in each of these battles he had fought with distinguished bravery and commanded at Lundy's Lane after the death of Gen. Brown. He remained in the regular army until 1820 and was afterward Congressman from Louisiana. During the War of 1812 Elna- than Sherwin was lieutenant-colonel commanding the First Regi- ment in the 2nd Brigade of the 8th Division. Of that regiment Joseph H. Hallett was quartermaster ; Moses Appleton, surgeon ; David Wheeler, paymaster; and Jedekiah Belknap, chaplain. Capt. Dean Bangs' company belonged to Chandler's Battalion of Artillery and included some men from Vassalboro. Capt. Joseph Hitching's company (29 men) and Capt. William Pul- len's company (40 men) were raised in Waterville. Waterville was invaded but once during the war. Great alarm was raised one afternoon by the report that an armed force was marching upon the town. Preparations for defense were rapidly made and the bravest youths started out to meet the foe and to defend their homes. The enemy, when met, proved to be the crew, who were marching across from the Penobscot, of the U. S. vessel, Adams, which her commander had burned to keep her from fall- ing into the hands of the enemy. The friendly foes soon entered the town and the event was celebrated in what was considered the appropriate manner. At that time whiskey was made on Silver street.
In 1814 the largest ship ever built here, the Francis and Sarah, 290 tons, was successfully launched. The carrying trade on the
"THE WILLOWS," COLBY CAMPUS.
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river now became regularly established and a lively trade in lumber, farm products, groceries, etc., followed the proclamation of peace in 1815.
The next important event in the history of the town was the establishment here of the Maine Literary and Theological Insti- tution, afterward Waterville, now Colby college.1 A charter was granted by the General Court of Massachusetts, February 27, 1813, and after the question of location in the township No. 3, on the Penobscot, then practically a wilderness which had been granted by the Legislature, or in Bloomfield (Skowhegan) or in Farmington or in Waterville, had been decided by the trustees in favor of Waterville, the Vaughan lot of 179 acres was pur- chased of R. A. Gardiner for $1897.50. In 1816 the town had voted to raise $3,000 for the benefit of the institution should it be located here. For some reason this money was not paid.
On the arrival of President Jeremiah Chaplin in 1818, theo- logical instruction began and the literary department was opened with the coming of Prof. Avery Briggs in 1819. The history of the college. written by one qualified by long and valuable service in it, appears in Chapter X. The college has brought to the town in the roll of its presidents and professors, a large number of eminent citizens, men who have been interested in all that pertains to the life of the town and by voice and influence have sought its good. It has created an intellectual atmosphere, stimulating to thought and high conceptions of life, which has led many of the youth of the town to seek instruction within its halls and has benefitted a far wider circle. It has brought together a large number of youth representing the best life of the communities from which they came and has trained them for useful lives. The actual business of the college is no small item in the transactions and profits of the town. But the supreme advantage has been the continued residence of pro- fessors and their families, who by work and influence in social,
1. As early as 1788 Dr. Obadiah Williams addressed a letter to Doctor N. Whit- aker of Canaan, Me., with reference to the best location for a college, and the method of establishing such an institution. The answer, dated May 5, 1788, is in possession of Mr. Wallace B. Smith, grandson of Dr. Williams. The first sen- tences are as follows :
"Sir-Your fav'r of April 30th came to hand last Friday. I have weighed the contents. Am agreeably affected by the noble and important design of erecting a Seminary of learning in these parts, where little skill is required to discern a too hasty return to a state of Barbarism."
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religious and civic life have conferred an inestimable benefit upon the community. The names of Prof. Keely, Prof. Hamlin, Prof. Loomis, President Champlin, Prof. Smith, Prof. Foster, Prof. Lyford, Prof. Hall, Prof. Elder, Prof. Taylor, Prof. Warren and others who long resided in the town should receive honor- able mention. The great gift of money which is to broaden and to establish Colby's foundation, to supply her needs and open higher possibilities is yet to come. The financial question has been a troublesome one but in darkest hours the town always has come to the relief of the college.1 Especially close and har- monious did the relations of the college and the town become during the administration of President Nathaniel Butler and in this closer union which he secured is possibility of great mutual good. The annual festival of the town has been the college com- mencement, and even now it enhances the glory of the Centennial. A son of President Chaplin writes of the first Commencement Day : "What a day it was! The grand festival was to be held in the so-called meeting house that belonged to nobody in particular. The morning opened grandly. From miles around and from distant towns the people flocked to the new Olympic. The vil- lage was literally crowded with strangers to see this new wonder. Stands for the sale of gingerbread, pies and cakes, cheese, cider and beer were on every hand. The people were on tiptoe of expectation. At length, about 10 o'clock, the college bell rang ont its hilarious peal. The procession was seen advancing toward the center of the village. The Governor of the State, the marshal with his staff, the trustees, the president with his silk robe and official hat, the professors in their silk gowns, the graduating class, a duet composed of George Dana Boardman and Ephraim Tripp also in their gowns, the rest of the students, citizens, etc., the whole preceded by a military company (the Waterville Artillery) and a band of music. Oh it was mag- nificent ! On, on, it came till it reached the meeting house. There was a halt. The procession parted; the great and the
1. In 1840 when the college broke down for lack of money and its professors resigned, Mr. Lucius Allen made strenuous efforts in its behalf. He secured the holding of a public meeting over which Hon. Timothy Boutelle presided. Stephen Stark undertook to collect money for the college and so liberal was the response that $50,000 were subscribed. Widow Caffrey, the hard-working and loyal keeper of the Commons House, subscribed fifty dollars.
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noble and the wise passed in first and then, as the rear were entering, the outside crowd, no longer able to endure the sus- pense, rushed for the door determined to find entrance. For a few moments there was a fearful struggle. Order, however, was restored. The exercises began when, in a few minutes, the tor- rent, which had flowed so frightfully into the house, took a reflex turn. Out they came, they had seen the elephant and were sat- isfied.
The coming of Dr. Chaplin to Waterville meant also the estab- lishment of regular religious services on Sunday in the old meeting house. Very soon the Baptist church was organized with twenty members. This took place at the "Wood House" where the Elmwood Hotel now stands. The church was served by the president and professors of the college in an unpaid pas- torate of ten years. It held its meetings in various locations in the town until the erection of its fine meeting house in 1826 on land presented by Hon. Timothy Boutelle.
In 1814 the old Waterville Bank was chartered, erected a one- story building on lower Main street, chose Nathaniel Gilman as president and Asa Redington, Jr., as cashier. The name was afterward changed to "Ticonic Bank." It has had connected with it many of the financial leaders of the town and for thirty- eight years had the efficient and successful service of A. A. Plaisted, Esq., as cashier.
The town had repeatedly put itself on record as in favor of the separation of Maine from Massachusetts and in September, 1819, chose Abijah Smith and Ebenezer Bacon to attend the convention called at Portland for the formation of a State Consti- tution. The draft then drawn was accepted and Maine became an independent state, March 15, 1820. The vote for William King for Governor was practically unanimous. Baxter Crowell was elected representative to the Maine Legislature.
As previously noted the trade of the early days included the sale of liquors to a great extent. The regulation of the sale was in the hands of the town. In 1821, 12 licenses were issued by the town at $6 each, in 1822, 16; in 1823, 34. This was the, high water, say rather, the low water mark in the town's liquor business.
May 23d, 1823 the first number of the first newspaper pub- lished in the town was issued. It was the Waterville Intelli-
.
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gencer. It was published by Wm. Hastings, and printed by John Burleigh. The proprietor, in his first issue, states his satisfac- tion that more than 1,000 subscribers had been obtained and a printer engaged "who to correct morals, and the requisite skill in typography adds a capital sufficient for all the exigencies of his employment." The paper was under the auspices of the college and was designed as a State paper for the Baptist denom- ination. It was able and instructive but local news found small place within it. It became, in 1828, the foundation of Zion's Advocate.
The town was growing rapidly. Ticonic bridge, a wooden structure built by private parties as a toll bridge, was opened to the public and the good effect upon the business of the town was apparent. There was competition in the stage business between here and Augusta. Seth Robins ran an extra stage at a fare of seventy-five cents. The regular line of Washburne mail stages charged one dollar for passage and left "on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 4 o'clock in the morning."
An echo comes to us today from the direction of the Cecilia Club, from the "Waterville Branch of the Northern Harmonic Society," John Hovey, Sec., but the echo is not descriptive. We have the very record book of the Ticonick Debating Society, organized September 18, 1824 and including in its membership the leading men in the town. Great questions were investigated by committees and debated with all possible deference to parlia- mentary usage. Among the members were Abijah Smith, R. A. L. Codman, Eben F. Bacon, James Stackpole, Jr., Samuel Wells, Geo. Stickney, William Richards, Alpheus Lyon, Clark Lillybridge, Julius Alden, William Hastings, W. P. Norton, Johnson Williams, Asher Hinds, James Burleigh, Lemuel Paine, Asa Redington, Jr., Eliphalet Gow, Samuel Plaisted, Herman Stevens and others. The next prominent debating society was the Waterville Lyceum, organized in 1837. The secretary and moving spirit in this enterprise was William Mathews. After two years of debate there was silence, broken however, when the Waterville Debating Society was formed in 1841 with M. S. Chase as secretary. This society had a long and influential list of members but after one brief season we read in the record : "Adjourned then to the party." The society has not reas-
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sembled. The records of the above societies are in the possession of E. R. Drummond. Esq.
Though Waterville always has been generous in the matter of her public schools, private and corporation schools have been quite a feature of the school life of the town. In 1823 Miss Pet- tengill had here a school for the education of young ladies. The next year Mr. John Butler and Miss Lewis opened a school which with its modern methods and apparatus won enthusiastic approval. Such teaching has continued from that time to the days of Miss Julia Stackpole and has been a special work of great importance.
The Liberal Institute under the patronage of the Universalist church did good work until it became apparent that the field was already supplied.
The great freshet of March 25-7, 1826, carried away a part of Ticonic bridge which immediately was rebuilt. The Fourth of July was usually celebrated but the semi-centennial of the Declaration of Independence was observed in a more formal
way. The procession formed at Dow's Hotel at II o'clock and led by a band of music and the Waterville Artillery, Col. John- son Williams in command, proceeded down Silver street, up Back street, (Elm) and down Main to the meeting house where a sensible and patriotic oration was pronounced by Samuel Wells, Esq. Thence to the hotel "where a dinner was served by Mr. Dow in his usual style of elegance and liberality." Timothy Boutelle presided with Moses Appleton and James Stackpole as vice-presidents. Responses were given to thir- teen regular toasts while several volunteers contributed to the rhetorical splendor of the day.
In the same year Wm. Hastings established a circulating library of well selected books which were loaned at the rate of four cents per week.
In 1827 Waterville in open town meeting adopted very forcible resolutions of sympathy with the Greeks in their struggle against Turkey. The feeling throughout New England was intense, greater than that aroused for Cuba in her recent struggle for liberty and equalled only by New England's compassion for the slave.
The location of the State capitol was under discussion but as the Waterville Board of Trade had not yet been born the capitol
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was allowed to get stranded on the Augusta hills twenty miles below its logical and proper location at Waterville. For two years Col. Abert, under employment of the U. S. Government, had been making surveys of the Kennebec with a view to secur- ing a waterway to Canada. In 1828 the Colonel recommended the building of a canal around the falls from Ticonic Bay to Kendall's Mills. Local facilities for traveling were improved the same year by the introduction of plank sidewalks. The first theatrical performance given in town was at the old cotton mill on the Messalonskee and the Waterville Watchman, which in an unguarded moment had advertised it, atoned for the error by printing several articles upon the evils of the theatre.
Notable events in the year were the erection and opening of Waterville Academy (vid. chapter on Coburn Institute), the ordination of Harvey Fitz as pastor of the Baptist church, an attempt to rob the bank and the accident to "The Eagle."
In 1830 a village corporation was formed which adopted an extensive and stringent code of "By-laws" and appointed an inspector of police to put them into effect. It was forbidden on penalty of fine to carry a lighted pipe or cigar on the sidewalk or to allow even the chimney of one's house to burn out. The boys were not allowed to play ball or throw snowballs on the street, or "to steal rides on the rear of carts or wagons."
The great freshet in 1832 remained for seventy years without an equal. Very cold weather extending to the middle of May kept the frost in the ground, and the snow from melting. Then warm weather and five days of continuous rain brought on the deluge. May 22 the river reached its greatest height. Part of the bridge, the Redington saw mill and other buildings, like many offenders who first and last have gotten out of order, went down to Augusta. The losses along the river were very heavy. June 1, 1832, the "Ticonic" the first steamboat to visit Waterville arrived. This was a stern-wheeler built at Gardiner. It was received with the firing of cannon, the ringing of bells and every expression of jubilant welcome. It was the beginning of steam- boat traffic which increased and prospered until the coming of the railways. The Moors, the Getchells and others were inter- ested in the building and management of steamers and soon quite a fleet was owned here. Sometimes as many as six Waterville steamboats could be seen at the wharves. Rival companies reduced the passenger rates until it became possible to buy a
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ticket from Waterville to Boston for one dollar. Capt. Geo. Jewell is well remembered by many as for many years com- mander of river steamboats.
In the summer of 1832 Wm. Lloyd Garrison visited Water- ville and gave an address on the slavery question. It aroused great interest among the students who, on the 4th of July formed an Anti-Slavery Society. Their celebration was so boisterous as to call out the censure of President Chaplin. In a second after- chapel address on the subject he compared the noise to the bray- ing of so many wild asses. The students sprang to their feet and demanded that he should retract his charge and then left the chapel. Expulsion was then threatened but the students declared that if one went all would go. President Chaplin and two of the professors then resigned and left the institution. The service of the president had been of the highest order, as the memorial tablet in the chapel testifies he was the "auctor" of the college, and misunderstanding rather than fault on either side was the unfortunate occasion of his withdrawal.
The citizens seem to have shared the sentiments of the students for in 1834 we find an anti-slavery society here with 150 members. The fine building of the Universalist church had been erected in 1833. Patriotism and temperance seemed to be on the increase. In 1834 we find Rev. Samuel Francis Smith, pastor of the Bap- tist church, teaching his Sunday school children to sing his great national hymn "America," and also lecturing on the subject of temperance. The town voted not to license the selling of liquors to be drunk on the premises. Having tried license for several years it came squarely into the no license ranks and was among the earliest of the Maine towns so to do. The same year appeared the "North American Galaxy." "A semi-monthly jour- nal devoted to Tales, Essays, Music, Biography, Poetry, Anec- dotes, etc., besides a great many things that it ain't devoted to at all." F. R. Wells and William Mathews were the editors and Daniel Wing the printer. Its ability and wit were beyond ques- tion nor did its support remain long in doubt for in the swan song in the fourth number, the editors cheerfully declare, "The productions of our uncallowed youth shall not rise up in judg- ment against the productions of our riper years." This certainly has been fulfilled in case of our honored Dr. William Mathews. 5
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For many years he was a resident of Waterville showing in the Watervillonian the same brilliant qualities of mind which have made his many books so popular and so helpful. His "Getting on in the World" has helped multitudes to get on more honorably and successfully. We hail him as our literary Nestor and are glad that his presence graces this occasion. Despite the news- paper protest that the fire department "wouldn't let a building burn long enough to be worth telling about," the town voted to purchase two fire engines. This was not carried out until 1836 when the "Ticonic Village Corporation" was formed, mainly to secure protection against fire. Engine "Ticonic No. I" was pur- chased and the leading citizens of the town organized an engine company.1 An important step in the religious history of Water- ville was taken when, September 27, 1836, the meeting house of the Congregational church was dedicated and Rev. Thomas Adams installed as pastor. (Vid. Hist. Cong'l. Ch., chapter VIII).
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