USA > Maine > Cumberland County > Freeport > Three centuries of Freeport, Maine > Part 13
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The Freeport Light, Heat and Power Company, as the cor- poration was known, was taken over by the Central Maine Power Company, which now supplies village and country dis- tricts alike with electric current, generated at one of its several hydroelectric plants in the central part of the state.
Some time in the eighties a novel exhibition was staged in Freeport Square. Two men with a coil of wire and some strange apparatus were to give a demonstration of that new in- vention - the telephone. The audience was skeptical but ready to be convinced if there were any truth in the claims made by the demonstrators. One of the men stationed himself near the present location of the bank, at the corner of Main and Mechanic Streets, while the other took a position in the Square out of hearing distance, but in plain sight of the first.
The crowd was similarly divided and while one group heard the demonstrator at one end of the wire tell the other to make certain motions, they could see the command obeyed. Then as many as possible were allowed to speak into the instrument and hear some one at the other end of the wire answer them. It was wonderful and mysterious, for what is now a commonplace and everyday necessity was then just coming to the notice of the public.
The first telephone was installed in the Shaw Shoe Factory.
In 1904 there was a boom in telephone installation when fifty subscribers were added within a few days.
On May 9, 1891, the citizens assembled in town meeting voted to give the right to lay pipes for conveying water to E. B. Mallet and assigns, but as the selectmen were unwilling to take the responsibility of signing the agreement, a special meet-
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Freeport Square
ing called on May 23 of the same year authorized them to do so. This agreement was assigned by Mr. Mallet to the Freeport Water Company.
In brief, Mr. Mallet agreed to build a brick pumping station on Frost's Gully Brook, set up a pump of 1,000,000 gallons' capacity in twenty-four hours, a spare pump of 500,000 gallons' capacity, build a dam across the brook, erect a standpipe of 220,000 gallons' capacity on Maple Avenue, lay 14,400 feet of cast iron pipe, four, six, eight and ten inches in diameter and maintain eighteen hydrants.
The town was to pay $1,000 a year for the use of the eighteen hydrants and $50.00 for additional hydrants. For the public use of water in schoolhouses and town-owned buildings, an annual amount equal to the annual tax was to be paid. The agreement gave the town the option of purchasing the plant at the end of ten years or at the end of any five years thereafter. This agree- ment was renewed at the town meeting held on March 13, 1911.
The Fourth of July, 1889, was chosen as the date to celebrate the one hundredth anniversary of Freeport's existence as an in- dependent town, after having been for more than a century a part of old North Yarmouth. The day opened with a salute of thirteen guns, possibly fired from a pair of brass guns, which were relics of the old artillery companies. These have been stolen and restolen by the young men of South Freeport and Freeport Square and have spent most of the time in hiding in some obscure spot. The story goes that one burst as the result of an overcharge of powder and that the other had been so se- curely hidden, probably in South Freeport, that it has become permanently lost.
Jewett's train from Portland brought many for the celebra- tion. Just here it may be well to record another institution which flourished fifty years ago. Many of the trains on the Maine Central were then in charge of veteran trainmen, who had seen the beginnings of railroading in this section and had been on runs for so long that patrons designated certain trains by the names of their conductors. Conductor Jewett was one of those whose run was from Portland to Waterville via Freeport, arriving in Waterville at about ten in the morning and leaving that city at two in the afternoon for Portland. He was active for at least ten years after 1889, but to this day some of the older
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folks along his former route think of the train which approxi- mates his schedule as being "Jewett's train."
At nine in the morning of that July day the first division of the parade started. Headed by the Yarmouth Band, it included the Montgomery Guards of Portland, Neally Rifles from Lewis- ton, the Yarmouth Rifles, all crack companies of militia, J. D. Fessenden Post G. A. R. and Camp Phil Sheridan Post Sons of Veterans.
The Second Division was headed by the St. Jean Baptiste Band of Brunswick and consisted of school children and some of the representative industries. The American Band of West- brook, fire department, together with floats of trades and in- dustries made up the Third Division, while the Fourth con- sisted of the New Gloucester Band, citizens and speakers.
Josiah H. Drummond of Portland was the orator of the day. In his oration he reviewed the history of Freeport at length and from its earliest times. Mr. Drummond, a graduate of Colby College, is now remembered as a practicing attorney and also for his researches into the history of Freemasonry, which has made him a worldwide authority on that secret order.
Henry L. Koopman, a native of Freeport, also a graduate of Colby College, at that time librarian of the University of Ver- mont, read a poem written for the occasion, which we re- produce, in part:
Beloved town, with gladness we discern How fortune smiles on thee at every turn. And trust that all its present favor brings Is but the promise of still goodlier things; Yet on this day, the fullness of thy years One word the poet brings not free from fears Dear home town, let men ever call thee so; Guard well the font from which thy virtues flow, Only thy homes can rear thee manly sons And daughters gentle, as thine earlier ones Can bring thee love like ours from future men. A land of Homes amid the storms to fall No fear be thine if thou hast homes for all.
The hundredth anniversary of Maine's admission to the Union was celebrated by Freeport as an old home week from
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Freeport Square
June twenty-first to twenty-sixth, inclusive. B. Frank Dennison was honorary chairman and Edmund B. Mallet active chair- man. Guy Bean was chairman of publicity. The town was deco- rated and every effort was made to welcome visitors and make them feel at home.
On Monday, June 21, visitors were formally received and entertained by pictures and dancing at the Nordica Theatre. Tuesday there was a ball game with open house at the Nordica. On Wednesday the stores closed and a merchants' picnic was held in Mallet's grove, where a free clambake and coffee were provided. Field sports followed and a ball game. Thursday the old time players gave an exhibition of playing and on Friday High School girls played a ball game with the boys and in the evening Donald B. MacMillan, the Arctic explorer, gave a lec- ture in the Baptist Church.
Saturday was the crowning day of the celebration, with a pa- rade in the morning, picnic dinner at Mallet's grove, a baseball game and an oration by Governor Milliken at four thirty. For the afternoon and evening the Yarmouth Band of twenty-five pieces was engaged. At dusk traffic was diverted via Mill, Mid- dle and School Streets, so that the Square could be clear for a carnival which lasted until those taking part felt they had suffi- ciently celebrated the occasion.
While the weather, especially the first of the week, was not all that could be desired, everybody made the best of it, no doubt remembering that the next celebration would be far be- yond their span of existence.
The largest Freeport manufactory, which may be termed a local enterprise, is that of L. L. Bean. Prior to 1911 Mr. Bean conducted a store at the centre. He was fond of hunting and developed a shoe which eliminated foot troubles, caused by walking over rough or wet ground. When other hunters learned of these shoes and sought to buy, Mr. Bean began to manufacture on a small scale, issuing his first catalog of four pages in 1914, featuring this footwear. The latest issue of this catalog was an edition of three hundred thousand copies, of sixty-eight pages each, listing all kinds of hunting and fishing supplies. Every item contained in the catalog had been tested in actual service by Mr. Bean and found to be satisfactory be- fore being included.
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A large block on Main Street, with adjoining storehouses is occupied by this enterprise, which employs seventy-five to one hundred hands. Much of the business is mail order but sports- men passing through stop to supply their wants from the store which is open twenty-four hours a day. The postage from this one business exceeds $48,000 per year.
The principal industry of Freeport is the manufacture of shoes. There are four firms engaged in that business, of which three occupy the factory building owned by the Freeport Realty Company, a local corporation, whose stock is held by many of the townsfolk. The fourth is in the factory on West Street, which was built by the H. E. Davis Company. This company was made up of five brothers, who started in a small way on Beech Hill in 1873, then in 1882 moved to a factory on Me- chanic Street, before building its own plant in 1898. Since the Davis's retirement several firms have occupied their former factory.
Freeport has the usual complement of stores, garages, filling stations and eating places, too numerous to be mentioned in this book. A private hospital is maintained by Doctors Howard and Gould. There is a well-equipped fire department at the centre, which serves the entire town. Outside the village on Pleasant Street are the greenhouses of Perez Burr, which have furnished plants and flowers for the community for two generations.
Since the beginning of the present century have occurred the World War and the great depression. Both of these periods have been trying times. The War required many of the young men and took the lives of three. A large proportion of the men were in fighting units and saw the worst of war. At home the in- habitants built ships, made shoes, purchased Liberty bonds and did all in their power to encourage those in the service. The depression was met in the same spirit, although many have felt decidedly poorer after the affluent days prior to 1929. As pros- pects were growing brighter, however, the return of war to Europe renders the future less promising and only time will reveal its outcome.
XXV
B. H. BARTOL LIBRARY
A ROUND 1830 a Library Association flourished in Freeport and had its quarters in the office of Josiah Mitchell, Es- quire, a leading lawyer of the period, who was also li- brarian. Squire Mitchell's office was in a building in the rear of the Oxnard or Sylvester Block. A small brick house which oc- cupied the site was torn down in 1939 when the L. L. Bean fac- tory was enlarged. After the librarian's death in 1852 there must have been others who kept the library in action for in 1880, when a new Association was formed the books of the former one were donated to it.
Dr. Ebenezer Wells is said to have combined the office of li- brarian with that of post master in a house which stood on the corner of School and Main Streets. In 1880 Doctor Wells must have been seventy-nine years old and had perhaps retired from practice. Later Charles Loring, a carpenter, took charge. After- ward the library was moved to the store of Oliver Briggs and from there Samuel Cushing moved it to the Cushing House. William Curtis was the last librarian before the Association disbanded in 1900, and at that time one of the by-laws stated that "all books must be returned within four weeks or a fine of 1 cent a day will be imposed," also that "any person loaning a book to one who is not a member is promptly fined $2.00."
A traveling library sent from Connecticut for the use of Freeport citizens was a blow to the pride of some of the mem- bers of the community, who felt that a prosperous town like theirs could and ought to provide library facilities for its own people. Consequently, at a meeting called on September 1, 1900, a movement was initiated which resulted in the Freeport Library Association and later developed the Bartol Library.
The new Association met its expenses by imposing a mem- bership fee of one dollar per year and opened with six hundred books, housed in two upper rooms, which were reached by an outer flight of stairs, somewhat out of repair. Because of con- ditions and the rather scanty supply of books, the supporting fees fell off and the town was asked to aid by an appropriation. In the meantime, a campaign was begun to provide a building to better serve the readers. In all $3,500 had been accumulated
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and a lot purchased at a cost of $600, when it was thought that the time had arrived to begin building. At that time the late Andrew Carnegie was distributing his vast fortune by assisting towns like Freeport to build libraries. Therefore, an appeal was made to him for $5,000, which combined with that al- ready in the treasury of the Association would permit the erec- tion of an $8,500 building. Mr. Carnegie made a counter pro- posal, that he would give $6,500, to be applied only to the building, if the Association would permanently invest the $3,500 on hand, using the income for expenses and that the town would yearly provide $500 to be added to this income. Another condition which Mr. Carnegie insisted upon, namely - that a building lot be provided - had already been attended to, so the matter was settled when the town voted the money, except for one detail. When contributions had been sought, the estate of B. H. Bartol, a man born in Freeport in 1796, gave $1,000 toward the erection of the building, on condition that the re- sulting edifice should be called the B. H. Bartol Library. Fol- lowing a favorable vote of the town and the consent of the Bartol heirs to the diversion of their contribution to this fund, work was begun in the summer of 1905 and the building was ready for dedication on May 26, 1906. So businesslike had been the work of the Building Committee that when all bills were paid there was left the sum of $117.00. Up to this time thirteen hundred and fifty libraries had been erected under agreement with Mr. Carnegie, but this was the first that had been com- pleted under the allotted amount.
At the dedicatory exercises Henry C. Brewer, President of the Association, made an informal speech and A. W. Shaw, Chairman of the Building Committee, delivered the keys to E. B. Mallet, Chairman of the Board of Selectmen. Following a prayer by Rev. C. E. Angell, Professor Henry L. Chapman, of Bowdoin College, delivered the address of the day. The exer- cises closed with the reading of the poem "The Book," written for the occasion by Henry L. Koopman, Librarian of Brown University, who was also a native of Freeport:
The B. H. Bartol Library
1
The Universalist Church
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B. H. Bartol Library
Hail thou mightiest of all arts Greater than Promethian fire! All the rest play soon their parts Serve their hour and then expire.
Thou the art supreme whereby All the gains through ages won, While their mortal founders die, Pass in strength from sire to son.
Not that every century owns Loftier stature than the last, But that each the book enthrones On the love of all the past.
Rarest gems we set with skill Lest they glide unmarked away Honor him whose generous will Here hath set our books today.
Miss Annette H. Aldrich, Librarian of the Association was the reader, as Mr. Koopman was unable to be present.
Since the dedication of the building there have been but two librarians, Miss Annette H. Aldrich and Miss Grace M. Rogers. Miss Rogers now has an assistant librarian, Miss Mildred P. Stowell.
There are now seven thousand and ninety-eight books in the library, used by a total of one thousand three hundred and seventy-two borrowers.
The books are not the only valuable and interesting objects in this building for it houses also the original working model of the Dash, paintings of the Clipper Ship Tam O'Shanter and the Bark Ring with a large portrait of the latter's owner Cap- tain Samuel Rose, of Freeport, who died in 1857. An unusual possession is a large, full-length portrait of Washington, five feet by three feet, beautifully done in needlepoint and pro- tected by a heavy, old gilt frame.
XXVI SCHOOLS
T HE first school in Freeport, as far as we know, dates back to 1736 and was situated near Strout's Point. In 1761 North Yarmouth raised sixty pounds for the support of schools, stipulating that school terms should alternate between the settlement around the Meeting House Under the Ledge and that section east of the Cousins River, which is now Freeport.
When Freeport became an independent town in 1789, it was divided into districts and the inhabitants were ordered to ap- point a schoolmaster. The sum of one hundred pounds was appropriated in 1794 and the next year Parson Alfred Johnson received an increase in salary on condition that he teach a grammar school. In 1816 there were eleven of these districts.
After Maine became a state, district schools were supported by state money, supplemented by local taxation. About 1874 the district system was abandoned. Sessions of school were held in the same buildings, but under the direction of a superin- tendent chosen by the town and supported by an appropria- tion made in town meeting instead of a district tax. At first su- perintendents were local men who were interested in educa- tion but as time went on trained men were hired and then towns pooled their resources to obtain still better men. At present Freeport joins with three other towns.
Under the prevailing system outlying schools have been abandoned when the number of pupils became small and the remaining scholars are transported daily to schools in the centre.
One of the departed institutions of Freeport is the old fash- ioned district school. It is true that there are a few. outlying schoolhouses of the older type still in use, but only the external appearance is the same. There are usually two outside doors, either of which you may use as you enter, but the scholar of a hundred years ago or even less, had no choice, for one was the girls' door and the other the boys'. Each door opened into a small vestibule whose walls had many pegs or nails on which the scholars' hats and coats were hung. At the beginning of the term one of these nails was taken by each scholar for his or her own and woe betide the wight who presumed to encroach
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on the other's privilege of ownership. Another door gave access to the schoolroom proper, and between the doors from the two entries stood the teacher's desk, his or her official station, which must be passed by the tardy or by any one wishing to leave the room. In the older days this desk was not a cabinetmaker's masterpiece but a homemade affair of native pine put together as economically as possible. Beside the usual offices of a desk it served as sounding board upon which the ferule was soundly thumped to quell disorder or to emphasize commands. Of such a piece of furniture Whittier says:
Within, the master's desk is seen Deep scarred by raps official. . . .
The scholars' desks were if anything rougher than the teach- er's. Also of pine they were in many cases unpainted and un- comfortable enough to prevent any wandering of mind due to ease of body. Then there were no means of adjustment to fit different sizes of occupant as is the case in school desks of today. However the rear seats and desks were higher and larger to ac- commodate the larger boys and girls who came to school in winter or when they could be spared from the labors of the farm. The youngest scholars sat in front and as they advanced in studies they were assigned seats further back as an evidence of their promotion.
The little ones began their education by learning their let- ters. Each had an individual session with the teacher, the pupil naming the letters as they were pointed out by the official pencil. Stupidity or lack of attention was often rewarded by a thump on the head with the pencil, which often remained as a painful memory of those first days. When the scholar's educa- tion was in full swing he was studying spelling, reading, writ- ing and arithmetic. Later, there were geography and grammar but literature was a subject learned outside school, as Abraham Lincoln learned it, by reading all the books that could be found in the neighborhood. Arithmetic was almost as much of an individual subject but was a matter of school work, in which each one progressed as fast as he was able, ciphering the book through and then starting at the beginning to review it again and again.
Each scholar in those early schools furnished his own text-
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books, for free textbooks were to come much later. The result was a motley lot handed down from older brothers or sisters and maybe parents, bound in blues, blacks and greens and of varying sizes. In the early 1800's American Readers were in use, while later came Franklin's and perhaps Munroe's Readers, and in extreme cases all three may have appeared to add to the teacher's troubles.
The District School was the school for a certain district, the bounds of which were determined by the town and from then on the inhabitants attended to their own school. Some responsi- ble citizen was appointed at a district meeting to be a commit- tee of one and he arranged the length and number of the terms of school, hired the teacher, saw that fuel was provided and had general oversight. If he saw fit he would visit the school to satisfy himself that the instruction was as it should be and was the arbiter in case of trouble. This office was in many instances passed around so that each voter in the district should have an opportunity to try out his ideas and learn how hard it was to please the entire district. At one of the district meetings after a new committee had been chosen it was suggested that the re- tiring committee make a report of what he had done. Where- upon he arose and said: "I have done as the rest of you have - just as I pleased." After which he sat down and that was that.
The money came from the state and from the town. Each person in the district under twenty-one was apportioned a share of the state and town money and the total of the shares was used to meet the expenses of the school year. When the money was expended school stopped. If there were but few of school age in the district, terms were few and short. A total of twenty weeks was very good, but in most cases there were less.
Often the teacher was a girl who had had her entire school- ing in the district where she afterwards taught. In such a case discipline was very difficult unless she was exceptionally good. Any girl who taught a successful term under those conditions was extremely capable and many of them had spunk enough to do so. If she came from another town she had to be boarded and this was done by the committee's family unless the custom was to have the teacher board around. In this case the teacher learned about home conditions of her pupils in a way that no teacher does nowadays. It may easily be imagined that a week
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in some families could be a strain on any teacher. A teacher's pay was small but so was her board bill, so she may have con- sidered herself well paid. In the winter a man was often en- gaged because at that time the large boys who could do so came to put the finish on their education. They were hard to handle and had to be held by the stern hand of a man with a physique to withstand rough and tumble if necessary.
Among some old papers a few items are capable of telling us considerable about what used to be District Number Fourteen. This district included the Flying Point section and the school- house was located a few hundred feet to the south of the point where the road leading to the extreme of Flying Point forks from that leading to the Wolf's Neck road. Evidently the land on which the schoolhouse was located was not district property, for money was raised by subscription to buy it. The names which follow are of interest because they probably list the heads of families of the district. Unfortunately the date was not on the paper but judging from the names the date could have been in the first quarter of the 1800's:
"Subscription to raise money to pay for the land where- on the School house sets:
Joseph Mann
$ 3.60
George R. Anderson $ .50
George Rogers, Jr.
.35
John Mann .40
Thomas P. Rogers
.35
Thomas Chase .25
Reuben Brewer
.50
Jacob Brewer .45
Thomas Mann
.25
William Mann .25
Robert Mann .25
Samuel Means .25
William Chase, Jr.
.50
Joseph A. Means .20
Thomas Means, Jr.
.50
James Mann .25
Isaac L. Mann
.40
Jacob Rogers .25
Robert Dunning
3.50
Means Anderson .25
It is regrettable that we do not know how long Abagail Rogers taught to earn sixteen dollars. It may have been ten weeks or even longer, but when she received it it probably seemed like a fair amount of money, as it was for those days.
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