Dec. 26, 1888: The Central Maine General Hospital – known today as Central Maine Medical Center – is incorporated in Lewiston. D.J. Callahan is sworn in at an afternoon meeting as secretary of the board of corporators. The institution is qualified under the law to hold property of a value up to $100,000 – equal […]

Dec. 25, 1870: “Never has a sadder Christmas dawned on any city,” Livermore native Elihu Washburne writes in Paris while serving as the U.S. minister to France. “The sufferings … exceed by far anything we have seen.” On the 99th day of the Prussian army’s siege of the city during the Franco-Prussian War, Washburne, one […]

Dec. 24, 2018: Incumbent U.S. Rep. Bruce Poliquin, R-2nd District, drops his federal lawsuit claiming that he, not Democrat Jared Golden, should have won the Nov. 6 election for his seat. Golden was declared the winner under Maine’s new ranked-choice voting system. Running for re-election against three challengers, Poliquin was the top vote-getter, but fell […]

Dec. 23, 1831: The Augusta newspaper The Age publishes its first issue, just in time to capitalize on the impending arrival of state government and the printing contracts it is likely to offer. In the 1850s, Melville Weston Fuller (1833-1910) is a part-owner of the newspaper. The Age competes for several decades with the Kennebec […]

Dec. 22, 1807: President Thomas Jefferson signs the Embargo Act in response to British seizure of American cargo and impressment of American seamen during the Napoleonic wars. The law, which forbids trade with other nations, hobbles Maine seaports’ economy, which was thriving until then. The law is repealed two years later, but continued agitation from […]

Dec. 21, 2005: Maine Turnpike Authority Director Paul Violette announces that his agency is planning to replace the turnpike’s toll plaza at York, which was meant to be temporary but has been functioning for 35 years. Violette said the toll plaza, which is 7 miles northeast of the New Hampshire state line on Interstate 95, […]