On this date in Maine history: March 5

March 5, 1801: Army Maj. Gen. Henry Dearborn (1751-1829), a Revolutionary War veteran and longtime Gardiner resident, begins eight years as secretary of war under President Thomas Jefferson. Dearborn had fought in the Battle of Bunker Hill and was captured by the British during Benedict Arnold’s ill-fated 1775 March to Quebec. Released in a prisoner […]

On this date in Maine history: March 4

On this date in Maine history: March 3

March 3, 1820: The U.S. Senate’s acceptance of a provision that slavery be permitted in Missouri – which would become a state in 1821 – fulfills a compromise that clears the way for Maine to become a state 12 days later. News that Maine’s admission to the Union is linked to the slavery question sparks […]

On this date in Maine history: March 2

On this date in Maine history: March 1

Colony, Chapter III: Conquest

Massachusetts makes Maine a colony of a colony.

On this date in Maine history: Feb. 29

Feb. 29, 1820: The Portland-based Eastern Argus newspaper reports that William King, soon to become Maine’s first governor, led a successful effort to convince the Massachusetts General Court to grant a two-year extension to Maine on the terms of its separation from Massachusetts. The court’s action removed one of the final obstacles to Maine’s statehood, […]

On this date in Maine history: Feb. 28

Feb. 28, 1890: Bath Iron Works wins its first contract for the construction of complete ships – two iron gunboats for the U.S. Navy. Flags are hoisted at the shipyard and the yard’s whistles issue three loud blasts at noon to celebrate the occasion. The award accelerates the rush to convert the yard’s South Division […]

On this date in Maine history: Feb. 27

Feb. 27, 1813: The commonwealth of Massachusetts, of which Maine is still a part, establishes the Maine Literary and Theological Institution in Waterville. It becomes Waterville College in 1821; Colby University, to honor major donor Gardiner Colby, in 1867; and finally Colby College in 1889. In 1871 the school becomes the first all-male college or […]

On this date in Maine history: Feb. 26

Feb. 26, 1972: Sen. Edmund S. Muskie, D-Maine, defends his wife in a speech he delivers during a snowstorm outside the offices of the Manchester Union Leader while campaigning for the March 7 New Hampshire presidential primary. The newspaper’s editor, William Loeb, had printed an article accusing Muskie’s wife, Jane, of drunkenness and using off-color […]