On this date in Maine history: Jan. 18

Jan. 18, 2012: In Augusta, Capitol Police Chief Russell Gauvin reports that a new security checkpoint at the west entrance of the State House is complete and operational. Workers at that entrance run scanning machines similar to those found in airports. The public no longer is able to enter the State House through any of the […]

On this date in Maine history: Jan. 17

Jan. 17, 2002: Fire severely damages buildings on Main Street in Lincoln. Three days later, a second fire breaks out. The two blazes combined wipe out a quarter of the Penobscot County town’s business district, including the three-story Lake Mall, and displace 10 businesses. Firefighters ultimately contain both fires and save other downtown businesses. The […]

On this date in Maine history: Jan. 16

Jan. 16, 2009: Realist painter Andrew Wyeth dies in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, his birthplace, at age 91 after a 70-year career. He later is buried near his summer home in South Cushing, Maine, where he once observed Christina Olson (1893-1968) shuffling slowly up a hill toward her home, using her hands to propel herself because […]

On this date in Maine history: Jan. 15

On this date in Maine history: Jan. 14

Jan. 14, 1943: Author Laura E. Richards dies in Gardiner, where she spent most of her adult life. Richards won, with her sisters, a Pulitzer Prize in 1917 for “Julia Ward Howe, 1819-1910,” a biography of their mother, who wrote the words to the song “The Battle Hymn of the Republic.” Richards, a Boston native, […]

On this date in Maine history: Jan. 13

On this date in Maine history: Jan. 12

On this date in Maine history: Jan. 11

Jan. 11, 1839: Sculptor Franklin Simmons, whose public artworks include the Henry Wadsworth Longfellow statue and the Soldiers and Sailors Monument in Portland and the Soldiers’ Monument in Lewiston, is born in a part of Lisbon that later becomes the town of Sabattus. Simmons, who is raised in Bath and Lewiston, starts out making sculpture models […]

On this date in Maine history: Jan. 10

On this date in Maine history: Jan. 9