This Day in Maine
by Martha F. Barkley
July is summer in Maine. This May 2021 we had a day in the 90s and people were joking about "our one day of summer" already! I love the old joke about July Fourth being hot and all the rest is cool spring and cool fall. We who live here know that Mother Nature rules and every summer is full of surprises. Our one day of summer can last for weeks…
Joseph Owen proves this with carefully selected news articles and many photos from the Pine Tree State's history. Your eyes will be glued, I guarantee. Purchased last summer during the pandemic shutdown at Oliver & Friends Bookshop and Reading Room on Main Street, This Day in Maine has been reread this summer and I simply have to quote for you to judge, dear reader.
- July 1, 1960
- Scarborough Downs Opens for First Horse Races
- July 1, 1990
- Edwards Dam Breached; Kennebec Flows Freely Again
- July 2, 1863
- Chamberlain's Troops Stand Firm During Battle of Gettysburg
- July 3, 1847
- President Polk Visits Maine…ride to Augusta after arriving around 1 a.m. in Hallowell aboard the steamer Huntress.
- July 3, 1933
- Edna St. Vincent Millay Visits Ragged Island, Plans Purchase
Oh, to be there, under the silent spruces,
Where the wide, quiet evening, darkens, without haste
Over a sea with death acquainted, yet forever chaste.- July 4, 1786
- Portland Separates from Falmouth
- July 4, 1826
- Cornerstone Laid for Maine State House on Weston's Hill in Augusta
- July 4, 1866
- Great Portland Fire Destroys 1,800 Buildings; 12,000 Homeless
- July 5, 1906
- Colby's Jack Coombs Makes Major League Debut for Philadelphia Athletics
- July 7, 1876
- Augusta Man Named Treasury Secretary for President Grant
- July 8, 1524
- Verrazano Becomes First Known European to Visit Maine
- July 8, 1908
- Nelson Rockefeller Born in Bar Harbor
- July 8, 1916
- President Wilson Designates Sieur de Monts National Monument. "The site becomes Lafayette National Park in 1919…it is the embryonic form of what later will become Acadia National Park."
- July 10, 1962
- First Transatlantic TV Signal Beamed from Andover Via Telstar 1
Are you curious? Anything grab your interest? Over 600 news articles to peruse and enjoy learning Maine history. Only $18.95 for hours of compiled local happenings and excellent photos to spur you on.
Joseph Owen, an accomplished journalist for forty years here and abroad, has masterfully collated volumes of news reports with his wife Mary as a constant support. He serves on the board for our Kennebec Historic Society.
Look for his reports on the Berlin Wall and the Persian Gulf War and twenty countries beyond the U.S. I especially enjoy his background knowledge about Lafayette, L.L. Bean, Poland Springs, [Joshua] Chamberlain, and Samantha Smith.
Go see Samantha's bronze statue outside our Maine State Museum in Augusta. We were in Manchester the day Samantha was welcomed home in a big town parade from her trip to Russia. She was quite the young, diplomatic letter writer.
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