Beginning on May 1, this town’s name will actually be in the mailing addresses to residents.

For more years than most people can remember, mail going to Carthage people has been sent to Dixfield. With the new E-911 emergency communication system, all streets have been named and everyone is being assigned a street address to go with the town’s name of Carthage. The zip code, which is the same as Dixfield’s, will continue to be 04224.

Selectman Brenda Flagg said about 300 letters to residents and out-of-state property owners will be mailed by the end of this week stating the household’s new address. That new address will not have to be used until May 1.

Also in May, 72 new green and white signs designating the names of the roads will be posted along the town’s streets and roads. This, too, is new.

“We’ve never had official signs before,” said Flagg.

The names of the town’s streets and roads have just been “commonly” known, said Flagg.

Naming the roads has taken about two years by a small group of residents working with the E-911 system. The town has raised about $4,000 to pay for the signs and posts and for the labor needed to install them.

– Eileen M. Adams
Gilead

Local history

subject of book

Chances are that everything anyone has ever wanted to know about Gilead can be found in a new history, just published in honor of this small, Western Maine town’s bicentennial.

The soft-cover book, entitled “Town of Gilead History,” written by Howard Reichi, will be available for $10 from Administrative Assistant Beverley Corriveau or Town Clerk Lynn Chapman. Both women are on the town’s Bicentennial Committee.

Corriveau said Reichi owns property in the town and has written at least two other history books on other communities in Maine. About 350 copies of the book will be available.

Gilead, incorporated in June, 1804, will celebrate its 200th birthday on June 26 this year.

The committee has held several fund-raisers so far, and plans to hold a couple more before the big event.

– Eileen M. Adams
Byron

Growth forces

board into action

The Planning Board of this tiny town of about 110 people has been dormant for nearly a dozen years.

Not anymore.

“Byron has been discovered,” said Melissa Plourde, treasurer and tax collector for the northern Oxford County town. “We want a handle on things.”

The board was reactivated last week when David Duguay was named chairman. The board plans to meet again at 7 p.m. on Thursday March 4 in the Town Office.

Besides Duguay, Planning Board members are Plourde, Town Clerk Rosie White and Christopher Edmunds.

Town officials, as well as residents, will continue to be busy when they meet for the annual town meeting at 6:30 p.m. on Monday, March 8, in the Coos Canyon Schoolhouse. As usual, the Byron Historical Society will hold a food sale prior to the meeting to raise money for a variety of community projects.

-Eileen M. Adams

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