March 28, 2006: Caspar Weinberger, U.S. secretary of defense for seven years under President Ronald Reagan, dies at age 88 at Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor from pneumonia complications. In the Reagan administration, Weinberger took the lead in directing a rollback strategy against Soviet communism. He was indicted in the Iran-Contra scandal, involving a violation […]
Bicentennial
Stories about Maine’s 202 Bicentennial from the Sun Journal.
Posted inBicentennial, Local & State, News
On this date in Maine history: March 27
March 27, 1942: A day after setting off eastward from Casco Bay, the U.S. Navy’s Task Force 39 plows through a heavy sea off Nova Scotia in the North Atlantic, heading for Scotland’s Orkney Islands to reinforce the Home Guard while the British navy participates in a World War II invasion of Madagascar, then under the […]
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Posted inBicentennial, Local & State, News
On this date in Maine history: March 26
March 26, 2009: Old Town resident Matthew Cushing, 22, is sentenced to life in prison for stabbing his mother, his stepfather and his half brother to death at their home in Old Orchard Beach and setting their house on fire to cover his tracks. The court sentences him to three life terms for the murder […]
Posted inBicentennial, Local & State, News, Uncategorized
On this date in Maine history: Lewiston-Auburn shoe workers go on strike in 1937
March 25, 1937: Workers at shoe manufacturers in Lewiston and Auburn initiate a strike that grows to more than 4,000 workers by early April. The strike draws widespread attention but ends three months later in failure. In Maine, where many shoe manufacturers had set up shop to flee the unions’ organizing power in Massachusetts, shoemaking […]
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On this date in Maine history: March 24
March 24, 1958: Life magazine’s cover depicts sculptor Louise Nevelson (1899-1988) wearing a witch’s hat and crouching behind one of her creations. The magazine’s cover article reveals to the nation Nevelson’s “Moon Garden + One” exhibition at the Grand Central Moderns gallery in New York, which opened in January that year and elevates Nevelson, who grew […]
Posted inBicentennial, Local & State
Why is Augusta named Augusta, and why was it chosen as Maine’s capital?
The exact origins of Augusta’s name remain somewhat of a mystery.
Posted inBicentennial, Local & State
On this date in Maine history: March 23
March 23, 1838: Piscataquis County, Maine’s 12th county, is formed from parts of Penobscot and Somerset counties. The county is the location of Moosehead Lake, the state’s largest lake; and Mount Katahdin, the state’s highest mountain. With a population of about 16,800 in 2018, it also is Maine’s least populous county. The number of residents in 2018 […]
Posted inBicentennial, Local & State, News, Uncategorized
On this date in Maine history: March 22
March 22, 1848: Dr. Valorus Perry Coolidge of Waterville is convicted of murder and sentenced to hang for killing Edward Mathews on the night of Sept. 30, 1847, in Waterville and robbing him of about $1,500 that Mathews had just withdrawn from a local bank to lend to the debt-ridden Coolidge. The case became a […]
Posted inBicentennial, Local & State, News, Uncategorized
On this date in Maine history: March 21
March 21, 2015: A lift at Sugarloaf ski resort in Carrabassett Valley stops and rolls backward, injuring seven adults, four of whom require hospital treatment. The incident strands about 200 skiers and snowboarders on the lift for about 90 minutes. On June 25, Sugarloaf announces $1.3 million in upgrades to lift safety, including a new […]
Posted inBicentennial, Local & State, News, Uncategorized
On this date in Maine history: March 20
March 20, 1838: Franklin County is formed from parts of Cumberland, Kennebec and Somerset counties. Maine’s 11th county is its second-least-populous and one of its most mountainous. It is the location of the Sugarloaf skiing area and the site of the now-defunct Saddleback ski resort. March 20, 1852: J.P. Jewett, a Boston publisher, begins its initial […]