Dec. 5, 1933: The U.S. Constitution’s 14-year prohibition of alcohol consumption, an outgrowth of the Maine Liquor Law of the 1850s, comes to an end when Utah becomes the 36th state to ratify the 21st Amendment. The Constitution requires that for an amendment to take effect, it must be passed by a two-thirds majority in […]
Bicentennial
Stories about Maine’s 202 Bicentennial from the Sun Journal.
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On this date in Maine history: Dec. 4
Dec. 4, 1816: The Massachusetts General Court dissolves a Brunswick convention held to determine the results of a Sept. 2 referendum on whether Maine should separate from Massachusetts. The decision is a blow to pro-separatists, who badly mismanaged their accounting of the referendum result. Dec. 4, 1899: U.S. House Speaker Thomas Brackett Reed (1839-1902) of […]
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On this date in Maine history: Dec. 3
Dec. 3, 1987: Former Gov. Robert N. Haskell dies in Bangor at the age of 85. Haskell served five and a half days as governor in January 1959. Haskell, an electrical engineer who was promoted to president of the Bangor Hydro-Electric Co. in 1958, became governor when Gov. Edmund S. Muskie resigned on Jan. 2, […]
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On this date in Maine history: Dec. 2
Dec. 2, 1895: U.S. Rep. Thomas Brackett Reed (1839-1902), a Republican from Portland, becomes speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. He serves in that office until March 1899, a period that encompasses the sinking of the USS Maine in Havana harbor and the Spanish-American War, which started because of that sinking. Reed unsuccessfully seeks […]
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On this date in Maine history: Dec. 1
Dec. 1, 1994: President Bill Clinton appoints Maine’s retiring U.S. Sen. George Mitchell to be his special adviser on economic initiatives in Ireland. Mitchell, 60, served in the Senate for 15 years and was the Senate majority leader for the last six of those years. His new appointment is preparation for a much more demanding […]
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On this date in Maine history: Nov. 30
Nov. 30, 1989: A massive fire destroys most of the long-vacant former Edwards Manufacturing Co. mill complex in Augusta at the base of Sand Hill. The fire, which could be seen up to 20 miles away, began inside an elevator in the north end of the building, according to some workers there. Reported at 3 […]
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On this date in Maine history: Nov. 29
Nov. 29, 1882: Calais native James Shepherd Pike dies at 71 after a journalism career that brought him fame first for his ardent anti-slavery, anti-Confederacy views, and later for his sensationalistic criticism of corruption that thrived under Ulysses Grant’s administration as well as what Pike portrayed as the abominable misrule by freed Blacks in the […]
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On this date in Maine history: Nov. 28
Nov. 28, 1981: Longtime Somerset County Deputy Sheriff Bud Hendsbee and his wife, Helen, a Madison selectwoman, leave home in their pickup truck, headed for Farmington, where they plan to have dinner at a new restaurant. According to an account given later by Bud Hendsbee, as they pass through the tiny town of Starks on […]
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On this date in Maine history: Nov. 27
Nov. 27, 1898: The steamship Portland sinks in what comes to be known as the Portland Gale, resulting in the deaths of about 200 people, including 63 crew members. The ship is bound from Boston to Portland when the storm strikes off Cape Ann in Massachusetts, causing New England’s worst maritime disaster of the 19th […]
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On this date in Maine history: Nov. 26
Nov. 26, 1861: Humorist Artemus Ward (1834-1867) makes his debut as what today would be called a stand-up comedian, in New London, Connecticut. Ward, whose real name is Charles Farrar Browne, was born in Waterford, Maine, and used Yankee speech mannerisms and deliberately misspelled words in his columns published under the “Artemus Ward” pen name […]