Sept. 9, 1957: Maine voters approve a change to the Maine Constitution that ends the 137-year-old practice of holding statewide elections on the second Monday in September. Instead, that voting will occur on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November, just as it does in every other state. The September date was designated […]

Sept. 7, 1943: In the midst of World War II’s Italian campaign, a former Maine governor, William Tudor Gardiner, takes part in a secret mission to meet with Italian generals before the Italians strike an armistice with the United States. Italian forces smuggle Gardiner, then a U.S. Army colonel, and Army Brig. Gen. Maxwell Taylor, […]

Sept. 6, 1786: A two-day convention on a proposal to separate Maine from Massachusetts, the third such gathering to be held on the subject within a year, opens in Falmouth (now Portland). Thirty-one delegates representing 22 towns attend. The convention appears to be divided, with the pro-separation group having a slight edge. Eventually it decides, […]

Sept. 5, 1813: In a War of 1812 encounter, the U.S. brigantine Enterprise intercepts the British brigantine Boxer as it chases and fires upon a merchant ship heading to port in Bath. Capt. Samuel Blyth, 29, the British commander, was trying to disrupt commerce along the New England coast, especially in Maine. After a morning […]