Gazetteer of the State of Maine With Numerous Illustrations, by Geo. J. Varney
BOSTON: PUBLISHED BY B. B. RUSSELL, 57 CORNHILL. 1882. Public domain image from
GUILFORD. 263
than most of our legislative statutes have been. In 1812 Caleb Leavitt came in from Athens, and, by virtue of a legal warrant, organized the quiet little borough of Lowstown into Plantation No. 6, 7th range. In 1816 the inhabitants petitioned the General Court for incorporation as the town of Fluvanna. The court granted the act of incorporation, but changed the name to Guilford. The first town meeting was called by a warrant from Samuel Pingree to Joseph Kelsey. Sixty-three years later, there lived but three of those who voted at that meeting— Elias Davis, Zebulon P. Grover and Isaac B. Wharff. There are Bap- tist, Universalist and Methodist societies in town, all these having church-edifices. The buildings generally are fresh and neat in their appearance, and the Odd-Fellows Hall and a new school-house add to the beauty of this thrifty village, Guilford has eight public schoolhouses, 277 registered scholars, and expended for school purposes from April 1, 1878, to April 1, 1879, $1,094. The valuation of estates in 1870 was $213,091. In 1880 it was $253,578. The rate of taxation in 1880 was 2 cents on the dollar. The population in 1870 was 818. By the cen- sus of 1880 it was 881.
Hallowell, in Kennebec County, was incorporated in 1771, and included Augusta, Chelsea and part of Manchester. It was named for Mr. Benjamin Hallowell, who was a large proprietor in the Kenne- bec Patent. The settlement here was formerly called The Hook, the other village in town being Fort Western, now in Augusta. The latter city was set off as the town of Harrington in 1797, and Man- chester and Chelsea in 1850. Hallowell was incorporated a city in the latter year, and accepted its charter in 1852.
The city is situated on the western bank of the Kennebec River, at the head of steam navigation,having Augusta for its northern boundary, Chelsea on the east, and separated from it by the Kennebec. Farming- dale bounds it on the south, and Manchester on the west. The streets and terraces of the village on the curving hillside form an amphitheatre about a little harbor made by the broadening of the river. The attrac- tiveness of this picturesque village is further enhanced by old apple- orchards at various points and shade-trees along the streets. The streams are the Kennebec, which forms its eastern boundary, and Vaughns Brook. This brook is notable for its cascades and its historic associations. It was part of the home estate of Benjamin Vaughn, and once, if tradition is correct, served to give a wetting to Talleyrand, the celebrated prim e-minister of Louis Phillipe, King of France. The power on this stream is now made useful in running a wire-factory, saw and other mills, near its junction with the Kennebec. The other manufactures are the Hallowell Cotton Manufacturing Company, run- ning 15,000 spindles; two oilcloth factories—Sampsons and Wilders —employing respectively 55 and 30 men ; a brass and iron foundry, and the Hallowell Granite Company, which produces about $350,000 worth of wrought stone-work annually. Most of this is from the white granite of the Hallowell quarries. Many notable monuments and buildings have been constructed from this granite, wrought in the shops at Hallowell. Among them are the Soldiers Monument, on Boston Common ; the Sphinx, at Mount Auburn ; the Pilgrims Mon- ument, at Plymouth, Mass.; the Firemans Monument, at Detroit, Mich.; Garrisons Monument and the Bridges Tomb, at St. Louis, Mo.;
PREVIOUS PAGE ... NEXT PAGE
This page was written in HTML using a program written in Python 3.2
|