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Subject: [MAINE] History of Ellsworth, Maine
Date: Fri, 23 Mar 2007 12:53:44 EDT

History of Ellsworth, Maine
Source: Wikipedia
* According to the history of the Passamaquoddy Indians, the Ellsworth
area was originally inhabited by members of the Passamaquoddy and Penobscot
tribes: "Both groups speak closely related Algonquian languages, although
anthropologists generally group the Passamaquoddies linguistically with the
Maliseets and the Penobscots with the Abenakis." _[2]_
(http://www.passamaquoddy.com/history.htm)
* Modern historians now believe that Norse and other sailors explored
the Maine coast before the voyages of Columbus, and may even have settled
there. However, the earliest recorded European settlers in the general area of
Ellsworth were the French, perhaps as early as the 1500s.
* George J. Varney, in the 'Hancock County, Maine' section of his
famous GAZETTEER OF THE STATE OF MAINE, published in Boston in 1886, wrote: "The
first European who made definite mention of the Penobscot bay and river, which
wash its western side, was Thevet, a French explorer, in 1556. Martin Pring
amid Captain Weymouth, the English explorers, sailed along its shores in 1603
and 1605, and DeMonts, the Frenchman, explored some portions of the coast in
1604 and 1605. There is a tradition that Rosier, the historian of Weymouth's
expedition, explored Deer Island thoroughfare, making a halt at the bold
promontory in Brooksville, known as Cape Rosier. They found the county occupied
by a tribe of Indians, who with those on Passamaquoddy waters, were noted
for their long journeys in canoes; whence the general name for these Indians,
Etechmins. DeMonts claimed the country in the name of the King of France in
the true Catholic style, setting up a cross and calling the country “Acadie.”
By this name it continued to be known until the capture of Quebec by General
Wolfe in 1759. When Weymouth came in 1605, he also claimed the country in the
name of his King, James I of England. Thus the two leading powers of Europe
became adverse claimants of the soil of Hancock County, and the wars these
claims occasioned kept the county an almost unbroken wilderness during the
provincial history of Maine."
* It is very likely that the French who founded a colony at Somes Sound
on Mount Desert Island in 1613, under the patronage of Madame de
Guercheville, explored the Ellsworth area and what is now the watershed of the Union
River. (Varney believes that there were French settlements of some kind or
another as close to Ellsworth as Trenton, Oak Point, Newbury Neck and Surry.)
* The Ellsworth area was disputed between the English and the French
throughout the 17th century and well into the 18th century, during period of
intermittent warfare which has generally been known as the "French and Indian
Wars." Native American inhabitants of the Ellsworth area may have converted to
Roman Catholicism and fought with the French against the English until the
fall of Quebec City to the English in 1759. After the 1763 signing of the
"Treaty of Paris" by the governments of England, France, Spain and Portugal,
Ellsworth became part of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
* The modern history of Ellsworth begins with the settlement of the
Union River area around 1763 by a party of English led by entrepreneurs Benjamin
Milliken and Benjamin Joy, from southern Maine and New Hampshire, who
intended to build dams and saw mills to exploit the area's timber and water power.
They applied for grants offered by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to
encourage settlement of the Hancock County area. Historian Albert H. Davis -- in
his HISTORY OF ELLSWORTH, MAINE, published in Lewiston, ME in 1927 -- relates
what is known of this early expedition and points to the northern end of the
present Water Street, just to the south of the present bridge across the
Union River, as the site of the earlier crude buildings erected by the pioneers.
* George J. Varney describes the process of land grants by the
Commonwealth of Massachusetts as follows: "The first grants of land in the county
were six townships, each six miles square, between the rivers Penobscot and
Union (then known as the Donaqua), which were granted to David Marsh et als, by
the General Court of Massachusetts, upon conditions, one of which was that
they should settle each township with 60 Protestant families within six years.
These grants were No. 1, Bucksport; 2, Orland; 3, Penobscot; ; 4, Sedgwick;
5, Bluehill; and 6, Surry. Six other townships east of the Union River were
granted on the same terms; three of which are in this county, viz.: No. 1,
Trenton, granted to Eben Thorndike, et als; 2, Sullivan, to David Bean, et als;
and 3, Mount Desert (Island) to Governor Bernard. The surveys were made by
Samuel Livermore; and as there were three of the townships on each side of the
river, it gave rise to the name which the stream now bears."
* In 1773 the first schooner was built at Ellsworth. This was the
"Susan and Abigail," named after the daughters of the two most prominent citizens,
Benjamin Milliken and Benjamin Joy. The vessel carried pine shingles and oak
staves in annual voyages to the West Indies. In the years that followed, up
to the beginning of the 20th century, a great many schooners of various sizes
were built in Ellsworth shipyards along the Union River.
* Albert Davis records that in the latter part of the 18th century,
Ellsworth was known as the 'Union River Settlement' and was adjacent to the
settlements of Surry (to the east) and Trenton (to the south). Later it was
organized as 'Plantation No. 7' and at times called 'Bowdoin' and 'New Bowdoin.'
In 1798 the local inhabitants petitioned to be formally incorporated under
the name 'Sumner.' That name having been already taken by a settlement in
Oxford County, Maine, the town was finally incorporated by the Commonwealth of
Massachusetts in 1800 as Ellsworth, named for _Oliver Ellsworth_
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_Ellsworth) , the Connecticut delegate to the 1787
National Convention that was then working on a Constitution for the new United
States of America, and later the 3rd Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. (Oliver
Ellsworth is thought to be the person who first suggested the name "United
States of America" for the newly formed country.)
* Davis reports that in the late 1770s there were British raids on the
Union River Settlement, with attempts to appropriate the local cattle.
However, there were no formal battles in the Ellsworth area during the
Revolutionary War.
* In 1838 Ellsworth became the county seat of Hancock County, replacing
Castine in that role. The original 1838 county buildings still stand, west
of the Union River, on Bridge Hill.
* Between 1860 and 1865 Ellsworth sent 653 soldiers to fight in the
Civil War, according to historian Albert Davis. This was at a time when there
were only 847 (male) voters in the area. Military training was held in front of
the county buildings on Bridge Hill, west of the Union River, at the site of
the present Civil War Monument.
* In 1869 Ellsworth was incorporated as a city by the Maine
Legislature. The first City Hall was Hancock Hall, which stood at the corner of Main
Street and School Street. It was destroyed by the Great Ellsworth Fire of 1933.
* In 1888 electricity was first introduced into the Ellsworth area.
* The disputed city elections in 1896 resulted in the appointment of
two separate Ellsworth police forces, each of which threatened to arrest the
other!
* Work on the famous Ellsworth hydro-electric dam was begun in 1907, at
the site of one of the original Benjamin Milliken Union River dams. This led
to the creation of the present Leonard's Lake just to the north of the city.
* Ellsworth's first great disaster of the 20th century was the Great
Flood of 1923. A spring freshet rushed over the dam and carried off the metal
Union River Bridge, along with many buildings located along the river, such as
the well-known Dirigo Theater, the Foundry and many wharves and warehouses.
This event marked the end of Ellsworth's prominence as a shipping center. The
present concrete bridge was finished in 1924.
* The Great Fire of 1933 destroyed most of Ellsworth's Downtown
commercial district, on the east side of the Union River. New buildings were
re-built in brick, mainly in the Art Deco style. The unique Ellsworth City Hall
dates from this period. Fortunately, many of the old houses outside the business
district survived the conflagration.
* The 1960s and 70s saw the development of a new Ellsworth business
district on High Street, which is the direct route to and from _Bar Harbor
(town), Maine_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bar_Harbor_(town),_Maine) and
_Acadia National Park_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acadia_National_Park) . This
area is now the largest shopping district in Hancock County, with several
shopping centers and many large stores, stretching nearly to the
Ellsworth-Trenton boundary. Congested traffic during the summer months has led to attempts in
recent years to change the road network, especially at the busy intersection
of Route 1 and Route 3, known as "The Triangle."




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