Bangor, Maine: From Past to Present

Bangor thrives in the heart of Maine and is home to the famous authors Stephen and Tabitha King. Bangor is about to celebrate its 175^th year. Let's celebrate by looking back at some of Bangor's past.

Bangor was founded by Jacob Buswell who traveled into the District of Maine in 1769, with his wife and nine kids in search of better lives. The area was not called Bangor until later on.

Buswell built his cabin on a scenic hillside where the future St. John's Catholic Church on York Street would stand. Buswell was said to be a poor man, fisherman, boat-builder, and cooper (cask and barrel maker).

In 1770, Buswell's son Steven married Lucy Goodwin and moved from Castine with Caleb Goodwin, his wife and eight children. They all settled down in their own log huts not far from Jacob.

Word then spread quickly that the land of Conduskeag was fertile with untainted water. Families poured into the area over the next two years.

Come 1772, twelve families were set up in the area. This was enough people to foster a store, a sawmill and a school.

Settlers lived in fear of the Penobscot Indian's brutality, but they soon learned their fears were unfounded. The natives were a peaceful tribe and traded with the white man.

In 1789, the town still did not have its first organized church. But in an outdoor ceremony, Seth L. Noble, the town's first parson, became the town's first minister.

The residents of Conduskeag, now had 567 people, decided to incorporate the town. According to legend, and absent-minded Seth Noble, went to Boston to the General Court of Massachusetts, holding a petition to change Conduskeag's name to Sunbury. He returned with the name Bangor. Bangor came from a Noble's favorite Welsh hymn by William Tansur.

Regardless of the truth of how Bangor received its name, the town moved into the nineteenth century whilst continuing to grow.

Bangor's reputation grew in the 1820's as a world-class lumber capital with over 300 sawmills in operation. Due to the large expansion west, more Americans required wood for shelter and for fuel. Maine's white pine was the timber of choice. Thanks to Maine's lumber popularity, Bangor grew in several ways; its reputation grew worldwide and it grew in self-confidence.

Bangor was solicited for its city charter in 1834, and has been referred to as the Queen City of the East.

The arts community was lively in 1834. Music societies arose commemorating composers such as Bach, Beethoven, Handel, Shumann, and Mendelssohn. The Bangor Musical Association formed in 1847, followed in 1848 by the Penobscot Musical Association, the Bangor Conservatory of Music in 1868, and the Maine Music Festival in 1897. In 1929 the Northern Conservatory of music was formed but closed in 1972 due to financial difficulties.

Citizens of Bangor, or Bangoreans, listened to local groups, but also enjoyed listening to performers at the Penobscot Theater, Bangor Fair, Bangor Auditorium, City Hall and Norumberga Hall.

At 150 years-old, the Bangor Band is the oldest community band. The band consisted of all men at the start, but over the years took on women. The band originally was known as the Bangor Cornet Band and played at sixty events including parties, parades, and cotillions. They performed at these events using second-hand instruments. Due to an increase in community support and general interest in the band, a woman's group replaced the band's used instruments with new ones.

The band became a regimental band during the civil war and was attached to the Second Maine infantry and the Fourteenth Maine Regiment. In 1865, the band was on hand when the Union forces captured Fort Sumter from the confederacy.

Several singers and songwriters were born in Bangor: Howie Day, Dick Curless and George Fredrick Root are among them.

The artists who favored Bangor or also called Bangor home were: portrait painters Jeremiah Pearson Hardy and Anna Eliza Hardy, Waldo Pierce and Charles Eugene Tefft.

Bangoreans also loved the theater. The theater was built in 1836 and could hold 900 people. The cost for tickets were seventy-five cents for a box seat, twenty-five cents for a gallery seat and about thirty-eight cents for the pit. The Bangor theater was destroyed by fire but was rebuilt. The second theater also burned and was replaced by an opera house. In 1914, the opera house was destroyed by fire and a cinema was built in its place from 1919-1920.

Dancing schools were also important to Bangoreans. The Polly Thomas' School of Dance and the Robinson Ballet are still in operation today.

Over the past several years, the citizens of Bangor have enjoyed many sports from baseball, basket ball, and football, to fishing, harness racing, and wrestling.

This year is Bangor's 175^th birthday and to commemorate the event, local museums are providing a modern look into Bangor's history. The following are the participating museums: Bangor Museum and Center for History, Bangor Police Museum, and Cole Land Transportation.

Resources:

Shaw, Richard R. "The Founding of Bangor." The Bangor Daily News 29 June 2009

http://www.bangordailynews.com/external/bangor175th/

Shaw, Richard R. "How Bangor Got her Name." The Bangor Daily News 29 June 2009

http://www.bangordailynews.com/external/bangor175th/

Bell, Debra. "Area Museums Provide Modern Look at Bangor's Past." The Bangor Daily News 29 June

2009 http://www.bangordailynews.com/external/bangor175th/

Bell, Debra. "Bangoreans Loved the Artistic Life." The Bangor Daily News 29 June 2009

http://www.bangordailynews.com/external/bangor175th/

? "So You Think You Know Bangor?." The Bangor Daily News 29 June 2009

http://www.bangordailynews.com/external/bangor175th/