Maine History Timeline

• 1622-08-10 John Mason and Ferdinando Gorges receive a land patent of the Province of Maine.
• 1634-05-31 The colony of Massachusetts Bay annexes Maine colony
• 1642-03-01 Georgeana (York) in Maine becomes the 1st incorporated American city

• 1677-03-13 Massachusetts gains title to Maine for $6,000
• 1691-10-17 New royal charter for Massachusetts, now including Maine, Plymouth
• 1722-07-25 The Three Years War begins along the Maine and Massachusetts border
• 1775-10-16 Portland, Maine burned by British
• 1794-06-24 Bowdoin College is founded in Maine, USA
• 1805-10-18 45 women meet at Mrs Silas Lee's home in Wiscasset, Maine, organizes Female Charitable Society, one of the earliest women's clubs in America
• 1820-03-15 Maine admitted as 23rd state of the Union
• 1834-06-14 Hardhat diving suit patented by Leonard Norcross of Dixfield, Maine
• 1837-12-29 Steam-powered threshing machine patented in Winthrop, Maine
• 1839-02-12 Aroostoock (or "Pork & Beans) War: Boundary dispute between Maine & New Brunswick

• 1843-03-07 1st Catholic governor in US, Edward Kavanagh of Maine, takes office
• 1851-06-02 1st US alcohol prohibition law enacted (Maine)
• 1853-07-18 Completion of Grand Trunk Line, trains begin running over 1st North American railroad between Portland, Maine and Montreal
• 1855-06-02 The Portland Rum Riot occurs in Portland, Maine
• 1866-07-04 Firecracker thrown in wood starts fire destroying half of Portland, Maine, US
• 1872-07-09 Doughnut cutter patents granted to John Blondel, Thomaston, Maine
• 1876-02-17 Sardines first canned by Julius Wolff in Eastport, Maine

• 1881-07-01 1st international telephone conversation, Calais, Maine to St Stephen, New Brunswick
• 1890-07-20 Snow and hail in Calais, Maine
• 1894-02-03 1st US steel sailing vessel, Dirigo, launched at Bath, Maine
• 1898-02-15 USS Maine sinks in Havana harbor, cause unknown, 258 sailors die
• 1905-06-10 1st forest fire lookout tower placed in operation at Greenville, Maine
• 1911-07-10 105°F (41°C) at North Bridgton, Maine (state record)
• 1912-07-10 Hannes Kolehmainen runs world record 5000m (14:36.6)
• 1912-10-20 Hannes Kolehmainen runs world record marathon (2:29:39.2)
• 1913-07-03 Common tern banded in Maine; found dead in 1919 in Africa (1st bird known to have crossed the Atlantic)
• 1919-02-26 Acadia National Park forms (as Lafayette N P), Maine
• 1925-01-19 -48°F (-44°C), Van Buren, Maine (state record)
• 1928-12-20 1st international dogsled mail leaves Minot, Maine for Montreal, Quebec
• 1929-01-19 Acadia National Park, Maine established
• 1937-08-14 Appalachian Trail is formally completed, traversing 2,000 miles and 14 US States, Georgia to Maine
• 1939-05-23 Submarine USS Squalus sinks in the Gulf of Maine, drowning 26, 33 remaining crew rescued from a depth of 243 ft (74 m) by divers using newly developed heliox air systems (divers later awarded the Medal of Honor)
• 1946-09-29 Al Couture knockouts Ralph Walton in Lewiston Maine in 10 secs
• 1947-12-13 Maine Turnpike opens to traffic
• 1954-09-11 20.4 cm rainfall at Brunswick, Maine (state record)
• 1958-11-30 1st US guided missile destroyer launched - the Dewey at Bath Iron Works, Maine
• 1964-01-27 Margaret Chase Smith (Sen-R-Maine) tries for Republican President bid

• 1975-06-02 James A Healy, 1st black Roman Catholic bishop, consecrated (Maine)
• 1983-07-07 11-year-old Samantha Smith of Manchester, Maine, leaves for USSR
• 1983-10-11 Last hand-cranked telephones US went out of service as 440 telephone customers in Bryant Pond, Maine, were switched over to direct-dial
• 1987-04-23 NJ Devils farm team Maine Mariners (AHL) move to Utica (Devils) NY
• 1987-11-12 Heavy snow closes schools from DC to Maine
• 1996-09-27 The Julie N. tanker skip crashes into the Million Dollar Bridge in Portland, Maine spilling thousands of gallons of oil.
• 1998-02-10 Voters in Maine repeal a gay rights law passed in 1997 becoming the first U.S. state to abandon the law

• 2012-11-07 Voters in Maine, Maryland and Washington approve measures for same-sex marriage
• 2019-01-14 Spinning disk of ice 300m wide, resembling the moon, forms in the Presumpscot river, Westbrook, Maine
• 2021-02-15 Major winter storm in the US stretches from Texas to Maine, over 3 million without power in Texas, goes on to kill 210 people
• 2023-10-25 At least 18 people killed and 13 injured in a massed shooting in Lewiston, Maine sending the area into lockdown with the suspect still at large [1]
• 2023-10-27 Lewiston, Maine mass shooter who killed 18 people is found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound at his former place of employment [1]

Birthdays 1 - 100 of 148

• 1696-06-27 William Pepperrell, British colonial soldier, born in Kittery, Maine (d. 1759)
• 1730-01-14 William Whipple, American merchant & judge (signatory of the Declaration of Independence), born in Kittery, Maine (d. 1785)
• 1751-03-29 Supply Belcher, American composer and singer (The Harmony of Maine), born in Stoughton, Massachusetts (d. 1836)
• 1789-09-09 William Cranch Bond, American astronomer (codiscovered Hyperion), born in Falmouth, Maine (d. 1859)
• 1797-05-06 Joseph Brackett, American religious leader (Shakers) and composer (Simple Gifts), born in Cumberland, Maine (d. 1882)

• 1802-11-09 Elijah Parish Lovejoy, American newspaper publisher and abolitionist, born in Albion, Maine (d. 1837)
• 1804-03-20 Neal Dow, American Brigadier General (Union Army), born in Portland, Maine (d. 1897)
• 1806-01-20 Nathaniel Parker Willis, American writer, editor and founder of the American Monthly Magazine, born in Portland, Maine (d. 1867)
• 1806-05-26 Henry Thatcher, American rear admiral (U.S. Navy), born in Thomaston, Maine (d. 1880)
• 1807-02-27 Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, American poet (Song of Hiawatha), born in Portland, Maine (d. 1882)
• 1808-12-07 Hugh McCulloch, US Treasury Secretary (1865-69, 1884-85), born in Kennebunk, Maine (d. 1895)
• 1809-10-22 Volney E. Howard, American politician, born in Oxford County, Maine (d. 1889)
• 1811-01-05 Cyrus Hamlin, American educator/missionary (est Robert College, Turkey), born in Waterford, Maine (d. 1900)
• 1811-06-19 Henry Prince, American Brigadier General (Union Army), born in Eastport, Maine (d. 1892)
• 1812-03-06 Aaron Lufkin Dennison 'Father of American watchmaking', American watch manufacturer and businessman (Tremont Watch Company), born in Freeport, Maine (d. 1895)
• 1813-05-06 Joseph Tarr Copeland, American Brigadier General (Union Army), born in New Castle, Maine (d. 1893)
• 1813-06-06 Israel Washburn Jr., American politician, U.S. House of Representatives from Maine (1853-61), born in Livermore, Massachusetts (d. 1883)
• 1814-12-27 James Henry Carleton, American Brevet Major General (Union Army), born in Lubec, Maine (d. 1873)
• 1816-10-06 William Batchelder Bradbury, American composer, born in York, Maine (d. 1868)
• 1816-12-27 Eliakim Parker Scammon, American Brigadier General (Union Army), born in Whitefield, Maine (d. 1894)
• 1818-03-13 Albion Parris Howe, American Brevet Major General (Union Army), born in Standish, Maine (d. 1897)
• 1818-04-22 Cadwallader Colden Washburn, American Major General (Union Army), born in Livermore, Maine (d. 1882)
• 1818-08-23 Rufus Ingalls, American Brevet Major General (Union Army), born in Denmark, Maine (d. 1893)
• 1819-01-01 George Foster Shepley, American Brigadier General (Union Army), born in Saco, Maine (d. 1878)
• 1819-04-28 Ezra Abbot, American Bible scholar, born in Jackson, Maine (d. 1884)
• 1819-10-10 Zebulon York, American Brigadier General (Confederate Army), born in Avon, Maine (d. 1900)
• 1820-08-03 Luther Orlando Emerson, American composer, born in Parsonsfield, Maine (d. 1915)
• 1821-08-04 James Springer White, American theologian (co-founder of the Seventh-day Adventist Church), born in Palmyra, Maine (d. 1881)
• 1822-03-22 Seth Williams, American Brevet Major General (Union Army), born in Augusta, Maine (d. 1866)
• 1822-04-15 Napoleon Jackson Tecumseh Dana, American Major General (Union Army), born in Eastport, Maine (d. 1905)
• 1824-08-20 Absalom Baird, American Brevet Major General (Union Army), born in Rockland, Maine (d. 1905)
• 1825-05-21 George Lafayette Beal, American politician and Brevet Major General (Union Army), born in Norway, Maine (d. 1896)
• 1826-07-21 James Gillpatrick Blunt, American physician, abolitionist, and Major General (Union Army), born in Trenton, Maine (d. 1881)
• 1826-08-27 Frank Stillman Nickerson, American Brigadier General (Union Army), born in Swanville, Maine (d. 1917)
• 1827-02-24 Charles Davis Jameson, American politician and Brigadier General (Union Army), born in Gorham, Maine (d. 1862)

• 1828-07-29 Cuvier Grover, American Brevet Major General (Union Army), born in Bethel, Maine (d. 1885)
• 1828-09-08 Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, American professor and Brevet Major General (Union Army), born in Brewer, Maine (d. 1914)
• 1830-04-30 Davis Tillson, American Brevet Major General (Union Army), born in Rockland, Maine (d. 1895)
• 1830-05-30 Edward Winslow Hinks, American Brevet Major General (Union Army), born in Bucksport, Maine (d. 1894)
• 1830-11-08 Oliver Otis Howard, American Major General (Union Army), born in Leeds, Maine (d. 1909)
• 1832-12-22 Edward Hatch, American Brevet Major General (Union Army), born in Bangor, Maine (d. 1889)
• 1833-02-11 Melville Fuller, American 8th chief justice, born in Augusta, Maine (d. 1910)
• 1833-09-28 James Deering Fessenden, American lawyer, politician, and Brevet Major General (Union Army), born in Westbrook, Maine (d. 1862)
• 1834-04-26 Artemus Ward [Charles Farrar Browne], American humorist (considered to be America's first stand-up comedian), born in Waterford, Maine (d. 1867)
• 1835-09-14 Joseph Hayes, American Brevet Major General (Union Army), born in York County, Maine (d. 1912)
• 1835-10-31 Adelbert Ames, American soldier and politician, Bvt Major General (Union Army), born in Rockland, Maine (d. 1933)
• 1836-11-08 Milton Bradley, American business magnate and game manufacturer (The Game of Life), born in Vienna, Maine (d. 1911)
• 1838-02-14 Margaret E. Knight, American inventor (flat-bottomed paper bag), described as a "female Thomas Edison", born in York, Maine (d. 1914)
• 1838-10-27 John Davis Long, American politician (32nd Governor of Massachusetts 1880-1915), born in Buckfield, Maine (d. 1915)
• 1839-01-09 John Knowles Paine, American composer (Symphony No. 2 - In Spring), born in Portland, Maine (d. 1906)
• 1839-01-25 Seldon Connor, American banker, 35th Governor of Maine, and Brigadier General (Union Army), born in Fairfield, Maine, (d. 1917)
• 1839-03-18 Francis Fessenden, American lawyer, politician, and Major General (Union Army), born in Portland, Maine (d. 1906)
• 1839-04-26 Cyrus Hamblin, American attorney, politician, and Brevet Major General (Union Army), born in Hampden, Maine (d. 1867)
• 1840-02-05 Hiram Maxim, American-British inventor (Maxim gun, 1st automatic machine gun), born in Sangerville, Maine (d. 1916)
• 1841-10-04 Stephen Albert Emery, American composer and pianist, born in Paris, Maine (d. 1891)
• 1849-09-03 Sarah Orne Jewett, American author (Country of the Pointed Firs), born in South Berwick, Maine (d. 1909)
• 1849-09-28 Dudley Allen Sargent, American physician and educator (Harvard U gymnasium), born in Belfast, Maine (d. 1924)
• 1850-10-04 John McGraw, American politician 2nd Governor of Washington (1893-97), born in Penobscot County, Maine (d. 1910)
• 1855-11-07 Edwin Hall, American physicist (discovered Hall effect), born in Gorham, Maine (d. 1938)
• 1857-05-03 George Gore, American baseball player, born in Saccarappa, Maine (d. 1933)

• 1869-12-22 Edwin Arlington Robinson, American poet (Richard Corey), born in Head Tide, Maine (d. 1935)
• 1877-08-06 Wallace H. White, Jr., American politician (Senate Majority Leader), born in Lewiston, Maine (d. 1952)
• 1879-06-10 Benjamin Lambord, American composer, born in Portland, Maine (d. 1915)

• 1887-02-24 Mary Ellen Chase, American educator and author (Windswept, 1959 Sarah Hale Award), born in Blue Hill, Maine (d. 1973)
• 1892-02-22 Edna St Vincent Millay, American poet, dramatist and feminist (Harp Weaver-Pulitzer Prize), born in Rockland, Maine (d. 1950)
• 1892-03-18 Robert P.T. Coffin, American poet ("Strange Holiness", Pulitzer Prize, 1936), writer, and editor (Yankee Magazine), born in Brunswick, Maine (d. 1955)

• 1895-08-22 Paul Taylor White, American composer (Adante & Rondo for Cello), born in Bangor, Maine (d. 1973)
• 1897-08-11 Louise Bogan, American poet and critic (Sleeping Fury), born in Maine (d. 1970)
• 1897-12-14 Margaret Chase Smith, American politician (U.S. Senator from Maine), born in Skowhegan, Maine (d. 1995)
• 1898-10-16 William O. Douglas, American 81st Supreme Court justice (1939-75), born in Maine (d. 1980)
• 1899-02-27 Charles Best, American-Canadian medical scientist and co-discoverer of insulin, born in West Pembroke, Maine (d. 1978)
• 1900-09-13 Gladys George, American actress (Roaring Twenties), born in Patten, Maine (d. 1954)
• 1902-09-17 Esther Ralston, American actress (Old Ironsides), born in Bar Harbor, Maine (d. 1994)
• 1902-12-02 Horace Hildreth, American politician (Gov-Maine, 1945-49) and U.S. Ambassador to Pakistan (1953-57), born in Gardiner, Maine (d. 1988)
• 1904-08-17 John Hay Whitney, American financier, diplomat and publisher of the NY Herald Tribune (1961-67), born in Ellsworth, Maine (d. 1982) [1]
• 1906-05-14 James Flavin, American actor (King Kong, In Cold Blood, Man With a Camera), born in Portland, Maine (d. 1976)

• 1912-09-13 Reta Shaw, American actress (Ghost & Mrs Muir, Mary Poppins, Picnic), born in South Paris, Maine (d. 1982)
• 1914-01-12 Edward John Gurney, American politician, US senator (1969-74), born in Portland, Maine (d. 1996)
• 1914-03-28 Edmund Muskie, American politician (Sen-D-Me) and US Secretary of State (1980-81), born in Rumford, Maine (d. 1996)
• 1917-10-10 Ilona Ference, American actress (Quatermass II, Star of My Night), born in Bar Harbor, Maine (d. 1996)
• 1919-03-15 Randy Brooks, American jazz trumpeter and bandleader ("Harlem Nocturne'), born in Sanford, Maine (d. 1967)
• 1921-07-10 Jean "Jeff" Donnell, American actress (Gidget Goes to Rome, Hoedown, 9 Girls), born in Windham, Maine (d. 1988)
• 1921-11-20 Phyllis Thaxter, American actress (Nora, Fort Worth), born in Portland, Maine (d. 2012)
• 1924-10-09 Robert A. Rushworth, American test pilot (X-15), born in Madison, Maine (d. 1993)
• 1927-11-26 Ernie Coombs, American-Canadian children's entertainer (Mr. Dressup), born in Lewiston, Maine (d. 2001)
• 1929-11-26 Lorraine Macleod, American dancer (Girls Just Want to Have Fun), born in Maine (d. 1995)
• 1932-03-17 Dick Curless, American country music singer-songwriter (A Tombstone Every Mile), born in Fort Fairfield, Maine (d. 1995)
• 1933-08-20 George J. Mitchell, American lawyer and politician (Senate Majority Leader 1989-95), born in Waterville, Maine

• 1937-10-15 Linda Lavin, American actress (Alice, Barney Miller), born in Portland, Maine
• 1938-04-23 Roland White [LeBlanc], American bluegrass mandolin player and vocalist (Kentucky Colonels; Lester Flatt's Nashville Grass), born in Madawaska, Maine (d. 2022)
• 1938-11-09 Yvon Chouinard, American rock climber, environmentalist and philanthropist (Patagonia), born in Lewiston, Maine
• 1940-06-17 Alton Kelley, American graphic artist, known for concert posters and album cover art (Grateful Dead -"Workingman's Dead"; Steve Miller Band - "Book of Dreams"), born in Houlton, Maine (d. 2008)

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