Husson University Online celebrates term 2 academic award recipients

Husson University Online, in Bangor,  celebrates the academic achievements of students recently named to the president’s list, dean’s list and honors list for Term 2 of the 2023-2024 academic year. Courses for full-time online undergraduate students are offered over the course of seven weeks. This accelerated timeframe provides adult learners with an opportunity to balance existing personal and professional commitments as they complete their studies.
Local students include:
Kyle Duelley, of Fairfield,  dean’s list – Bachelor of Science in Healthcare Administration & Public Health.
Dana Plummer, of Waterville, President’s List – Bachelor of Science in Psychology.

Another successful year at Kringleville

Throughout December, Downtown Waterville welcomed over 2000 families who gathered to meet Santa in his Kringleville cabin. Over 700 cups of hot chocolate with cookies and other baked goods were served, and 1200 candy canes and over 1000 books were given to children. Kids also had the chance to see snowmobiles, tow trucks, Jeeps, Elves, and Elsa; They could decorate ornament crafts, listen to a DJ, learn from the Children’s Discovery Museum mobile exhibits, engage in coloring activities, or choose a bookmark for their new book. Santa’s sleigh even made an appearance to transport Santa to and from the North Pole. They also served as a collection site for the Maine Children’s Home’s Holiday Program and filled an SUV with donations.

This amazing free event could not happen without Santa’s right-hand elf Jake. Jake the elf spends the rest of the year as Rick Bryant, a dedicated board member of the museum and Christmas-spirit keeper. He organizes all of the big man’s meetings, maintains the cozy cabin, secures financing and donations, and much much more. A huge thank you to him and all that he does for Kringleville!

Waterville Creates welcomes new employees

Waterville Creates announces the arrival of five new fulltime staff members. Since moving into the Paul J. Schupf Art Center, on Main Street, in Waterville, in December 2022, Waterville Creates has consolidated the operations of the Waterville Opera House, Maine Film Center, and Ticonic Gallery + Studios.

Joining the team at the Waterville Opera House are Allison (Ally) Turlo and Juniper Purinton. Ally, coming on board as theatre technician, earned her BFA in Theater Design and Technology from Syracuse University and brings extensive design and technical skills and broad experience with scenic construction and scenic painting. Juniper, the new technical director, has more than 17 years of technical theatre experience and an extensive working knowledge of performing arts venues.

The Maine Film Center welcomes Raynor Ahlstrin-Muniec to the role of operations coordinator. A graduate of Tufts University, Raynor brings production and education-related programming experience for non- and for-profit organizations across New England.

Jackie Ferlito, who previously served Waterville Creates in an interim capacity since May 2023, joins as communications coordinator. Jackie will oversee social media channels, e-newsletters, and other communications. Waterville Creates also welcomes Chris Melville as the new director of marketing and communications. Chris will manage marketing, advertising, media and public relations, and internal and external communications.

Up and down the Kennebec Valley: Winslow, Hollingsworth & Whitney

Hollingsworth & Whitney paper mill, in Winslow.

by Mary Grow

In addition to the historic mills on Outlet Stream and smaller flowages in Winslow, Kingsbury mentioned two larger mills on the east bank of the Kennebec in the 1890s.

One he described as a new “large steam saw mill…on the historic grounds of Fort Point,” covering most of the “palisade enclosure of old Fort Halifax.”

Fort Halifax in 1754.

Old Fort Halifax was built in 1754 to deter the French and their Indian allies from attacking British settlements along the Kennebec River. After the ouster of the French from the area in 1763, the fort’s buildings were dismantled or allowed to fall down, until only one blockhouse survives, now the centerpiece of Winslow’s Fort Halifax Park. (See the Jan. 28, 2021, issue of The Town Line for more on this historic site.)

A deteriorating blockhouse at Fort Halifax, in Winslow, after the ouster of the French from the area in 1763.

The grounds went through a succession of owners and uses. The Maine Memory Network’s on-line site includes an item donated by the Winslow Historical Preservation Committee with an excerpt from the April 18, 1873, Waterville Mail commending an effort to preserve the remaining blockhouse, after “many years of talk and neglect.”

The Ticonic Water Power Co. then owned the buildings and had leased them to “Dr. Crosby” of Waterville and “J.W. Bassett and A.T. Shurtleff, of Winslow, for the purpose of preservation.”

Another on-line source says the Ticonic Water Power and Manufacturing Company was incorporated in 1868 and “acquired the water rights and property adjacent to the Ticonic Falls.” In 1874, the Ticonic Power Company “became the Lockwood Company.”

The Lockwood Company is primarily associated with the mills in Waterville, just south of Ticonic Bridge. However, an on-line history of these mills says that in 1865, Waterville resident George Alfred “achieved the complex task of assembling water and property rights on both sides of the Kennebec River” in Winslow and Waterville.

Ownership of water rights let Alfred build a dam at Ticonic Falls, finished in 1869, the site says. It goes on to discuss the Waterville mills, built by Amos D. Lockwood, an engineer from Boston and Providence, who was familiar with water power.

On the Winslow side of the river, Kingsbury wrote that Edward Ware leased the land on Fort Point from the Lockwood Company and built a lumber mill in 1890. The building was more than 300 feet long, equipped with “all modern appliances for cutting lumber,” Kingsbury wrote. Logs came down the Kennebec from up-river timber operations and were made into lumber, shingles and lath, mostly shipped to Boston.

Your writer found the beginning (only) of a New York Times article on line, headlined “Lumber Ordered for Gray Gables,” with the dateline Boston, Sept. 30 (no year given). The first sentence reads: “Twenty-five thousand feet of spruce lumber has been ordered to be shipped from the sawmill of Edward Ware, at Winslow, Me.”

Gray Gables, Wikipedia says, was an elaborate house in Bourne, Massachusetts, built in 1880 and in 1890 bought by past and future president Grover Cleveland. He named it Gray Gables and used it as the summer White House during his second term, 1893-1896.

* * * * * *

The second large Winslow mill was under construction as Kingsbury finished his history in 1892. He wrote that Hollingsworth and Whitney was building Kennebec County’s “largest pulp and paper mill…on the east bank of the Kennebec, at a cost of three quarters of a million dollars.”

The University of Maine’s on-line Digital Commons provides a history of Hollingsworth and Whitney, written in October 1954 by company president James Lester Madden as the company merged into Scott Paper Company.

Madden wrote that the first Hollingsworth in the paper business was Mark Hollingsworth, from Delaware, who started in 1798 as a foreman in a Massachusetts mill.

In 1835, Hollingsworth bought a Revere Copper mill in South Braintree, Massachusetts, and converted it to a paper mill that was run until 1852 by his sons, John and Lyman. In 1852, another son, Ellis, came home after three years in California and took over the South Braintree mill.

In 1862, Ellis Hollingsworth formed a partnership with Leonard A. Whitney, Jr., owner of a “paper mill and bag factory” in Watertown. Whitney’s factory, Madden said, “produced the first machine-made paper bags in this country.”

Hollingsworth and Whitney’s first Maine venture was the purchase of a mill in Gardiner in 1876. Ellis’s son Sumner Hollingsworth was in charge.

In 1875 the company hired a “dynamic” sales manager named Charles Dean. After both founders died in 1881, Dean “was instrumental in incorporating the present [1954] company in 1882.” Sumner Hollingsworth was its president until his death in 1899, when Dean succeeded him and headed the company until he retired in 1911.

Hollingsworth and Dean had the Winslow mill built between 1891 and 1893, Madden wrote. He commented, “To move from Massachusetts to the wilds of Maine for a woodpulp and paper mill was a daring move in the 1890s.”

The original estimated cost turned out to be half the actual cost of $800,000, he said (see Kingsbury’s figure above). Because the 1893 financial panic made banks hesitant to lend, even to a company with a good record, Dean financed part of the building himself. The Winslow mill was “a high quality, very low cost producer,” and he was soon repaid from profits.

The mill had two paper machines and a pulp mill; its daily capacity was 30 tons of groundwood pulp and 20 tons of paper. Madden said the initial 150 employees worked 11- and 13-hour days for an average hourly wage of less than 15 cents.

“Under Mr. Dean’s leadership,” Hollingsworth and Whitney was the first paper company to go from two to three shifts, a change that was considered “very radical,” Madden wrote.

To guarantee a supply of wood, the company began buying forest land in 1895. By 1954, Madden said, it owned 550,000 acres in the Kennebec watershed.

He described additions and improvements at the Winslow mill in the first two decades of the 20th century (the last two paper machines were added in 1913 and 1916) and the building of a pulp mill in Madison, and praised the company’s products and reputation.

Madden said nothing about World War I. By World War II, he wrote, the Winslow mill was the only supplier of “Tabulating Cardstock” in the country. Production was quadrupled to meet the military’s need for “cards to operate tabulating machines.”

After Scott Paper sold to Kimberly-Clark, the Winslow mill was closed in 1997.

* * * * * *

Kingsbury listed another 10 mills on lesser streams and brooks in Winslow before 1892.

Again, a map of Winslow is helpful. As explained last week, the town is bounded on the west by the Kennebec River. On the south it is bordered by Vassalboro, on the east by China.

There are two ponds in Winslow. The smaller, Mud Pond, is in the southeastern corner of town, with its eastern shore in China (according to China tax maps and most others found on line; one on-line map shows the boundary deviating from a straight line to follow the shoreline, putting the whole pond in Winslow).

A connecting stream runs northwest from Mud Pond to larger Pattee (or Pattees or Pattee’s) Pond, which lies east of the Sebasticook River. The Pattee Pond outlet stream, and streams that join it from the east, drain northwest into the Sebasticook.

In addition to the streams associated with these two water bodies, contemporary maps show one stream, Chaffee Brook, flowing west into the Kennebec. Chaffee Brook passes under Route 201 a short distance south of the Carter Memorial Drive intersection.

The first dam Kingsbury mentioned was on the brook named for John Drummond “near the river road” (Route 201).

Your writer found no Drummond Brook in contemporary Winslow; she guesses Drummond Brook is now Chaffee Brook. Just north of Chaffee Brook, Chaffee Brook Road goes west off Route 201 to the bank of the Kennebec. On the south side of Chaffee Brook Road sits Drummond cemetery.

(Chaffee Brook Road leads to the Kennebec Water District’s Chaffee Brook pumping station, which is being upgraded. Area residents who have seen the crane on the river bank and the platforms in the water are looking at the project.)

Drummond built a grist mill with two runs of stones, Kingsbury said. In 1822 he sold it to Josiah Hayden (probably the younger of the two Josiah Haydens in last week’s article) and built a sawmill (presumably sharing the grist mill’s water power). Kingsbury said as forests were cleared, the flow in this brook diminished until it could not provide adequate power after about 1840.

Of the next mill he described, Kingsbury wrote: “Frederick Paine had a plaster mill on Clover brook that did business from 1820 to 1870.” (On-line sources say plaster mills ground lime and gypsum into powder for building materials, including plaster and cement.)

Your writer suggests Clover Brook might be the 19th-century name for Bellows Stream, which flows north into Pattee Pond roughly parallel to the Kennebec and about midway between Winslow’s east and west boundaries.

The apparently nameless stream between Mud Pond and Pattee Pond, eastward of Bellows Stream, powered two mills, presumably on dams, by the first half of the 1800s. This stream flows north and then northwest from the north end of Mud Pond, under Route 137 (China Road) into the east side of Pattee Pond

The upstream mill was John Getchell’s sawmill, operating by 1795. It later became Isaac Dow’s shingle mill.

Half a mile downstream, a man named Alden had a sawmill that “ran down and was rebuilt by Esquire Brackett, who lost his life in it in 1840, by a blow from the saw frame.” Later, Jacob Brimner ran the sawmill (the 1856 map of Kennebec County shows a sawmill on this stream and a Brimner house not far upstream). Later still, a shingle mill ran until around 1870, Kingsbury said.

The Pattee Pond outlet, Pattee Stream, flows from the north end of the pond into the Sebasticook. For lack of space, your writer postpones a description of mills in this northern and northwestern part of Winslow to next week.

Main sources

Kingsbury, Henry D., ed., Illustrated History of Kennebec County Maine 1625-1892 (1892).

Websites, miscellaneous.

LIFE ON THE PLAINS: Christmas on The Plains

Water St., Waterville, The Plains, circa 1930. Note the trolley in the center of the photo. The trolley ceased operations on October 10, 1937. Many of the buildings in this photo are no longer there. (photo courtesy of Roland Hallee)

by Roland D. Hallee

Growing up on The Plains in the ‘50s and ‘60s saw many changes when it came to Christmas.

My early memories included going out with the family one evening to a lot and picking out a Christmas tree. My dad took it home, set it up on a homemade stand, and commenced to reconfigure Mother Nature’s creation.

That consisted of cutting some excess branches from one side, drilling a hole in the trunk in some bare areas, and inserting the cut branches. He did this until the tree was symmetrical. Then we decorated it.

That went on for several years, until my mother decided she had had enough with decorating, and my dad didn’t want to do any more spruce cosmetic work.

They bought an artificial tree. It was nothing like today. This tree was silver. Completely artificial and commercial. There was a light that would set on the floor behind, with a flood light, that had a multi-colored wheel that would rotate – blue…yellow…green…red, etc.

That tree was set up in the living room. Christmas was held on Sunday, after church, while my mother would prepare the Christmas dinner, of roast beef, mashed potatoes, vegetables, rolls, you get the picture. Our grandparents, who lived next door, always came, too.

As we grew older, things changed again. Now, my dad had finished a portion of the basement into a “rumpus” room. That is where the artificial tree was set up. But, come Christmas, there were more changes. My mother didn’t want the hustle and bustle of Christmas day, so it was off to midnight Mass on Christmas eve. Afterwards, mom would warm up the tourtère pies, and we would have the distributing of Christmas gifts at that time. Of course, until we were old enough to attend the midnight Mass, we had to wait at home until the adults returned. Again, the grandparents were present.

Following the holidays, when we had a real tree, my mother was meticulous in taking down the Christmas tree, making sure every last piece of tinsel was removed before it was put out to the street for the annual city Christmas tree pickup.

When I was about nine years old, my parents went out one evening and left us four boys at home – my oldest brother was old enough to babysit. While rough-housing with my younger brother, we discovered Christmas gifts “hidden” behind the couch. So much for Santa.

But, as much as Christmases are always special, especially once my wife and I raised our two children, enjoyed the day with our grandchildren, and now experiencing Christmas with our great-grandchildren, Christmases are even more special.

But the memories of Christmas on The Plains in the ‘50s and ‘60s will always have a place in my memory.

PHOTO: Concert raises funds for Operation Hope

Steve Fotter, right, and his crew hosted the Warming Up For Christmas Concert, on Saturday, November 18, at the Williamson Performing Arts Center, in Fairfield. The event raised $17,500 for Operation Hope. Waterville Police Chief William Bonney, center, and the Operation HOPE crew are seen on stage praising Steve Fotter for his amazing efforts to raise funds for their lifesaving program. (photo by Mark Huard/ Central Maine Photography)

PHOTOS: Winter Wonderland

Garth Bammer, of China, took this photo on the Little Andros­coggin River, in Auburn.

Left, Raya, 10, and Ivy Belisle, 7, of Waterville, built a snowman following the season’s first storm on December 4. Middle, Kara Brennan, 4, of Waterville, with her snowman, and brother, Jack, 8, right, with his masterpiece. (photos by Mark Huard)

EVENTS: Lights of Life holiday tradition supports care at Inland Hospital

Northern Light Inland Hospital is kicking off its 2023 Lights of Life program. It’s a wonderful opportunity for the community to honor and remember friends, family members, and caregivers by purchasing a light for the hospital’s holiday tree, which will come to life on December 7. Every dollar raised through Lights of Life will stay local to support care in the greater Waterville region.

Six levels of recognition are available, beginning with white lights at $10 and culminating with the star, which recognizes a single special individual or family. The name of each individual being honored or remembered will be displayed on the hospital website throughout the holiday season. Upon request, Lights of Life cards will be provided for those who purchase lights to send to honorees.

For more information or to purchase a light, please visit northernlighthealth.org/InlandLights or contact Todd Nicholson, director of Philanthropy at 861-3000.

Parade of Lights kicks off holiday season in Central Maine

Isabella, of Fairfield, visits with Santa at Kringleville. (photo by Galen Neal, Central Maine Photography)

by Mark Huard

Everly Hanson, 6, of Clinton, enjoying her ride on the float during the Parade of Lights. (photo by Galen Neal, Central Maine Photography)

Winslow and Waterville partnered together for the annual Parade of Lights, opening of Kringleville, lighting of the Winslow Gazebo, and the lighting of the Castonguay Square.

Temperatures were in the mid-20s by Saturday evening, as the lighted floats, marchers, and Santa made their way from Winslow High School, down Benton Ave, across the bridge into Waterville. Once in Waterville the parade proceeded up Main Street.

In Castonguay Square, City of Waterville Parks and Recreation department found a huge tree for the annual display, while SkyBoy Holiday & Event Lighting, a major sponsor of Kringleville, was creative in setting up lights on Santa’s Cabin and wrapping trees and light poles. With a countdown from Santa, the magic of the season was brightly lit to kick off the annual Kringleville event, which runs Saturdays and Sunday afternoons in December.

The Parade Grand Marshal this year was Victor Esposito Jr., sponsored by Central Maine Motors Group. Victor is a longtime supporter of Jobs for Maine Graduates. He is a JMG Master Specialist, and 77 years old. He’s worked for JMG for the past 24 years, and spent 21 of those years at Vassalboro Community School working in grades six to eight. For the past two years he has been working out of the AYCC (still with JMG) doing Workforce Dev­elopment and Career Exploration, and helping to develop the Teen Program at the AYCC. He has been teaching for a total of 42 years.

Special thanks to Amanda McCaslin from Winslow Parks and Re­creation for coordinating the parade and the lineup, and the police departments from Waterville and Winslow for coordinating the road closures and keeping everyone safe.

Owner of Stage Presence for Dancers Heather Beaster says, “participating in the The Parade of Lights has been a tradition for our studio for over a decade. It kicks off the holiday season for us and the whole community! It’s so amazing to see the smiles on kids and adults faces as you go through the route. Everyone is so joyful, even in the cold! The spirit of the season is definitely in the air, you can feel it! Our SP4D Family wouldn’t miss it!

Second place winner in the float competition, Mushero’s Lawn Care. (photo by Galen Neal, Central Maine Photography)

Winslow Parks and Recreation Director Amanda McCaslin added, “The parade of lights was a remarkable success, marking a festive beginning for the central Maine community. We extend our heartfelt gratitude to the dedicated town employees and volunteers who worked tirelessly to bring this event to life. The floats showcased an extraordinary display of creativity and holiday cheer, captivating everyone with their exquisite craftsmanship. It was truly a sight to behold!”

Judges, representing the Children’s Discovery Museum, have chosen this year’s Parade of Lights contest finalists, judging holiday theme and best looking floats.

First place Maine Homeschool Athletic Association, second place, Mushero’s Lawn Care; and third place, Winslow Parks and Rec.

The thousands of people in attendance at the parade of lights definitely lit the path to the holiday season. Whether you were there as a child or as a parent or guardian or grandparent, you were welcomed as part of a wonderful event by the community for the community. Make sure you keep that spirit going by enjoying Main Street and visiting Santa Claus in his cabin on Saturdays and Sundays until Christmas.

Downtown Waterville aglow in lights, and bustling with activity during the Parade of Lights. (photo by Galen Neal, Central Maine Photography)

EVENTS: Children’s Discovery Museum announces 2023 holiday programs line-up

Santa waving from his home away from home at Kringleville, in Waterville, last season. (photo by Central Maine Photography staff)

The Children’s Discovery Museum is excited to announce its line-up of holiday programs for the 2023 season, which will include the Parade of Lights, Kringleville, Light Up The Town, Letters to Santa, and new holiday lighting in Castonguay Square.

Kicking off the celebration will be the annual Parade of Lights, coordinated by the Winslow Parks and Recreation department in conjunction with Winslow and Waterville Police Departments and Children’s Discovery Museum volunteers. The parade will take place on Saturday, November 25, at 6 p.m., and will flow down Benton Avenue, in Winslow, across the Ticonic Bridge, then proceed up Main Street, in Waterville.

Along the parade route is Castonguay Square, which will be ablaze with new lights and decorations this year courtesy of SkyBox Holiday and Event Lighting. Several thousand feet of string lights, in addition to multiple kinds of novelty lights, will adorn the trees in the square as well as the iconic Kringleville Cabin.

Santa will meet children at the Cabin at the Square this year, every Saturday and Sunday from 1 – 4 p.m., between Thanksgiving and Christmas. In addition to free meetings with Santa, local organizations will be on location to host activities and giveaways for children as they wait in line. Families can expect DJs, hot cocoa, winter princess visits, and more as part of the holiday celebration.

Kringleville is made possible with support from the city of Waterville, Central Maine Motors Auto Group, Selah Tea, and GoNetSpeed. Additional support comes from United Ag & Turf, State Farm and Chase Toys.

Along with Kringleville, the museum is working with Chris Bernier, of CTB Electronics, to host a city-wide light celebration. This year’s holiday season fills the entire town, as businesses and individuals decorate their properties with as many lights as possible. The registered parties will be part of a city-wide map for members of the community to drive or walk by each location to admire the decorations. Registration is currently open, available at Kringleville.org and the Kringleville Facebook Page.

Like last year, children are encouraged to write letters to Santa to leave in his mailbox outside his cabin or send through the Waterville Post Office. Santa will be responding to all letters, as long as the child’s
address is included in the letter. Information will be kept confidential by the Children’s Discovery Museum.

For more information and registration, visit www.kringleville.org or facebook.com/kringleville.