Up and down the Kennebec Valley: More high schools

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Old Erskine Academy

by Mary Grow

China Academy, China misc, Erskine Academy

The Massachusetts legislature chartered China Academy in June 1818. Charter language quoted in the China bicentennial history is almost identical to the language used 50 or so years later for Hallowell Classical and Scientific Academy: purposes are to promote “piety, and virtue,” and to provide instruction “in such languages and in such of the liberal arts and sciences” as the trustees prescribe.

The school initially had five trustees, four China Village residents and Rev. Daniel Lovejoy, from Albion, father of Elijah Parish and Owen Lovejoy. Elijah and Owen attended China Academy, and Elijah taught there in 1827, after he graduated from Waterville (later Colby) College. In 1819, the Academy charter was changed to allow 15 trustees.

The first China Academy building was on the shore of China Lake, across from the present site of the China Baptist Church (built in 1814, relocated in 1822). John Brackett donated the land, “in consideration of the love and good will” he had for the trustees; the only condition was that they keep the fence around the lot in repair.

The trustees had a wooden building constructed; the bicentennial history says classes began in or before September 1823. The first two principals were Colby graduates.

In 1825 the Maine legislature approved a land grant for China Academy. In November 1829, the trustees sold the lot in what is now Carroll Plantation (on Route 6, in Penobscot County, east of Lincoln and Lee) for $3,400 (about 30 cents an acre, the bicentennial history says).

With legislative support and “an encouraging student enrollment,” the trustees put up a two-story brick building on Main Street, in China Village, across from the Albert Church Brown Memorial Library (that former house dates from about 1827 and has been a library since 1941). First classes were in November 1828, with 89 students.

From 1835 to 1844 China Academy did well, under Principal Henry Paine, the bicentennial history says. There were 221 students in 1835 and again in 1844, most from China but some from other Maine towns. Teachers included a Colby senior, a Colby graduate and at least one woman, Sarah A. Shearman, in charge of “instruction in the ornamental branches.”

School was held for four 12-week terms, beginning “the first Mondays of March, June, September, and December.” The history quotes advertisements in the weekly China Orb newspaper that said quarterly tuition was $3 for basic English reading and writing; $4 for advanced English courses; and $5 for “Latin, Greek, and French.”

The Academy had no dormitory. The history says it (trustees, teachers or both?) helped students find nearby places to board, at rates ranging from $1.33 to $1.50 a week.

After Waterville Academy was chartered in 1842 and organized successfully by James Hanson (graduate of China Academy and Colby College – see The Town Line, July 29) and Paine left China in 1844, China Academy enrollment dropped. By 1850, average enrollment was around 50 students. The Civil War caused a temporary closure.

After the war, the Academy reopened and, the history says, in 1872, “had a staff of five who were teaching 40 to 60 students a term.” Terms were “shortened to ten weeks,” and tuition increased to $3.50 a term for basic English, $4.50 for advanced English and $5.50 for foreign languages or bookkeeping. Music was added, 20 lessons for $10; the history does not specify vocal, instrumental or both.

The history says that students’ records “included the number of words misspelled, the number of times tardy, and the number of days they were caught whispering in class.”

After state law required free high schools in 1880, China Academy apparently became a hybrid – the history says the brick Academy building was used to teach free high school classes, but “This institution still called itself China Academy and was supervised by a board of trustees.”

Enrollment rose – “54 students in the spring of 1883, 70 in the fall of 1884, and 88 in the spring of 1885.” The history notes that more girls than boys enrolled in each of those terms, after years when male students had been more numerous.

The history lists courses offered, in a “four-year course sequence” in 1884-85: “English, math, geography, history, bookkeeping, sciences, and philosophy,” plus Greek and Latin “if requested.” There were two or three terms a year, and financial support came from the local school district, other nearby China districts and one district in Albion.

In 1887 the brick building was deemed unsafe and was blown up, scattering fragments of brick onto adjoining properties. The trustees sold the lot to the local school district. “Willis R. Ward built a wooden schoolhouse at a cost of $1,000 which served as both high school and elementary school from 1888 to 1909.”

In 1897, China voters appropriated no money for high schools, so the bicentennial history says China Village residents funded one anyway, with state aid. By 1899 village residents also relied on “contributions and subscriptions” to keep high school classes going.

Courses included “advanced English, mathematics,…science… and a five-student Latin class.”

The China Village free high school gradually lost students early in the 20th century and closed in 1908. Many students transferred to China’s other private high school, Erskine Academy (see below).

The wooden building remained an elementary school until the consolidated China Elementary School opened in 1949. It was sold and became a two-story chicken house. The building was demolished in 1969 and replaced by a house.

A China Village high school was re-established from the fall of 1914 through the spring of 1916 – the bicentennial history gives no reason. Classes met in the second floor of a building (later the American Legion Hall) on the southeast corner of the intersection of Main Street, Neck Road and what is now Causeway Road.

The China bicentennial history provides partial information on three other nineteenth-century high schools in China, in Branch Mills Village, in South China Village and at Dirigo.

The earliest, the East China high school in Branch Mills, “was established about 1851 in a building constructed for that purpose by Mr. Barzillai Harrington.” The building was on the south side of the village main street, west of the bridge across the West Branch of the Sheepscot River. It appears as a large rectangle on the town map in the 1856 Maine atlas, labeled “B. H. Academy.”

In 1852, the history says, elementary classes met in “Mr. Harrington’s high school building” because the district schoolhouse was “in such poor condition.”

An 1856 advertisement for the school listed Claudius B. Grant as the principal for an 11-week term beginning Sept. 1. Tuition was $3 per term for basic English, $3.50 for advanced English and $4 for “languages,” unspecified.

The bicentennial history cites China town reports saying high school classes were provided in Branch Mills in 1857 for one term; in 1865 for one term, taught by Stephen A. Jones, of China; in 1882, for two terms, taught by Thomas W. Bridgham, of Palermo; and in 1883 for one term, taught by J. A. Jones. The writer found no evidence of continuous classes, and locations were not specified.

Though classes were listed in 1882 and 1883, the Branch Mills map in the 1879 Maine atlas identifies the building by a name, indicating it was a private home. The China history says the Academy building was sold in the 1880s. Henry Kingsbury’s Kennebec County history says it was in 1892 the Good Templars Hall.

A footnote in the bicentennial history adds: “In 1894 the school committee recommended a term of high school at Branch Mills, but the town records provide no evidence that it was held.”

The high school in South China Village started in the 1860s and ran at least intermittently through the spring of 1881, according to the bicentennial history.

In 1865, former primary school teacher T. W. Bridgham taught a spring high school term. In 1877-78, A. W. Warren was teacher for a seven-week term. F. E. Jones taught 51 students in the fall of 1880. The next spring, J. E. Jones taught what was apparently the final term, “with the expenses being borne by three adjacent school districts.”

The writer of the bicentennial history found only a single reference to the high school at Dirigo (or Dirigo Corner), where Alder Park and Dirigo Road meet what is now Route 3 (Belfast Road). In 1877 and 1878, the town report described two China free high schools, South China “and a 20-week term at Dirigo.”

Fred D. Jones was the teacher at Dirigo, “and the supervisor of schools commended the residents of this quite small school district for supporting so long a term.”

(Attentive readers will have noticed numerous teachers named Jones. They were probably related, at least distantly, and were probably members of the Society of Friends. The genealogical section of the China history has 25 pages of Joneses, several identified as teachers.)

Yet another private high school, Erskine Academy, opened in September 1883 and is thriving today. The China history gives a detailed account of its origins: it became a private academy because China voters at the beginning of the 1880s refused to accept donated money for a public high school.

As the history tells the story, Mary Erskine inherited her husband Sullivan’s considerable wealth when he died in 1880. Having no children, she consulted John K. Erskine, her late husband’s nephew and executor, about ways to use the money.

John Erskine, who regretted his own lack of educational opportunity, suggested endowing a high school in the Chadwick Hill school district, south of South China Village. Mary Erskine agreed, and at a Nov. 13, 1880, special town meeting, voters accepted a $1,500 trust fund for a free high school.

At the annual meeting in March 1881, voters reversed the decision and told the town treasurer to return the money. In March 1882, school supporters presented an article again offering the $1,500 and “specifying that the town would not pay for providing the school building.” Voters passed over it, that is, did not act.

A month later, a group of supporters asked the Erskines to let them establish a private high school. Mary Erskine approved and helped organize a board of trustees headed by renowned Quaker Eli Jones (see the July 8 issue of The Town Line). John Erskine was vice-president and Samuel Starrett treasurer.

The trustees “bought the seven-acre Chadwick common from A. F. Trask for $100.” (Wikipedia says the campus is now about 25 acres.) Mary Erskine donated $500 for a building.

Starrett encouraged the owners of a disused Methodist church on the lot to sell it at auction. They did, and he got it for $50.

The trustees had the building moved to the middle of the lot and turned into a schoolhouse. “A bell tower and other necessary buildings” were added, and Mary Erskine donated a bell and furnishings in the spring of 1883.

The trustees organized a “tree-planting picnic:” area residents were invited to bring a picnic dinner and a tree. The China history says the grounds gained about 250 trees.

Mary Erskine attended Erskine High School’s opening day in September 1883. There were two teachers and “more than 50 students.”

The school ran two 11-week terms a year, and in some years “a shorter summer term.” The history lists 16 courses: “reading, grammar, elocution, arithmetic, algebra, history, geography, natural philosophy, bookkeeping, ancient languages (Latin and Greek), botany, geology, astronomy, and anatomy and physiology.”

By 1887, increased enrollment required a third teacher. The building “was raised ten feet to make room for more classrooms underneath.”

Students from Chadwick Hill and other school districts came and went by the term, not the year. Therefore, the history says, it was not until 1892 “that four students finished four years apiece so that the first formal graduation could be held.”

Trustees had a dormitory for girls built in 1900 and “later” (the history gives no date) another for boys. In 1901 the Maine legislature incorporated the school as Erskine Academy and approved an annual $300 appropriation.

Erskine’s original school building was destroyed in a fire on Nov. 5, 1926. Fortunately, Ford gymnasium had opened in November 1925; the bicentennial history says classes were held there until a new classroom building was ready in 1936.

The history also said that Mary Erskine’s bell was saved from the fire and “mounted on campus.” In the fall of 1971, someone stole it.

Main source

Grow, Mary M., China Maine Bicentennial History including 1984 revisions (1984).

CHINA: People’s Park group dealt major disappointment

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The property in question, from Google Streetview.

by Mary Grow

[There has been an update to this story: CHINA: Follow-up on land sale story from last week]

Lindsey Harwath, President of the The People’s Park group hoping to create a public park off Lakeview Drive on land that town officials just sold, has reported a major disappointment.

At the Aug. 30 selectmen’s meeting, selectmen reviewed two bids for the approximately 40-acre parcel with their chosen realtor, Lucas Adams, of Adams Realty, in South China. One bid was for $10,000, from The People’s Park. The other was for $80,000 from a then-unnamed party, now identified as former China resident Austin “Gerry” Ogden.

Adams had valued the land at between $80,000 and $100,000. Selectmen had split the difference and set $90,000 as their preferred price.

They authorized Town Manager Rebecca Hapgood to negotiate and contract with the higher bidder. Adams told selectmen that person’s plan was to keep two lots and offer the remainder of the land to The People’s Park, at a “reasonable” price.

Hapgood reported at the Sept. 13 selectmen’s meeting that she and Ogden had agreed on $83,000. Closing was postponed to sometime in October, she said, because the title company is so busy.

Harwath said before town selectmen acted, Adams had discouraged another interested resident from making a formal offer and had told Harwath that if Ogden became the landowner, The People’s Park “would be in a better financial position than if we tried to buy the lot from the town.”

On Sept. 15, Harwath met with Adams, Ogden and Ogden’s wife Lynda at Adams’ office. Fellow People’s Park board member Jeanne Marquis joined the meeting late.

At that meeting, Harwath said, Ogden said he intended to keep three lots from the property. He offered to sell the remaining acreage to The People’s Park for $110,000. Or, Harwath said, he would sell the group the entire almost-40 acres for $160,000.

Ogden worked with Lawrence “Larry” Adams, the family-owned real estate firm’s previous head, when the Ogdens lived in China.

China planners to hear application to convert Knowles building to marijuana business

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by Mary Grow

China Planning Board members have scheduled a Sept. 28 public hearing on Miguel Rivera’s application to convert the Knowles Mechanical Building at 1097 Route 3 to a medical marijuana business.

The building is a short distance east of Dirigo Corner, where Dirigo and Alder Park roads intersect Route 3 (also called Belfast Road). Codes Officer Jaime Hanson, summarizing Rivera’s application, said Rivera plans no changes to the exterior of the building, the parking areas or the grounds.

Hanson said the existing septic system, approved in 2013, should be adequate for the proposed new business. Rivera said he has not had it inspected, but the facilities indoors seem to work properly.

The change of use will have no effect on a mapped wetland on the property, Hanson said. Referring to a requirement that no medical marijuana business can locate on a property within 500 feet of a school, day care or other child-oriented use, Hanson said the provision is met.

That issue later raised two others: whether the existence of a medical marijuana facility prohibited a child-based use in an adjacent building and thereby “burdened” surrounding lots, and whether home-schooling counts as a child-oriented use. The questions were left unanswered.

Rivera said he has a state medical marijuana caregiver’s license. He plans no more than two or three employees in the building at a time, he said. He will not have a marijuana growing operation in the building.

Planning board members agreed the next steps are notifying abutters of the proposed change of use and holding the Sept. 28 public hearing. Unless new pandemic regulations require a change, the hearing should be at 6:30 p.m. in the portable building behind the town office on Lakeview Drive, with interested residents invited to attend in person.

Hanson said there might also be an application to amend a subdivision, by approving the already-accomplished relocation of Fire Road 19, at the Sept. 28 meeting.

In other business, Hanson reported that he remains backlogged on permit applications, but Town Manager Rebecca Hapgood has authorized staff help. Planning Board Chairman Randall Downer expressed appreciation to the manager.

Board member Toni Wall said she plans to spend six months on the Appalachian Trail next year. She asked whether she should ask for a leave or resign from the board.

Board member James Wilkens said he considered the question the board’s business and made a motion to authorize a six-month’s leave for Wall. The motion was approved 4-0 with Wall abstaining.

China Broadband Committee (CBC) drafts printed publicity material

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by Mary Grow

At their Sept. 16 meeting, China Broadband Committee (CBC) members continued planning publicity for the bond issue they are sponsoring on China’s Nov. 2 local ballot. They focused on drafting printed materials, and briefly discussed the next scheduled public presentation.

That presentation will be at 2 p.m., Sunday, Sept. 26, at the Albert Church Brown Memorial Library. The meeting is only on Zoom; there will be no in-person audience. Pre-registration is required by emailing chinalibraryacb@gmail.com; the Zoom link will be provided.

CBC Chairman Robert O’Connor intends to tape the meeting for later viewing. It should become available on the town website, under Live Stream’s list of previous events.

CBC members scheduled another committee meeting at 4 p.m., Thursday, Sept. 23, to agree on who will say what on Sept. 26 and to put their proposed flyer in final form.

The Nov. 4 ballot asks voters to vote yes or no on a long question that, if approved, would authorize, but not require, China selectmen to issue a bond to provide up to $5,608,700 to build new broadband infrastructure in town.

The CBC expects enough additional funding from state and federal grants to cover the total cost of the project, estimated at almost $6.5 million.

During the Sept. 16 discussion, John Dougherty, of Mission Broadband, consultants to the CBC, said that grants are already being awarded. If voters approve on Nov. 2, one use of the bond money could be to provide matching funds so the CBC can start grant applications.

The Sept. 16 discussion of the flyer covered two points, content and distribution methods.

CBC members are working with a two-sided document on standard 8½-by-11 paper. Their task is to explain complexities, including technical internet information, clearly enough so that voters understand what their Nov. 2 decision will mean.

They agree on what the flyer and other informational materials should say, but have different ideas on what to emphasize and how to convey their points most clearly. Both Doherty and Mark Ouellette, head of Axiom Technologies, the CBC’s choice to oversee construction of new broadband infrastructure and to run and maintain the expanded service, advised them to simplify the information to essentials.

Committee members discussed distribution through various means, with the goal of informing as many China residents as possible. In addition to the flyer, they plan yard signs advertising the ballot question.

They also plan to schedule future public informational meetings and discussed possible places to hold them.

More information is available on the CBC website, chinabroadband.net.

Up and down the Kennebec Valley: Hallowell academies

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Hallowell Classical and Scientific Academy, Hallowell, ca. 1882. Contributed by Frank Trask through Hubbard Free Library.

by Mary Grow

In preceding articles, readers have learned a bit about three private high schools, Cony Female Academy, Coburn Classical Institute and Oak Grove Seminary (see the issues of The Town Line for Sept. 2, July 29 and July 22, respectively) and about some of the public high schools in Augusta and Waterville (in the Aug. 26 and Sept. 2, The Town Line issues, respectively).

Remaining to be described are numerous other 19th-century public and private schools in central Kennebec Valley towns. A few are well documented; for most, local histories offer only tantalizing glimpses.

For example, Whittemore wrote in his history of Waterville that “private and corporation schools” played important roles, starting in 1823 when “Miss Pettengill” ran “a school for the education of young ladies.”

In 1824, John Butler and “Miss Lewis” opened another school “which with its modern methods and apparatus won enthusiastic approval.” A successor, before or in 1902 when Whittemore’s history appeared, was Miss Julia Stackpole.

Two private academies mentioned previously are Hallowell Academy, in Hallowell, and China Academy, in China Village. The latter will be described in a future article.

There were two 19th-century academies in Hallowell. Their histories are intertwined with each other and with the public high school; your writer wishes her readers luck trying to untangle them.

The first, Hallowell Academy (in one source called Hallowell Academy for Boys), was chartered in 1791. (Kingsbury wrote in his Kennebec County history that Hallowell and Berwick academies, chartered the same day, were the first in what later became the State of Maine.)

Hallowell’s second, Hallowell Classical and Scientific Academy, opened in 1868 (online source); or was incorporated Feb. 8, 1872 (Maine Congregational Church annual meeting minutes, 1872-1874); or as of 1873 was the new name for the earlier Hallowell Academy (Kingsbury); or, most definitively, was scheduled to open Jan. 1, 1874 (online The Maine Journal of Education for 1873). Bob Briggs, in his 1996 history Around Hallowell (found online, delightfully illustrated with old photographs), called it on one page Hallowell Classical and Scientific Institute.

The Academy chartered in 1791 opened for classes in a newly-built schoolhouse in 1795. Briggs wrote that the first two academy buildings burned down; Kingsbury mentioned only one destructive fire, in 1804, after which, he said, the building was replaced a year later.

In 1807, Kingsbury said, the school trustees bought a Paul Revere bell for the belfry. Briggs wrote that in 1841, a brick building was put up. The Academy and (public?) high school were “united” from 1868 until the Classical Academy opened in 1873, he said.

In 1888, Briggs wrote, the Academy building “became Hallowell High School.” Remodeled in 1890, when he wrote in 1996 it was a private home.

The photo illustrating these words, dated about 1880, shows a group of students, the women in skirts from ankle-length to floor-length, in front of what must be the main entrance. Four two-story Doric columns are spaced across the width of the brick building, with two large doors on either side of a window behind them.

Briggs wrote of the 1795 Hallowell Academy that “students received their secondary education under some of the ablest and best educated men in the state.”

Kingsbury listed the first 28 teachers, up to 1838, and their years of service. One, surnamed Moody, stayed for eight years, and Curtis taught for three years. Six others were there for two years; the remaining 20, Kingsbury said, stayed only one year each.

After the 1795 Academy closed, high school age students attended the Hallowell Classical Academy, the Maine Memory Network says. As noted above, the Classical Academy almost certainly opened at the beginning of 1874.

The Classical Academy was on Central Street at the intersection with Warren Street. The Memory Network describes it as a co-ed college preparatory boarding and day school. It was established to promote Christian education and to train young people “in such languages and in such of the arts and sciences” as the school trustees chose.

The school was “affiliated” with the Congregational Church in Maine and, Kingsbury added, “a feeder for Bowdoin College.”

The 1873 Journal of Education, which this writer accepts as an authoritative, contemporary source, says the Maine Conference of Congregational Churches established the Classical Academy. A Congregational minister, Rev. H. F. Harding, was the academy’s first secretary and treasurer; his report to the statewide church meeting in 1874 mentioned connections with Bowdoin and with Bangor Seminary.

The Classical Academy was intended to be Hallowell’s high school and also a state institution to prepare “the sons of Maine” (daughters were not excluded – see below) “for her Colleges and Theological Seminary, without the necessity of going out of the State.”

The Academy was on an 11-acre lot, with views up and down the Kennebec. It started with three buildings, the article continues: “the old Hallowell Academy, which is to be used for recitation rooms” plus a new boarding-house that would accommodate 40 boys in double rooms and a new girls’ boarding house.

The latter is described as three stories with a Mansard roof, 160-feet long with two 40-foot-wide wings, “containing 76 rooms.” The rooms were arranged with two double bedrooms and a “parlor” for each four students.

Gas lighting was planned for the new buildings. The girls’ dormitory had steam heat, “bathing rooms” and a generous supply of “pure spring water,” according to the report in the 1872-74 minutes of the state Congregational Church meetings.

The Journal article said Classical Academy leaders intended to build “a much larger and much better edifice” as soon as they had the money. As of 1873, they had raised about $70,000, mostly from the City of Hallowell, and gotten a $4,000 bequest (the Memory Network, too, mentions a will). Additionally, the Journal article said, “Mrs. Eastman,” a former resident now living in Italy, had donated a $1,000 scholarship and “is also making a fine collection of paintings for the school.”

Classical Academy students came from Hallowell and from other parts of Maine, Illinois, California and New Brunswick, the Memory Network says.

The Congregational meeting minutes mentioned above describe the success of the Classical Academy in its first almost-two years. By 1874, James G. Blaine (then Representative in the U. S. Congress) was President of the Board of Trustees; Harding was still secretary and Joshua Nye, of Augusta, had succeeded him as treasurer.

The next term was to start Thursday, Sept. 2, 1875. A calendar for the next two years said a 12-week fall term would run from Tuesday, Sept. 2, through Nov. 28, 1876; after a week off, a 14-week winter term from Dec. 5, 1876, to March 13, 1877; after a two-week spring break, a 13-week spring term from March 27 through June 21, 1877.

There were 108 students and a staff of seven teachers and two matrons. Each dormitory had a matron; two teachers also lived in the dormitories and had supervisory responsibilities. Three were women; the teacher in the boys’ dormitory was a man.

Subjects taught were English (both English Studies and English Literature), French, German, Latin, Greek, history, natural sciences, mathematics, “Mental, and Moral Science,” bookkeeping, penmanship (these two subjects were on one list, not on a second), piano and vocal music and drawing and painting.

There were three departments, which the report described as follows:

The Classical Course offered “thorough and ample preparation for the most advanced Colleges.”

The Seminary Course was “especially for young ladies,” “to carry their training and culture considerably beyond that given in our public schools.”

The English and Scientific Course gave students of both sexes “the most valuable studies for a shorter course.”

Memory Network photos of the Classical Academy from the early 1880s show two large squarish three-story buildings connected by a three-story rectangular building. The lower stories are white, probably clapboard (possibly brick). The upper story, with a pediment above and below it, appears to be a shingled mansard roof, with four single flat-topped windows in one end and three across the front.

(This description is similar to the Journal of Education’s 1873 description of the new girls’ dormitory.)

Briggs’ book includes a photograph of a quite different building, dated about 1885 and identified as the Classical Academy. This building is rectangular, clearly brick, three stories with no mansard roof. The windows are paired under arches. There appear to be no connected buildings, although at one end is a “strange invention” (Briggs’ words) that looks like a windmill atop a two-story tower.

(Perhaps this is the building the Journal said Academy trustees were in 1873 waiting for money to build?)

Hallowell High School opened in 1887, and the Classical Academy closed in 1888, the Memory Network says. Briggs said lack of money forced the Classical Academy to close, and “its buildings were razed in the early 1900s.”

The Memory Network has a photograph, dated “circa 1900,” of the 1887 high school, a two-story brick building with towers on both ends, one three stories tall, and a triple-arched front entrance. Accompanying information says it was on a lot “used exclusively for education since Hallowell Academy opened in 1795.”

Briggs’ version is that in 1887 the Hallowell school committee agreed to establish a high school separate from the Classical Academy. In 1890, he continued, the “City fathers” renovated “the old Hallowell Academy building,” implying that the 1887 building was not constructed from scratch.

The Maine Memory site says the 1887 high school was converted to a primary school after a 1920 high school building opened “on the site of the old Classical Academy,” that is, at the intersection of Central and Warren streets.

Hallowell might have had a third private high school. Yet another on-line site, called Maine Roots, includes an undated reference to “a female academy” started by John A. Vaughan “where the granite offices now are, which continued a number of years.”

Main sources

Kingsbury, Henry D., ed., Illustrated History of Kennebec County Maine 1625-1892 (1892).
Whittemore, Rev. Edwin Carey, Centennial History of Waterville 1802-1902 (1902).

Websites, miscellaneous.

CORRECTION: A correction to the story on the Asa Bates Memorial Chapel, or Ten Lots Chapel, in Fairfield that ran in the Aug. 5 issue of The Town Line: the people responsible for repairing the large windows were Pastor Gene McDaniel and his father, Gary McDaniel, who did the reglazing. Kay Marsh did the painting, and Howard Hardy offered encouragement.

China resident John Glowa announces as Democratic candidate for governor

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John Glow (image credit: ballotpedia)

John M. Glowa, Sr., of South China, has become the first declared Democratic candidate for governor in the 2022 election. Glowa, 67, is a seventh generation Maine native who was born in Aroostook County and who, like many Mainers, moved with his family to Connecticut in the 1950s. He became the youngest government official in Connecticut at the age of fifteen after he tried, unsuccessfully, to preserve an important wildlife habitat. He moved back to Maine with his family in 1983 and has resided in South China since 1986. He is the father of two grown sons and the grandfather of six.

He is best known for his wildlife advocacy, primarily natural wolf recolonization, and his advocacy for open, fair, and inclusive government. He worked for the State of Maine, mainly as an environmental specialist with the Department of Environmental Protection, from 1986 until his retirement in 2016. According to Glowa, “I am the first professed animal/wildlife advocate and environmentalist to run for governor in Maine since Percival Baxter a century ago. Maine’s economy depends on its environment and ecosystem and it’s time to begin making both a priority. My work inside state government, my environmental and wildlife advocacy, and my education have taught me not only how government doesn’t work, but how it should work.”

Glowa’s post-secondary education includes a bachelor of science degree in economics and a master’s degree in public administration. “We teach our children in school that ours is a government of, by, and for the people. When they get older and try to effect social change, they learn that ours is a government of, by, and for itself and the special interests. Government puts into place laws and rules that give the appearance of fairness and inclusiveness, and then implements those laws and rules for its own benefit. We must reform our government to motivate people, especially young people, to work to make our world a better place.

Unfortunately, government’s intent is to get the public to give up and go away. It’s no wonder that so many people have become disengaged. As one who has tried for decades to bring about positive change, I refuse to give up and go away,” Glowa said.

Glowa co-founded The Maine Wolf Coalition, Inc., in 1994 and the organization recently identified the first DNA documented live Eastern Wolf in Maine. Additional DNA analyses and photographs indicate that there may be a breeding population in the state. According to Glowa, “We have done, and are doing on a shoestring, what the state and federal governments have refused to do for more than 20 years.”

As governor, Glowa’s initial focus will include bringing in a non-partisan task force to look at Maine’s constitution, laws, rules and programs to come up with recommendations for change and system reform. Glowa also wants to establish an effective, non-biased internal system of compliance auditing to maximize government accountability, effectiveness, and efficiency.

“Maine’s system of government is rigged to favor the government and those with political clout. This is a fact. Unless and until we reform this rigged system, Maine’s government will continue to attempt little more than politically motivated window dressing and will live from budget to budget, never solving the myriad of problems, many of which the government has created. The task will be huge, but we must start now to turn this government around if our state and nation are to survive,” said Glowa.

Glowa formally announced his candidacy on September 14, in a brief speech outside the State House, in Augusta.

For more information, contact John Glowa at 207-660-3801 or at jglowa@roadrunner.com.

CHINA: Four candidates vie for two selectmen’s seats

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by Mary Grow

With the deadline for returning nomination papers passed, China Town Clerk Angela Nelson reported only one contest on the Nov. 2 election ballot, four candidates for two seats on the Board of Selectmen.

There are four town positions for which no name will appear on the ballot.

Candidates for selectman are incumbent Wayne Chadwick and Brent Chesley, Peter Foote and Jeanne Marquis. Incumbent Irene Belanger did not hand in papers.

For the planning board, Natale Tripodi is a candidate for re-election as the alternate at-large member. There are no names on the ballot for District 1, Chairman Randall Downer’s position, or District 3, a seat that has been vacant for months.

For the budget committee, Thomas Rumpf, currently the representative from District 2 whose term would end in 2022, is unopposed for election as chairman, the position Robert Batteese is retiring from after many years. Kevin Maroon is seeking re-election as the District 1 representative.

There is no candidate on the ballot for the budget committee District 3 seat currently held by Dana Buswell. If Rumpf is elected chairman, Town Clerk Angela Nelson said selectmen will be able to appoint a new member from District 2, to serve for one year.

Neil Farrington is not seeking re-election as one of China’s two members of the Regional School Unit #18 board of directors, and no other name is on the ballot.

Vacant positions for which no candidate is on the ballot can be filled in one of three ways:

— A resident can announce he or she is a candidate and ask voters in advance for their write-in votes;
— Voters can write in a name of their choice, and town officials will run down the list, starting with the name that appears most often, until someone accepts the position; or
— If neither of those methods works, selectmen can seek and appoint a volunteer.

China’s District One is in the northwestern part of town; District Two, northeastern part; District Three, southeastern part; and District Four, southwestern part. Maps of the districts are on the website, china.govoffice.com, under the planning board and the budget committee.

In addition to choosing town officials, China voters will be asked whether they want to approve a bond issue to fund new broadband infrastructure.

China transfer station subcommittee agrees on mission statement draft

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by Mary Grow

Members of the China Transfer Station Visioning Subcommittee agreed on a draft mission statement at their Sept. 10 meeting and discussed possible items to include in a vision statement.

The mission statement is intended simply to state the purpose of the transfer station. The draft wording – subject to change – says it is “to transfer, recycle and dispose of solid waste for residences and businesses in China and Palermo, in accord with state Department of Environmental Protection solid waste rules.”

The vision statement is a summary of proposed future activities and services. Discussion ranged from the relatively obvious, like encouraging recycling and promoting public education about all aspects of waste management, to the controversial, to the definitely visionary.

Discussion of costs and cost control led to a brief discussion of recommending a pay-per-bag requirement for China residents (Palermo residents are already required to buy trash bags). The proposal was quickly shot down the last time it was suggested, subcommittee members remembered.

Lawrence Sikora, who chairs the main Transfer Station Committee, talked about an automated system that could be available 24 hours a day. An identification card, similar to the RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) tags that now confirm China and Palermo residents’ right to use the facility, would open bins for different recyclables and for waste.

The necessary technology is “probably far in the future,” he commented.

Another possibility discussed was turning waste into a useful commodity, doing on the local scale what the regional Fiberight facility in Hampden, has failed to accomplish so far. A variation on the theme was some way to use trash to generate energy, again locally rather than as regional incinerators have been doing.

Subcommittee Chairman Chris Diesch said in addition to issues like costs and equipment, the vision statement ought to mention intangibles, like employee satisfaction.

Transfer Station Manager Ronald Marois said that employee turnover is low right now and that almost all facility users are cooperative and courteous. Sikora and Diesch commended Marois and staff for keeping the transfer station clean.

China Broadband Committee (CBC) discusses how to publicize ballot question

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by Mary Grow

China Broadband Committee members spent their Sept. 9 meeting discussing plans to publicize and explain the Nov. 2 ballot question asking voters to authorize borrowing to support expanded and improved internet service.

The question is long and complicated (see The Town Line, Sept. 9, p. 3). Committee members hope for lopsided approval from local voters, to encourage selectmen to go ahead with the requested bond issue.

The ballot question says specifically that if too few customers sign up to make the new service self-supporting after the first two or three years, selectmen are not obligated to apply for the loan.

The question does not say the town will run the internet service, a point CBC members believe should be emphasized. If voters approve and selectmen proceed, the town will contract with Machias-based Axiom Technologies, and Axiom will be responsible for enrolling customers, overseeing construction of the system, collecting payments, doing repairs and all other aspects of operations and maintenance.

A committee member compared the broadband plan with the way China officials had roads plowed, before the town had its own public works department: they signed contracts with area plowing services, whose operators provided trucks and drivers and were responsible for getting roads clear.

Smaller Maine towns provide most services the same way, other committee members have pointed out. Selectmen and town office staff are not expected to teach in the schools, repave roads, collect trash or do other services they delegate.

CBC members reviewed a draft two-sided flyer explaining how the planned system would work and its benefits to townspeople. Committee member, former selectman and retiring Regional School Unit #18 board member Neil Farrington stressed the latter point. Fast, reliable and widely available broadband will benefit all residents, especially students, business owners and older residents getting medical attention without leaving home, he argued.

More information is available on the CBC website, chinabroadband.net.

Committee members scheduled a public informational presentation for 2 p.m., Sunday, Sept. 26, at the Albert Church Brown Memorial Library, in China Village.

They discussed preparing roadside and yard signs; doing mailings to China voters; taking out ads in The Town Line and getting articles into other area papers; and organizing door-to-door informational visits.

The next CBC meeting is scheduled for 4 p.m., Thursday, Sept. 16.

(See all our stories about the China broadband initiative here.)

China selectmen approve funding for community ice rink

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by Mary Grow

At their Sept. 13 meeting, China selectmen unanimously approved the Recreation Committee’s plan to spend about $5,000 from the recreation reserve account for an ice rink this winter, and commended Chairman Martha Wentworth and the rest of the committee for their activity.

Wentworth explained plans and answered numerous questions from board members.

The committee proposes buying a removable rink, made of hard plastic boards. Wentworth has half a dozen volunteers to set it up this fall after soccer and football teams are done and to take it down in the spring before baseball teams need the field. She plans to store the boards in the soccer storage garage.

The rink will be on the town-owned south ballfield on the China Middle School grounds, so the ballfield lights will be available for evening skating, probably either Fridays or Saturdays. Wentworth envisions the rink as primarily for family use, mostly in the daytime. A few hours might be set aside for hockey players one day a week, she suggested.

She had talked with South China Fire Chief Richard Morse about providing the estimated 9,600 gallons of water to fill the rink, and sending firefighters back to flood it when the ice gets too rough. She expects other volunteers, from the recreation committee and from local organizations interested in selling hot cocoa and other refreshments to skaters, to keep the premises clean.

Trash cans and winterized portable toilets will be on site.

Because of the location, no additional driveway plowing will be needed for access. Wentworth is looking for volunteers (preferably; the committee will pay if necessary) to clear the ice after snowstorms. She said she is talking with two people already.

Asked about insurance, she said adding ice-skating would not increase the town’s premium unless officials decided to insure the rink structure itself, for an estimated $100 a year.

Wentworth cited advantages of using an on-land rink instead of clearing an ice-skating area on China Lake: it’s a “more controlled environment”: some people are apprehensive about the solidity of the lake ice; and the field allows for organizations to sell refreshments and for loudspeakers to play skating music.

Ronald Breton, chairman of the selectboard, added that skaters on the field would not have to watch out for speeding snowmobiles.

Town Manager Rebecca Hapgood suggested the ice rink might be eligible for federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds. Wentworth had heard of another possible source of grant funding.

In other business, Hapgood announced that the town-owned lot on Lakeview Drive has been sold, for $83,000, but the closing is postponed until sometime in October because the title company has such a backlog of business.

Selectmen postponed action on bids to install heat pumps at town buildings to their next meeting.

After discussion with Codes Officer Jaime Hanson, selectmen voted unanimously to have the town attorney begin the process of taking a Winding Hill Road landowner to court for long-running uncorrected violations of town ordinances and state laws.

The Sept. 13 meeting began with the annual public hearing on state-proposed amendments to the appendices to the General Assistance Ordinance, adjusting the amounts of aid in different categories. There was no public comment. Selectmen later adopted the changes unanimously.

Kennebec County Sheriff’s Deputy Ivano Stefanizzi attended the meeting and reported that he has been welcomed by most residents, both as he patrols town roads and during the past summer when he and colleagues patrolled on China Lake.

Hapgood issued a reminder that the first half payment of 2021-22 China property taxes is due at the town office by the close of business Thursday, Sept. 30. Interest on late payments begins immediately.

She read Town Clerk Angela Nelson’s report that tax payments are coming in well, with some people paying for the entire year.

Assessor Kelly Grotton’s report added that if people believe their property is assessed, and therefore taxed, higher than it should be, the deadline for filing a request for an abatement is Feb. 17, 2022. Any appeal of personal property taxes must be accompanied by a complete list of such property.

Public Works Foreman Shawn Reed reported, via Hapgood, that his crew has been preparing roads for paving in South China Village and elsewhere in the southern part of town. Pike Industries plans to start paving in China Sept. 23, if there are no rain delays between now and then.

Irene Belanger retiring

At the Sept. 13 China selectmen’s meeting, long-time Selectman Irene Belanger announced that she is retiring this fall, and resigning from most of the other boards and committees on which she serves, because of her husband’s health. Other board members commended her for her long service to the town.

The next regular China selectmen’s meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Monday, Sept. 27. Their first meeting in October will be Tuesday evening, Oct. 12, because Monday, Oct. 11, is the Indigenous Peoples Day holiday.