A trunk or treat drive through sights and sounds spectacular will be held at the China Regional Church of the Nazarene, at 898 Rte. 3, in South China, on Saturday, October 31, from 5:30 – 7:30 p.m.
Come and safely enjoy a drive through adventure featuring lots of sights, candy, and an early visit from Santa. Candy is being packed with gloves and masks on. This is not a school-sponsored event.
by Mary GrowBoth items on the China Planning Board’s Oct. 20 agenda needed some explaining, but once the situations were clear board members quickly agreed on unanimous approvals.
The first issue dealt with a subdivision on Fire Road 51, off Lakeview Drive (Route 202), originally established by Rick Fischer’s parents and, Board Chairman Tom Miragliuolo said, approved in 1971. Fischer believes it might have been the first subdivision in China.
Over the years, he explained, part of the subdivision was developed and planned interior roads were built. In the part left undeveloped, the roads were not built and became what he referred to as “paper streets.”
During a 2014 transaction, ownership of the paper streets was mistakenly assigned to abutting landowners. They should belong to the Fischer family, Fischer explained. To eliminate future confusion, he needed – and received – approval of an Oct. 14, 2020, revised plan that made no changes in anyone’s land ownerships or access rights, but restored the streets to their previous situation.
The second permit request was for repair work on Fire Road 11, off Neck Road, in shoreland and resource protection zones. The China Region Lakes Alliance (CRLA) is supporting the work under its Gravel Roads Rehabilitation Program (GRRP). Fire Road 11 Association President Danny Boivin and member Mickey Wing explained the plans via speaker-phone.
The work includes improving ditches and other run-off controls, Wing said. It is supported by all members of the road association, whether or not their property will be affected, and residents on nearby Fire Road 10 have been consulted. The desired end result is a road that is environmentally improved, easier to keep passable year-round and narrower (because material that has been graded out to the sides will be turned into a grass buffer).
Wing expected work to begin promptly after planning board approval. Board members approved with one condition, putting up appropriate signs to warn and direct delivery-truck drivers during construction.
The next China Planning Board meeting is scheduled for Tuesday evening, Nov. 10.
Work continues on the Causeway at the head of China Lake. Phase 2 of the project is scheduled to be completed in mid-November. (photo by Roland Hallee)
The completion of the Phase II Causeway Road bridge will provide a more walkable, accessible and family friendly area for residents and visitors. As with any renovation project, this one comes with a degree of inconvenience and mess, but this project also has generated a good deal of anticipation.
Photo depicts the type of guardrail to be installed in Phase II. (provided by Mark McCluskey of A.E. Hodsdon Engineers)
Mark McCluskey, of A.E. Hodsdon Engineers, of Waterville, provided a schematic and photo for a preview of the completed project. The new guardrails will be placed further away from the roadway to allow for wider shoulders. A walkway will be added for pedestrians and a platform added for fishing. Erosion barriers will be added to protect from the wear and tear from the natural elements.
The photo that McCluskey provided shows the new guardrails which will replace the temporary rails placed during Phase I. These wooden rails will be more aesthetically pleasing and easier for parents to get their young children over to access their favorite fishing spots.
Mark McCluskey said, “We are extremely excited about getting the work done and feel it will be a substantial improvement to the shoreline stabilization, safety for the public and will provide much needed improvements.”
The planning for the Causeway Road bridge renovation project began when the Maine Department of Transportation had determined the bridge, built in the 1930s, would only last for another five or 10 years. Phase I work began in the Fall of 2018 when the old bridge was demolished. During Phase I, the remaining foundation was reinforced by stone, the culvert was raised, the new road was laid and a temporary guardrail was installed. Phase II is projected to be completed by mid-November 2020.
Schematics for the work at the Causeway. (provided by Mark McCluskey of A.E. Hodsdon Engineers)
According to China Town Manager Becky Hapgood, the work is being done by McGee Construction, of Gardiner. They will be installing a redi-rock retaining wall, rip-rap, a sidewalk on the lake side with improved guardrails and lighting, and improving the boat launch. There was a slight delay with the redi-rock retaining wall, but the redi-rock is now being delivered at a cost below budget. Hapgood said, “Residents can expect a boat launch that is safer and easier to navigate with a pleasant area to walk along the Causeway.”
Hapgood went on to say that she is not aware of any more that will be done but there has been some mention of a Phase 3.
Louisa Barnhart moderated the discussion.
The five candidates for three seats on China’s Board of Selectmen answered questions at an on-line Oct. 18 forum sponsored by the Albert Church Brown Memorial Library in China Village.
When ballots are counted after the polls close Nov. 3, three people will be elected to serve two-year terms as selectmen. The ballot choices are, in alphabetical order, Ronald Breton (incumbent), Blane Casey, Brent Chesley, Jeanne Marquis and Janet Preston (incumbent).
Moderator Louisa Barnhart first asked each person to summarize his or her qualifications for the local office.
Ron Breton
Breton cited his 12 years as a planning board member and then a selectman, including chairing both boards. In his military career, he learned leadership skills and how to communicate, and he managed large budgets.
Casey, an independent businessman and second-generation China resident, said dealing with lots of people has taught him to listen, to compromise and to solve problems.
Chesley, co-owner of a large highway construction business, cited his knowledge of public works projects. He said he listens to his employees to get information he needs to make good decisions and appropriate compromises. Born in Lincoln, he has lived in China for 16 years.
Jeanne Marquis
Marquis, who returned to China to take care of her elderly father in the house the family has owned for five generations, said her journalism training at Northwestern University taught her to research issues and to listen. She encouraged selectmen to initiate more communication with residents.
Preston, formerly a China School Committee member, cited her unique perspective as an educator, which she said helps her work with varied people, listen well and explain things clearly. She described herself as open-minded, non-judgmental and, as a math teacher, focused on problem-solving. She and her family have lived in their house in China for 30 years, she said.
Asked about taxes and the town budget, Breton and Preston agreed the current board studies expenditures carefully and does not waste taxpayers’ money. Chesley’s opinion is that “People are pretty well maxed out on taxes.” Marquis said compared to other Maine towns of comparable size, China’s tax rate is about in the middle.
Neither Chesley nor Casey had had time to review the budget looking for specifics, but Casey believes a town can always save money – and perhaps increase some allocations. Marquis pointed out that China currently contributes more to FirstPark, the Oakland business park, than the town gets in return, though the new park manager might improve the balance; and she suggested China’s Emergency Preparedness Committee should have money available for things like pandemic supplies and generators residents could borrow.
Brent Chesley
Chesley recommended inviting more homeowners and especially more business owners to town, to increase the property tax base. Marquis, who advocated repeatedly for open space and China’s natural environment, disagreed with “overdeveloping China” and preferred seeking grants and other funding sources.
Moderator Barnhart’s broad questions about additional community facilities and services brought a variety of answers from the five candidates. Several cited recommendations in China’s comprehensive plan.
Casey and Chesley were least enthusiastic about expanding services. Casey said he is unaware of additional services residents are looking for, but invited suggestions. Chesley’s wording was that he is unaware of additional services residents need, versus what some might want.
Both men would consider elderly housing, if it were provided by private developers and, Chesley added, if there were community support. Casey said one service he recommends is more flexible town office hours to accommodate working residents.
Marquis endorsed expansion of broadband service, now being sought by the town’s broadband committee, and said more solar power would save money. She favors the comprehensive plan recommendations for more youth recreational programs and programs for the elderly.
Janet Preston
Preston favors elderly housing with services, though she has no specific plan yet. She would also like to see more bike paths, especially around China Lake, pointing out that cyclists now have Lakeview Drive with paved shoulders and heavy traffic on one side and back roads without shoulders the rest of the way.
Breton said China has a committee looking into elderly housing possibilities. He too favors more recreational areas. He would also like more law enforcement coverage, though voters at the 2020 town meeting did not approve hiring a full-time police chief.
The idea of a town community center, rejected by voters in June 2019, brought varied reactions.
Marquis proposed, in present circumstances, using the town-owned 40-acre lot on Lakeview Drive opposite the former Candlewood Camps for an outdoor pavilion with a firepit, a farmers’ market and perhaps later a community center building. She suggested funding the building through donations (with major donors offered naming rights), not taxes.
Chesley could see the Lakeview Drive property being used for an amphitheater, hiking trails and/or a farmers’ market – but he is concerned about the cost. China has already invested in recreational facilities like Thurston Park and the causeway project at the head of China Lake’s east basin, he reminded the audience.
Breton favors an earlier plan that he realizes was and is unpopular: a building on the Lakeview Drive land that would house a community center, the current three fire departments and perhaps China Rescue and a police office. He approved the farmers’ market idea; the town office parking lot might be another possible site, he suggested. If voters don’t want to use the Lakeview Drive land, he recommends selling it; town-owned land does not pay property taxes, he pointed out.
Neither Marquis nor Preston is currently willing to sell the lot. Both favor public access to outdoor areas, for dog-walking (Preston) and other quality-of-life reasons (Preston and Marquis).
Preston favors a community center somewhere in town. She sees the tentative plan to consolidate China’s two schools and free the present middle school for town use as no longer a possibility and suggested possible use of the large building at the China Baptist Conference Center on Neck Road.
Blane Casey
Casey and Chesley listed multiple underutilized buildings in town and opposed adding a community center. If there is to be a community center and central fire station, it should be close to the center of town, not at the north end of Lakeview Drive, Casey said.
Another previously-controversial issues, public access to China Lake, found the majority of the candidates favoring the idea, at least in principle. Preston, who served on the committee that proposed buying the Candlewood lakefront property and had its recommendation rejected by voters, still strongly supports a public beach.
Marquis agreed, and Breton hopes China’s revised comprehensive plan will include lake access as a goal. Chesley would not oppose a town beach at the right price, in the right place and with a maintenance plan. Casey does not know of available land, and is concerned about costs and potential liability.
The China library’s first on-line forum ran smoothly, thanks to the organizational and technical skills of librarians Carla Gade and Miranda Perkins and trustees Jim Hart (computer expert) and Barnhart (Zoom hostess and forum moderator).
To view the video of the China selectperson candidates’ forum, please click here.
by Mary GrowChina selectmen heard reports from town departments (submitted in writing and read by Town Manager Becky Hapgood) and considered various issues at their Oct. 13 meeting.
They made three decisions:
Department and other report highlights included the following:
Hapgood added that office staff have received many complaints about ballot applications, ballots and other election materials mailed by political parties and affiliates. Selectboard Chairman Ronald Breton said town officials can do nothing to stop them.
Selectman Irene Belanger, who represents China on several regional and state boards and committees, reported that the Municipal Review Committee, the group of towns overseeing the now-closed Fiberight trash facility, in Hampden, continues to move toward finding a new owner/operator.
Halloween trunk or treat to be held
China’s annual Halloween trunk-or-treat will be held, with adjustments for Covid, beginning at 6 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 31, in the town office parking lot. Selectman Irene Belanger and former Selectman Robert MacFarland are organizing the event; they plan to hand out treats as children remain in vehicles, with a one-way traffic flow. Those who would like to help are invited to wear costumes and to assemble well before 6 p.m. Those seeking more information should contact Belanger, MacFarland or the town office.
In other business, South China resident Carrie Gay again asked for town help in creating a public water source to replace the private spring on Route 3 that has been closed. Many people in the area have well water that is unfit to drink, she said, and cannot afford to meet their needs with bottled water. No definite proposals were discussed; Breton said the town will try to assist.
Breton asked whether Hapgood intends to continue mailing weekly newsletters after the Covid grant financing them runs out. Hapgood said she hopes to find money in the budget to continue on a bi-weekly or monthly basis, and praised deputy town clerk Ashley Farrington for the quality of the letters.
Hapgood and Breton made the following announcements:
Annual drug take-back day set for Oct. 24
The annual fall drug take-back day at the China transfer station is scheduled for 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 24. Residents are encouraged to bring in unused or outdated medication for safe disposal.
by Jeanne Marquis
Raigen Messier York, organizer
There aren’t many groups of people more resourceful than parents of school-age kids, except maybe crafters. It’s the resourcefulness of parents and crafters that’s making the 41st Annual China Maine Craft Show possible this year. Raigen Messier York and Melissa Clement, both of the China Schools PTO recreated the fair experience online, bringing crafters and consumers, together at ChinaMaineCraftSho.wixsite.com, from October 7 to November 7.
The craft show has been a major fundraiser for the China Schools PTO for over four decades supporting their programs. All the money raised by the craft show fund school events, educational materials and field trips. Local and regional crafters have also come to depend on the annual income from sales at the craft fair so they return year after year. The concern about Covid could have derailed plans for the 41st fair until the leaders the PTO thought out-of-the-box to go all online.
Crafters who participate receive their own page to display images of their handmade products. Purchases will be made directly through the crafter by their preferred method of communication as indicated on their page. Organizers encourage visitors to the site to visit frequently as they expect more crafters to come onboard through the duration of the show.
Crafters include:
Seaglass Creations – Creates wind chimes, mirrors, jewelry and key rings from seaglass collected from the Maine coast.
Cindy’s Quilting Connection – Offers table runners, snowmen, wall hanging, mini-duffles, and pot holders in beautiful fabrics.
Cedar Post Farm – Makes homemade, naturally based body care products including goat milk soap, lotions, scrubs and bath bombs.
Sandy Messier Designs – Sews new life into recycled denim and sweaters by creating ornaments, wreaths, teddy bears, tote bags and pouches.
Kaleidoscope Beadwork – Designs jewelry full of color and whimsy from beadwork and polymer clay.
Raffle baskets are on display on the China Maine Craft Show website. The photos will be updated regularly as new baskets are donated. Raffle basket tickets are $1 or 6 tickets for $5. Raffle tickets will be on sale through November 7, 2 p.m. To purchase tickets, contact BasketsPTO@gmail.com. The drawing date is November 7, 2020, at 4 p.m., on Facebook Live, from the China Maine Craft Show page.
Melissa Clement, who has run the Basket Raffle for the past three years, explained, “I have two daughters, a seventh grader and a kindergartner. I am thankful for the chance to give back to the school community; increase involvement between the parents, students and staff; and have fun doing it.”
China’s Broadband Committee meets virtually at 7 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 15, to continue discussion of expanding internet service in town. People interested in watching or participating in the meeting should contact the town office for information.
At the Oct. 13 selectmen’s meeting, spokesman Tod Detre said the committee is investigating means and costs to upgrade infrastructure in order to provide high-speed internet service throughout the town.
Albert Church Brown Memorial Library in China Village.
The China Library Association invites China residents to a virtual candidates’ forum hosted by the Albert Church Brown Memorial Library, China Village. The ZOOM event will take place on Sunday, October 18, 2020, at 2 p.m.
Dr. Louisa Bernhardt, vice president of the library’s board of directors, will interview the five candidates running for three positions on the China Board of Selectmen, providing an opportunity for voters to become better acquainted with their platforms.
Capacity limit is 100 for the live ZOOM event; however, the forum will be recorded for others to view online at their convenience. Access to the log-in link for the live and recorded event will be available on the library website at chinalibrary.org. Interested residents are invited to send potential questions for consideration to chinalibraryacb@gmail.com. Please submit your questions by 6 p.m., October 16.
The Branch Mills Grange will host a chicken and dumplings and pie drive-up on Saturday, October 17, from 4 – 6 p.m., for $7 per serving. Pre-orders (optional) can be place from October 10 – 16, at 5 p.m., by calling Grange Master Ann Bako and (207) 445-2707. The grange is located on Branch Mills Rd., at the China/Palermo line.
The Waterville, Fairfield & Oakland Railway trolley on Main St., in Fairfield.
Not long after finishing the piece about street railways that appeared in The Town Line, Sept. 10, this writer came across a small paperback book published in 1955. Written by O. R. (Osmond Richard) Cummings, it is titled Toonervilles of Maine, the Pine Tree State.
(The title refers to Fontaine Fox’s comic strip called Toonerville Folks that Wikipedia says first appeared in the Chicago Post in 1908 and last appeared in 1955. Toonerville was a suburban community with an assortment of oddball characters. One was Terrible-Tempered Mister Bang, who drove the Toonerville Trolley that met all the trains, Wikipedia explains.)
Additionally, the Connecticut Valley Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society’s April-December 1965 Transportation Bulletin, available on line, includes a well-illustrated article Cummings wrote about the Waterville & Fairfield and other area street railways. Cummings and the Fairfield history both have information on trolleys in Fairfield, but they do not always agree. Cummings’ work is much more detailed, with information from multiple historical records.
The Waterville & Fairfield Railroad, which was initially powered by horses, is described in both books. Cummings wrote that it was incorporated on Feb. 24, 1887, and authorized to run horse-drawn cars the three and a third miles from Waterville to Fairfield. With $20,000 in bond sales and $20,000 borrowed, Amos F. Gerald, of Fairfield, and the other organizers acquired four cars and six horses. They oversaw the laying of tracks along the west side of the Kennebec roughly where College Avenue now runs and construction of a wooden carhouse for the cars and stable for the horses in Fairfield.
One online photo shows an elaborate open passenger car, rather precariously balanced on two sets of small wheels under its middle third, drawn by two white horses. Two women in floor-length skirts stand on the sidewalk in front of a row of large-windowed two-story brick buildings on Main Street, in Fairfield. The car is identified as Horse Car No. 1, and the estimated date is opening day, June 23, 1888 (the Fairfield historians wrote that service began June 24, 1888).
Car #1, in 1902.
Cummings said the open cars had eight benches and could accommodate 40 passengers. Another photo shows a closed car outside the Fairfield carhouse; the closed cars had space for 20 passengers, according to the text.
The railway soon had 24 horses. The Railroad Commissioners’ 1889 report, quoted by Cummings, said the horses “are well fed and kindly treated.”
The Waterville & Fairfield was well-patronized, Cummings wrote, carrying almost 95,000 passengers between its June 1888 opening and Sept. 30 that year. In its first full year, Sept. 30, 1888, to Sept. 30, 1889, there were 232,684 passengers, and despite having to buy snow-moving equipment and repair tracks in the spring, the line made a profit: $657, of which stockholders got $600 as dividends.
The next two years saw deficits almost $1,400. Nonetheless, early in 1891 two things happened indicating the railway was considered a going concern.
First, Cummings wrote, Gerald and other local men organized the Waterville & Fairfield Railway & Light Company, chartered by the Maine legislature on Feb. 12 and approved to buy the Waterville & Fairfield and two electric companies, in Waterville and Fairfield. The two railway companies became one on July 1, 1891.
The second event was that on March 4, the legislature authorized the Waterville & Fairfield to build a line through Winslow to North Vassalboro and to become an electric railroad.
The next year, horses were replaced by electricity, a conversion that involved adding poles and overhead wires, large generators at both ends of the line and new equipment in the cars. The first electric cars ran July 20, 1892. Cummings wrote that residents were excited and every car was full on opening day.
13-bench open car #11 of the Waterville, Fairfield & Oakland Railway, with conductor William McAuley, standing left, and motorman John Carl, on Grove St., in Waterville, near Pine Grove Cemetery.
The Waterville & Fairfield was the first of several street railways serving the area from the late 19th century well into the 20th century. Another that the Fairfield history describes was the Benton & Benton Falls Electric Railroad. It opened Dec. 7, 1898, and extended its tracks to Fairfield in July 1900. Cummings wrote about the Benton & Fairfield Railway, which had been operating a shorter line before it connected Benton to Fairfield in 1901. (The writer suspects the two were the same, perhaps going by slightly different names and owners’ names at different times.)
The Benton & Fairfield, Cummings wrote, was owned by Kennebec Fibre Company and served primarily to carry pulpwood delivered on Maine Central freight cars to Benton and Fairfield paper mills. Its first three miles of track, all in Benton, opened Dec. 7, 1898. Extensions in 1899 and 1900 brought the line across the Kennebec to Fairfield and increased mileage to a little over four miles.
Cummings wrote that the railroad made a profit in only nine of its 32 or so years, and state railway commissioners were frequently dissatisfied with its maintenance. What little passenger service was offered ended in 1928, and the railroad went out of business around 1930, Cummings found.
The Fairfield & Shawmut connected those two villages in 1906 (Fairfield history) or October 1907 (Cummings). Amos Gerald was among its founders. It was primarily intended to serve passengers; Cummings wrote that its schedules were designed to let people transfer to the Waterville & Fairfield. The fare was five cents; the three-mile trip took 15 minutes, and cars ran every half hour.
The line, a little more than three miles long, served Keyes Fibre Company near Shawmut and Central Maine Sanatorium on Mountain Avenue between downtown Fairfield and Shawmut. There was a waiting room for sanatorium visitors at the foot of the avenue, Cummings wrote.
Like the other electric railroads Cummings described, the Fairfield & Shawmut was partly built with borrowed money — $30,000, in this case. Cum—mings wrote that when the 20-year bonds came due July 1, 1927, there wasn’t enough money to redeem them. The bondholders chose a receiver who got approval to abandon the railroad; the last trolleys ran July 23, 1927.
The Waterville & Fairfield met the lines from Benton and from Shawmut in Fairfield, and provided electricity for both.
As the Waterville & Fairfield grew, local businessmen formed the Waterville & Oakland Street Railway. (Yes, one was Amos F. Gerald, and Cummings lists him as the railway’s first general manager.) It was chartered in 1902, despite opposition from the Maine Central Railroad that also connected the two towns. Construction began in April 1903; the line from downtown Waterville to Snow Pond opened July 2, 1903, Cummings wrote.
High trestle over the Messalonskee Stream, in Oakland, with one of the Duplex convertibles crossing at the Cascade Woolen Mill.
The new line required two bridges across Messalonskee Stream, one in Oakland and one off Western Avenue in Waterville. The railway and the city split the cost of the Waterville bridge, which Cummings said was 53 feet long and 28 feet wide.
The Waterville & Fairfield and Waterville & Oakland met in Waterville. Thence passengers could travel to Fairfield and connect for Benton or Shawmut.
By 1910, the Waterville & Fairfield tracks had been extended into the southern part of Waterville, out Grove Street to Pine Grove Cemetery and out Silver Street. There might have been a plan to connect the two lines at the foot of what is now Kennedy Memorial Drive; if so, it was never achieved.
The Waterville & Fairfield and Waterville & Oakland consolidated in 1911 under the auspices of Central Maine Power Company (which owned two other street railways in Maine). As of December of that year, Cummings wrote, the new Waterville, Fairfield & Oakland had 10.5 miles of track plus sidings.
A postcard showing Main St., in Waterville, after an ice storm with iced lines and plowed Waterville, Fairfield & Oakland trolley tracks running the middle of the street, on March 10, 1906.
The line through Winslow and Vassalboro was eventually built by the Lewiston, Augusta & Waterville Street Railway. This company opened a railway from Winslow to East Vassalboro on June 27, 1908, and continued it from East Vassalboro to Augusta by November 1908.
The Lewiston and Waterville lines were connected by an arched concrete bridge across the Kennebec between Winslow and Waterville that opened Dec. 15, 1909, Cummings found. He wrote that after the 1936 flood took out the highway bridge, the trolley bridge was temporarily the only local way to cross the Kennebec (except by the footbridge).
The trolley bridge had survived its builders. The Lewiston, Augusta & Waterville became the Androscoggin & Kennebec in 1919 and stopped running July 31, 1932.
Cummings described in some detail routes, equipment, power sources and facilities. Fairfield’s two carhouses were on High Street (plus a smaller one on Main Street for the Fairfield & Shawmut); Benton had one, at Benton Falls; Waterville had one, at the Waterville Fairgrounds; and Oakland had elegant Messalonskee Hall, on Summer Street at the foot of Church Street near the lake. Cummings wrote that the Hall’s ground level accommodated three trolley tracks; the basement had a restaurant and a boathouse; and on the second floor were a dance hall and dining room.
The trolley fare remained a nickel until 1918, rose to seven cents that year and later to 10 cents, Cummings wrote; but regular riders could buy tickets in bulk and get a discount. Children rode for half price.
Schedules called for a trolley-car every half hour on each of the various routes. Cummings commented that as more and more automobiles and trucks competed for space on the streets, staying on schedule became increasingly challenging.
The Waterville, Fairfield & Oakland surrendered on Oct. 10, 1937. On its final day, passengers again filled the cars, as when the first electric cars ran more than 45 years earlier. Cummings wrote that the last trip over the Waterville to Oakland line began at 10:35 p.m. on Oct. 10; the last run to Fairfield began at 12:40 a.m. on Oct. 11. Bus service began at 5:15 that same morning.
Cummings, O. R. , Toonervilles of Maine The Pine Tree State (1955)
Fairfield Historical Society Fairfield, Maine 1788-1988 (1988).
Websites, miscellaneous.