Area food pantries negatively impacted by USDA cuts

The China Food Pantry at 1320 Lakeview Drive in China. (photo by Eric Austin)

by Eric W. Austin
Dave Carew
Roland Hallee

Due to budget cuts by the Trump Administration, Good Shepherd Food Bank, which distributes food to more than 600 partner-organizations including Winslow Community Cupboard food pantry, and China Food Pantry, is receiving, effective April 1, 2025, a 50 percent reduction in the amount of food it usually receives from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).

Heather Paquette, President of Good Shepherd, called the 50 percent cut an “almost insurmountable” amount, and said it will make it significantly more difficult to address the needs of the growing number of food-insecure Mainers.

The Emergency Food Assistance Program, (TEFAP) was created to help supplement the diets of lower-income Americans through emergency food assistance.

Local community food banks and pantries serve as lifelines for thousands of Mainers facing food insecurity. These crucial organizations now enter perhaps their most challenging period in recent memory as federal funding cuts threaten their operations. Despite these obstacles, central Maine’s food assistance network remains determined to fulfill its mission – though they need community support now more than ever.

Maine faces one of the highest rates of food insecurity in New England, with approximately 180,000 residents, including 45,000 children, struggling to access adequate nutrition. Good Shepherd Food Bank, Maine’s sole Feeding America-affiliated food bank, distributes roughly 40 million meals annually across the state, serving as the backbone of the food security network that smaller local pantries rely upon.

“We were told by Good Shepherd [on Friday, March 28] there would be a 20 percent cut in produce, starting in April.”
– Winslow Community Cupboard food pantry Operations Manager Bruce Bottiglierie –

Asked how the USDA cuts will specifically impact Winslow Community Cupboard food pantry, Operations Manager Bruce Bottiglierie said, “We were told by Good Shepherd [on Friday, March 28] there would be a 20 percent cut in produce, starting in April. And because Winslow Community Cupboard is a hub for other area food pantries, this will negatively impact about 25 other food pantries in Kennebec, Waldo, and Somerset counties.”

Bottiglierie said he is trying to “take this with a grain of salt” and not panic, because so many “threats” from the Trump administration have been later retracted.

Recent USDA funding cuts have delivered a significant blow to this system. Starting April 1, Good Shepherd expects a 50 percent reduction in food received through the Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP), dropping from 500,000 pounds to just 250,000 pounds monthly. This represents about 20 percent of all food they distribute. Compounding the problem, the USDA has ended the Local Food Purchase Assistance Program (LFPA), which helped Good Shepherd purchase produce from approximately 100 Maine farmers. This cancellation results in a projected loss of 500,000 to 600,000 pounds of fresh, local produce.

These cuts couldn’t come at a worse time, as grocery prices remain stubbornly high and food insecurity continues to rise. Central Maine food pantries, which depend heavily on Good Shepherd for supplies, now face increased strain on their operations and resources.

Alarmed by the sudden announcement of the food-delivery reduction, a group of 25 U.S. Senators, including Sen. Angus King, called for USDA distributions to be reinstated, and that “concrete reasoning” be provided as to why deliveries are being reduced. Sen. King told the Portland Press Herald that the delivery-reduction “takes food away from hungry Maine people already facing high grocery prices, and hurts Maine farmers who are already squeezed by tariffs and other cuts to domestic markets.”

According to the national nonprofit Feeding America, one in eight Mainers – or about 180,000 people – faces hunger, which is the highest food-insecurity rate in New England. That number includes approximately 45,000 Maine children.

Local pantry directors, however, remain resolute. “Our pantry survives on small donations and grants,” explains Allison Brooks of the Jefferson Community Food Pantry. “The best way to help a food pantry is by donating directly to them. That gives them the ability to purchase goods needed. In all, I have faith that our pantry will survive this bump if it comes with the help of our amazing community.”

Tom Parent, Chairman of the Board of Directors for the China Community Food Pantry, shares this determined outlook. “The pantry will continue to do its best to support those in need in our area with the continued support of the Good Shepherd Food Bank, the generous donations from the area Hannaford stores, and the invaluable food and financial contributions from our local community members,” he affirms.

At the state level, Maine legislators are considering measures to support local food initiatives, such as expanding investment in the Mainers Feeding Mainers program, to help mitigate the impact of these federal cuts. These efforts recognize the critical importance of maintaining food access across the state, particularly in rural central Maine communities.

Despite the significant challenges ahead, local food pantries express cautious optimism about their future, drawing strength from the communities they serve. Many report seeing increased local donations as news of the federal cuts spreads, demonstrating Maine’s strong tradition of neighbors helping neighbors.

Food pantry directors across central Maine emphasize that monetary donations provide the most flexibility, allowing them to purchase exactly what their clients need most. They also welcome food donations, volunteer time, and advocacy efforts to support long-term food security solutions.

As this situation continues to evolve, one thing remains clear: central Maine’s food pantries may face unprecedented challenges, but with community support, they remain committed to ensuring no neighbor goes hungry. The resilience of these organizations – and the communities that sustain them – will be tested in the months ahead, but the spirit of mutual aid continues to offer hope amid uncertainty.

How You Can Help

The reduction in food will mean the food bank has to rely more heavily on other sources of food and funding, including donations from businesses and individual monetary donations.

Last Thursday, Winslow Community Cupboard food pantry served 270 food-insecure families, Bruce Bottiglierie said. Those who would like to donate to Winslow Community Cupboard food pantry may do so by sending a check payable to “Winslow Community Cupboard”, to 12 Lithgow St., Winslow, ME 04901, or by visiting WCCPantry.com.

For more information, please call (207) 616-0076 or email WinslowCupboard@Gmail.com.

Endicott College announces local dean’s list students

Endicott College, in Beverly, Massachusetts, has announced its Fall 2024 dean’s list students.

The following students have met the requirements:

Augusta

Oliver Parker, English, Katherine Parker and Walter Parker;

China

Emily Clark, Nursing, Stacy Clark and Christopher Clark;

China Village

Hailey Hobart, Education, Deborah Hobart and Daniel Hobart

Jefferson

Elizabeth Greenleaf, Liberal Studies;

Winslow

Alexi ONeil, English, Michelle O’Neil.

EVENTS: Spaghetti supper to benefit Winslow Community Cupboard Food Pantry

Winslow Community Cupboard food pantry – which serves food-insecure children, seniors, and other adults from Winslow, Waterville, and 22 surrounding towns – will hold a Spaghetti Supper Fundraiser at Winslow Congregational Church, 12 Lithgow Street, on Saturday, March 1, from 4:30 to 7 p.m. A donation of $9.95 for adults and $4.95 for children under 12 is kindly requested. All proceeds will benefit Winslow Community Cupboard food pantry.

The delicious spaghetti supper can be enjoyed as a sit-down meal at the church or as a to-go treat. The meal will include spaghetti, salad, bread, and a drink. To place a to-go order, please call (207) 616-0076 on Saturday, March 1, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Those who may not be able to attend, but who would like to help food-insecure children and adults in Central Maine, may send a much-appreciated check payable to “Winslow Community Cupboard”, to 12 Lithgow St., Winslow, ME 04901, or by donating online at WCCPantry.com.

For more information, please contact Winslow Community Cupboard at WinslowCupboard@Gmail.com.

Students at Winslow inspired to start first unified cheerleading team

Addie Blackstone, center, along with fellow Winslow Varsity Cheerleaders mentor special needs students to bring Unified Cheer to their school’s sports program. Front row, from left, Addie Blackstone and Maya Veilleux. Second row, Paige Owen and Henry Olson. Visible in back row, Kennedy Dumond, Brooklynn Michaud, Addie Benavente, and Kylie Barron.

Text and photos
by Monica Charette

When a group of special needs students at Winslow High School expressed interest in being cheerleaders, senior Adeline “Addie” Blackstone decided to make it happen. With full backing by school administration, a commitment by 13 of her fellow Winslow varsity cheerleaders to be mentors, and financial support from the ShineOnCass Foundation, Coach Addie is now leading the school’s first Winslow Unified Cheer Team.

“I have such compassion for the students in the Unified community who don’t get the same opportunities that I do,” Blackstone said, sharing that she did some research, wrote a proposal, and presented her idea to start a unified cheer team to school.

Winslow High School Unified cheerleaders at practice after the school started its first unified cheer team. Spotting (left on the floor) Addie Benavente, Maya Veilleux, Jocelyn Lizzotte, Kylie McCafferty (top of formation), Nydia Alverado (faculty coach), Kennedy Dumond, spotter (right on the floor) Hayden Breton, with Coach Addie Blackstone (right front) cheering them on.

Unified sports combine students with and without intellectual disabilities to play on the same team to promote inclusion and acceptance. Multiple area high schools, as well as the Alfond Youth Community Center, have unified basketball teams that compete against each other. Thanks to Blackstone and the varsity cheerleaders, Winslow now has its first unified cheer team.

Blackstone received her school’s ShineOnCass Junior Service Award last year, along with a $100 gift by the Foundation to pay it forward. Blackstone said the honor inspired her to “go further” to spread kindness.

ShineOnCass Junior Service Awards are presented annually to service-focused students at Messalonskee, Waterville, Lawrence, and Winslow high schools in memory of Cassidy Charette. Charette, a Messalonskee junior who died in a hayride accident in 2014, was a longtime community volunteer and youth mentor.

“When I won the ShineOnCass Junior Service Award, I knew that this was exactly how I wanted to pay it forward – to honor Cassidy, and spread her light,” Blackstone said.

But there were a few things needed to get started, like uniforms for the 19 cheerleaders. Inspired by Addie’s volunteer work, the ShineOnCass Foundation provided additional funding so the team would have matching T-shirts to wear at all games.

Monica Charette, Cassidy’s mother and executive director for ShineOnCass, said Blackstone’s enthusiasm and spirit to give back to her school community inspired the Foundation to provide additional funding to start the program this year.

“I am so thankful for the support of my community and from ShineOnCass for helping me make this happen,” Blackstone said. “It’s gone far beyond what my dreams could ever have imagined. Getting to see how much the students love cheering and how much joy it’s spreading throughout the community is incredible to watch.”

Winslow students, as well as parents and other community members, are filling the bleachers at home games in support of both unified basketball players and the sport’s new cheerleaders.

Kelly Daignault, unified science teacher and the cheer team’s student advisor, notes the positive effect from partnerships between students and peer mentors.

“We are so fortunate to have caring students at Winslow High who want what is best for their peers,” Daignault said. “As a Unified Champion high school, our teachers work together to bring the philosophy of inclusion into the classroom and do whatever we can to support them.”

Debbie Michaud, whose daughter Brooklyn is a special needs student on the cheer team, says Brooklyn is most excited when she is cheering on her peers.

“Allowing Brooklyn to have the opportunity to cheer makes my heart so happy,” Michaud said. “Brooklyn has such joy, and this experience allows her to share that joy with everyone around her. When she is on the sideline cheering, she is a student like everyone else.”

For Brooklyn, it is just pure happiness being part of a team. “I love my cheer friends! And I get to wear a bow!”

A fundraising event for Winslow Unified Sports “Dine to Donate” will be held February 24 and 25 at Opa, on Main St., in Waterville, where 10 percent of all food sales will be donated to Winslow’s Unified basketball and cheer programs. Upcoming games are being held on February 13, at 3:30 p.m., at Winslow High School.

Winslow council repeals public safety department

by Jonathan Strieff

In a first reading of the ordinance at the January 13, Winslow town council meeting, council members voted 4-3 to repeal the Winslow Public Safety Department adopted on November 21, 2022, and reinstate the previously separated Police Department and Fire and Rescue Department.

The ordinance, sponsored by the newly-appointed Council Chairman, Fran Hudson, seeks to address staffing shortages, high rates of overtime pay, and the lack of cross training of officers promised by transitioning to the public safety model adopted in 2022.

“Since adopting the Public Safety Department, Winslow has lost six police officers and eight firefighters,” Hudson cited for pursuing the restructuring. “If I were a new graduate from the police academy or the firefighters academy, I would be looking for a job at a Police or Fire Department, not a Public Safety Department.”

Hudson also referenced other Maine municipalities like Gardiner and Old Town that transitioned to Public Safety Departments only to revert back to more traditional models after a few years.

Council members in favor of preserving the Public Safety Department, like Second District Council Member Dale Macklin and Councilor-at-Large Jeffery West, noted that overtime pay was on pace with what the council had budgeted for the fiscal year and that personnel disputes, common when the Police and Fire Departments had been managed separately, seemed to have disappeared since adopting the unified Public Safety Department’.

Public Safety Director, Leonard McDaid, and Deputy Fire Chief, Michael Murphy, both spoke favorable about the operations of the Public Safety Department, but both acknowledged that they, “serve at the will of the council,” and will run organize the departments accordingly.

The council also heard a presentation from Winslow Town Sexton, Jason Fitch, about the potential to expand McClintock Cemetery. Fitch shared that an abutting landowner has offered to sell the town up to two acres of land for new burial and cremation plots, but the Sexton needed to receive council approval to even sit down to negotiations with him. Fitch estimated the additional land would meet the towns needs for 10 years of burials and pointed out that there is currently no inventory available for burial or cremation plots in Winslow.

At the council meeting, Deputy Fire Chief Murphy also awarded Captain Adam Burgess with the award of Firefighter of the Year for 2024 and recognized retiring firefighter Paul DuCett for 28 years of service.

Husson University Online celebrates Term 4 academic award recipients

Husson University Online has announced the academic achievements of students recently named to the president’s list, dean’s list and honors list for Term 4 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.

Full-time online students must be enrolled as an undergraduate, carry a full-time load of 12 credit hours over the course of 21 weeks, complete all attempted courses in the time allotted, and achieve a designated semester grade-point average. Credits from pass/fail classes do not qualify toward meeting the minimum credit hour requirement.

President’s List: 3.80 to 4.0 semester grade-point average

Dean’s List: 3.60 to 3.79 semester grade-point average

Honor’s List: 3.40 to 3.59 semester grade-point average

Ashley Castagnetto, of Winslow, – President’s List – BS Healthcare Administration & Public Health;

Sarah Rodrigue, of Cornville, – President’s List – BS Accounting;

Vivian Tschamler, of Whitefield, – Dean’s List – BS Psychology.

Waterville/Winslow bridge closed until June

Starting this past Monday, January 6, 2025, through June 20, 2025, the project will be closing the Ticonic bridge to all traffic for construction activities requiring access to the entire bridge. During this time, pedestrians will NOT be allowed to transit the bridge. Both pedestrians and vehicles will be required to follow the posted detour routes. The detour routes can be found in the traffic control drawings on the MaineDOT website (Plans F-H). Message boards will be used to warn drivers of the closure.

On June 20, westbound vehicle traffic will remain prohibited from the bridge for a period of approximately one year. Westbound traffic should continue to follow the detour routes that are posted. Eastbound traffic will be reopened at approximately 5 p.m., on June 20, 2025, and will be allowed access to the bridge during the westbound detour. At that time the bridge will reopen to pedestrian traffic utilizing the new sidewalk on the upstream side of the bridge.

The Maine Department of Transportation will be replacing the Ticonic Bridge (#2854), located on Route 201 over the Kennebec River, at the Waterville-Winslow town line. The Ticonic Bridge will be replaced on alignment, with a new two span, steel girder with concrete bridge deck structure. A single concrete pier will be built in the river to support the new bridge.

This new structure will replace the aging Ticonic Bridge, portions of which are over 100 years old and at the end of their useful life. The new bridge will carry five lanes of traffic similar to the existing bridge, feature widened shoulders for bicyclists, and include sidewalks on both sides of the bridge.

The new Ticonic Bridge will be built one half at a time. During construction limiting the number of lanes on the bridge will be necessary to provide the space needed by the contractor to demolish the existing bridge and to build the new one.

While construction is underway, two lanes of eastbound traffic will be maintained across the bridge with westbound traffic detoured south to the Carter Memorial Bridge. During the first half of construction, pedestrians will be detoured to the nearby Two Cent Bridge pedestrian crossing.

The bridge will be closed to all traffic and pedestrians for up to 25 weeks during construction to support the safe and efficient completion of critical construction activities.

Area scouts take part in Veterans Day parade

Front Row, left to right, Bear Scout Declan McLaughlin, Girl Scout Lila Reynolds, Tiger Scout Boone Mclaughlin, Girl Scout Cadence Metcalf, and Bear Scout Beckett Metcalf. Back, Cubmaster Christopher Reynolds, Bear Scout Lux Reynolds, Webelos Cole Stufflebeam, Tenderfoot Scout William Vincent, Tenderfoot Scout Christopher Santiago, Tenderfoot Scout Hunter Brown, and Scoutmaster Christopher Santiago. (photo by Chuck Mahaleris)

by Chuck Mahaleris

On November 11, 2024, Scouts in Cub Scout Pack #410 and Troop #410 joined Scouts from Augusta Troop #603, Windsor Pack #609, and Winslow Troop #433, in marching in the Waterville Veterans Day Parade to honor and thank all veterans but specifically those from our Central Maine/Kennebec Valley Region. Troop #410, in Vassalboro, Scoutmaster Chris Santiago said, “This is our third year in a row marching in the Waterville Veterans Parade (post-pandemic). It is an honor for us to march to honor and show gratitude for the veterans of the Armed Forces within our community who have served our great country.

“We do so with admiration and gratitude, especially for our Charter Organization, American Legion Post #126 Vassalboro. The parade helps reinforce lessons about character and leadership, citizenship, personal fitness, and a love of the outdoors. These are four of scouting’s major tenants, the other two being personal safety and family/reverence.”

Pine Tree Council Commissioner Mike Labbe said that Scouting has a long history of strong partnerships with and support to our nation’s veterans. Labbe, who is the MyHealthy Vet Coordinator at VA Maine Medical Center, is also a Navy veteran himself having served on most ship types, with aviation squadrons, and with NATO commands.

“Some of Scouting America’s earliest partnerships as an organization were with groups such as the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the American Legion. We, as a nation, owe so much to those who stepped forward and answered the call to serve. We teach our Cubs and Scouts to practice good citizenship and that includes by honoring our veterans.” Santiago added, “Our unit currently has approximately 20 scouts representing the communities of Vassalboro, China, and Waterville, but we always welcome new scouts. Our Cub Scout Pack accepts boys and girls in Grades K-5. For more information contact vassalborocubscoutpack410@gmail.com. Our Troop currently accepts boys in Grades 6-12. For more information contact vassalborobsatroop410 @gmail.com.”

EVENTS: Yummy, Ready-to-Be-Baked turkey pies coming Dec. 7

It’s one of Winslow’s most beloved holiday traditions! On Saturday, December 7, from noon to 3 p.m., Winslow Congregational Church (12 Lithgow Street) will be offering over 400 incredibly yummy, ready-to-be-baked turkey pies for sale. The cost is $15 per pie (2 for $25), with all proceeds going to empower the Christian/humanitarian work of the church, and for building improvements and repairs.

Freshly-prepared for baking and featuring an all-new crust recipe and a mouth-watering blend of turkey, peas, celery, carrots, onions, broth, and a pinch of sage, each turkey pie will be perfect for supper or for freezing for later winter comfort-food enjoyment.

Also available for your sweet tooth will be various delectable dessert pies, also available for $15 each, prepared by the members of Benton Falls Congregational Church and which will raise money for that church.

For more information, please call Winslow Congregational Church at 872-2544.

Up and Down the Kennebec Valley: Education: Waterville, Winslow high schools

by Mary Grow

Before moving on to 19th-century Winslow and Waterville high schools, your writer will share one more item about Waterville grammar schools. With its ramifications, it was too long for last week’s article.

Readers learned last week that Waterville school authorities once created two classrooms in the town hall. Following is another example of improvised classroom space, from Henry Kingsbury’s 1892 Kennebec County history.

Kingsbury quoted a resident’s article in the April 21, 1882, “Waterville Mail” remembering when George Dana Boardman taught in “Lemuel Dunbar’s carpenter shop,” because there was no schoolhouse in his newly-created district.

Your writer thought it appropriate to add that Boardman (Feb. 8, 1801 – Feb. 11, 1831) was an internationally known missionary, and Dunbar (May 3, 1781 – c. Aug. 6, 1865) did important work in Waterville.

Boardman, a native of Livermore, Maine, was half the graduating class at the Aug. 1, 1822, first commencement at Waterville College (now Colby College).

He taught at least one term of school in Dunbar’s shop in 1820, while still a student, according to Aaron Appleton Plaisted’s chapter on early settlers in Rev. Edwin Carey Whittemore’s 1902 Waterville history. On July 16 of that year, Kingsbury said, Baptist minister Rev. Jeremiah Chaplin baptized Boardman.

After graduation, according to Wikipedia, Boardman was a Waterville College tutor in 1822-1823, before he went to Andover (Massachusetts) Theological Seminary. When he was ordained a Baptist minister in West Yarmouth, Maine, on Feb. 16, 1825, Wikipedia says Chaplin, by then Waterville College’s President, was a speaker.

On July 4, 1825, Boardman married Sarah Hall (Nov. 4, 1803 – Sept. 1, 1845), from Alstead, New Hampshire. On July 16, they sailed for Calcutta, on their way to Burma (now Myanmar), where they spent their lives as missionaries.

The couple lost at least two sons in infancy; the survivor they named George Dana Boardman (frequently called “the Younger,” Wikipedia says). After Boardman’s early death from consumption (tuberculosis) in Burma, Sarah married another missionary and associate, Adoniram Judson.

* * * * * *

The other half of Boardman’s class was Ephraim Tripp (c. 1799 – April 7, 1871). After graduation, according to on-line information about Waterville/Colby graduates, he served as principal of Hebron Academy in 1822-1823. Then he, too, became a tutor at his alma mater, from 1823 to 1827.

During these years, according to the chapter in Whittemore’s history on Waterville churches, Tripp was one of the three-man building committee for the First Baptist Church, planned in 1824 and dedicated Dec 6, 1826. The dedication ceremony included “a sermon by Dr. Chaplin.”

Later in his life, Tripp was a teacher in Fayetteville, North Carolina, and in Mississippi, and was Clerk of Courts in Carroll County, Mississippi. He died in Winona, Mississippi (now the Montgomery County seat), at the age of 72.

(The author of the chapter on churches in the Waterville history is “George Dana Boardman Pepper, D.D., LL.D., Lately President of Colby College.”

(Pepper [Feb. 5, 1833 – Jan. 30, 1913] was the fourth and last child of John and Eunice [Hutchinson] Pepper. Born in Ware, Massachusetts, he attended two seminaries and Amherst College. From 1860 to 1865, he was pastor of Waterville’s First Baptist Church. Changing to education, he taught religious subjects before and after serving as Colby College’s ninth president from 1882 to 1889. Religion ran in the family; Find a Grave identifies his father as Deacon and one of his older brothers as Rev.)

* * * * * *

Lemuel Dunbar was born in Bridgewater, Massachusetts, and married Cordana Fobes there on June 23, 1806, according to Find a Grave. This source says he bought land in Waterville Oct. 1, 1805; Plaisted said he moved to Waterville around 1808. They agree he built his house and shop at the corner of Main and North streets, at the north end of the present downtown.

Sources disagree on how many children Dunbar had. One implies that Cordana died and he remarried; Find a Grave says Cordana lived until 1869.

Their oldest son was Otis Holmes Dunbar (May 22, 1807 – Sept. 30, 1892), like his father a carpenter. Find a Grave says he was born in Penobscot, Maine; married Mary Talbot in Winslow, Maine, in 1836; worked in Maine and “the Boston area”; and by June 1860 was living in Princeton, Illinois, where he died. His body was returned to Waterville for burial in Pine Grove Cemetery with family members.

Find a Grave says the Dunbars had nine children, born between 1807 and 1826, and lists three daughters and three sons buried in Pine Grove Cemetery. Youngest son Lemuel was the only one still alive in 1902, Plaisted wrote.

Chaplin taught the first Waterville College classes in July 1818 in a house not far from Dunbar’s shop, according to Edward W. Hall’s chapter on Colby in Whittemore’s history.

Hall continued, “In 1821 the South College was built and eighteen rooms finished besides fitting up a part of the building for a chapel. The second dormitory, known as the North College…was built in 1822.” Dunbar was the carpenter for both buildings, he said.

By 1902, Plaisted said, Dunbar’s original house had been removed and replaced, and the shop had been converted to a house “now occupied by Mr. A. M. Dunbar” (the first Lemuel’s grandson?).

* * * * * *

Your writer’s next topics are Winslow and Waterville high schools, about which she has found little second-hand information. Long-time readers will remember that second-hand information is important: original research, in enclosed spaces among unknown people, has been forbidden since this series started early in the Covid epidemic.

The earliest information your writer found about Winslow high schools was from Kingsbury. He said in 1892, Winslow appropriated $250 to support two free high schools. One, he said, was in “the village of Winslow” and the other “in the eastern part of the town near the Baptist church.” That year they had 80 students between them.

Two on-line sites provide tantalizing bits of information from the first half of the 20th century. One says a wooden, three-story high school building on Halifax Street (which was then Getchell Stret) burned in 1914 and was rebuilt on the same lot in 1915. Halifax Street, also Route 100, runs east from the Kennebec at Fort Halifax.

Another site says the new high school that opened on Danielson Street in 1929 replaced the previous schools, plural. The Danielson Street school started out housing grades seven through 12, but seventh grade was soon moved elsewhere. Danielson Street, site of the current Winslow High School, is several blocks north of Halifax Street.

* * * * * *

Your writer’s short part-article on Waterville’s high schools in the Sept. 9, 2021, issue of “The Town Line” is unsatisfactory, in spite of editor Roland Hallee’s attractive illustrations. The following paragraphs will expand it a bit:

Elwood T. Wyman, in his chapter on public schools in Whittemore’s history, listed the “masters” of Waterville’s public high school “since its permanent organization in 1876.” There were nine of them up to 1902, and Richard W. Sprague, Colby Class of 1901, was about to become the tenth. Wyman commented that “every one of the masters in the list quoted has been a Colby graduate.”

This permanently organized school was not Waterville’s first high school, but information on previous ones is scanty. From what Wyman wrote, it appears that by the 1830s, some, at least, of the district schools provided some high-school-level courses. Wyman mentioned that in 1855, “Latin and French were authorized as studies in the high school.”
Education Winslow and Waterville high schools number 224 for Nov 14 2024

Before moving on to 19th-century Winslow and Waterville high schools, your writer will share one more item about Waterville grammar schools. With its ramifications, it was too long for last week’s article.

Readers learned last week that Waterville school authorities once created two classrooms in the town hall. Following is another example of improvised classroom space, from Henry Kingsbury’s 1892 Kennebec County history.

Kingsbury quoted a resident’s article in the April 21, 1882, “Waterville Mail” remembering when George Dana Boardman taught in “Lemuel Dunbar’s carpenter shop,” because there was no schoolhouse in his newly-created district.

Your writer thought it appropriate to add that Boardman (Feb. 8, 1801 – Feb. 11, 1831) was an internationally known missionary, and Dunbar (May 3, 1781 – c. Aug. 6, 1865) did important work in Waterville.

Boardman, a native of Livermore, Maine, was half the graduating class at the Aug. 1, 1822, first commencement at Waterville College (now Colby College).

He taught at least one term of school in Dunbar’s shop in 1820, while still a student, according to Aaron Appleton Plaisted’s chapter on early settlers in Rev. Edwin Carey Whittemore’s 1902 Waterville history. On July 16 of that year, Kingsbury said, Baptist minister Rev. Jeremiah Chaplin baptized Boardman.

After graduation, according to Wikipedia, Boardman was a Waterville College tutor in 1822-1823, before he went to Andover (Massachusetts) Theological Seminary. When he was ordained a Baptist minister in West Yarmouth, Maine, on Feb. 16, 1825, Wikipedia says Chaplin, by then Waterville College’s President, was a speaker.

On July 4, 1825, Boardman married Sarah Hall (Nov. 4, 1803 – Sept. 1, 1845), from Alstead, New Hampshire. On July 16, they sailed for Calcutta, on their way to Burma (now Myanmar), where they spent their lives as missionaries.

The couple lost at least two sons in infancy; the survivor they named George Dana Boardman (frequently called “the Younger,” Wikipedia says). After Boardman’s early death from consumption (tuberculosis) in Burma, Sarah married another missionary and associate, Adoniram Judson.

* * * * * *

The other half of Boardman’s class was Ephraim Tripp (c. 1799 – April 7, 1871). After graduation, according to on-line information about Waterville/Colby graduates, he served as principal of Hebron Academy in 1822-1823. Then he, too, became a tutor at his alma mater, from 1823 to 1827.

During these years, according to the chapter in Whittemore’s history on Waterville churches, Tripp was one of the three-man building committee for the First Baptist Church, planned in 1824 and dedicated Dec 6, 1826. The dedication ceremony included “a sermon by Dr. Chaplin.”

Later in his life, Tripp was a teacher in Fayetteville, North Carolina, and in Mississippi, and was Clerk of Courts in Carroll County, Mississippi. He died in Winona, Mississippi (now the Montgomery County seat), at the age of 72.

(The author of the chapter on churches in the Waterville history is “George Dana Boardman Pepper, D.D., LL.D., Lately President of Colby College.”

(Pepper [Feb. 5, 1833 – Jan. 30, 1913] was the fourth and last child of John and Eunice [Hutchinson] Pepper. Born in Ware, Massachusetts, he attended two seminaries and Amherst College. From 1860 to 1865, he was pastor of Waterville’s First Baptist Church. Changing to education, he taught religious subjects before and after serving as Colby College’s ninth president from 1882 to 1889. Religion ran in the family; Find a Grave identifies his father as Deacon and one of his older brothers as Rev.)

* * * * * *

Lemuel Dunbar was born in Bridgewater, Massachusetts, and married Cordana Fobes there on June 23, 1806, according to Find a Grave. This source says he bought land in Waterville Oct. 1, 1805; Plaisted said he moved to Waterville around 1808. They agree he built his house and shop at the corner of Main and North streets, at the north end of the present downtown.

Sources disagree on how many children Dunbar had. One implies that Cordana died and he remarried; Find a Grave says Cordana lived until 1869.

Their oldest son was Otis Holmes Dunbar (May 22, 1807 – Sept. 30, 1892), like his father a carpenter. Find a Grave says he was born in Penobscot, Maine; married Mary Talbot in Winslow, Maine, in 1836; worked in Maine and “the Boston area”; and by June 1860 was living in Princeton, Illinois, where he died. His body was returned to Waterville for burial in Pine Grove Cemetery with family members.

Find a Grave says the Dunbars had nine children, born between 1807 and 1826, and lists three daughters and three sons buried in Pine Grove Cemetery. Youngest son Lemuel was the only one still alive in 1902, Plaisted wrote.

Chaplin taught the first Waterville College classes in July 1818 in a house not far from Dunbar’s shop, according to Edward W. Hall’s chapter on Colby in Whittemore’s history.

Hall continued, “In 1821 the South College was built and eighteen rooms finished besides fitting up a part of the building for a chapel. The second dormitory, known as the North College…was built in 1822.” Dunbar was the carpenter for both buildings, he said.

By 1902, Plaisted said, Dunbar’s original house had been removed and replaced, and the shop had been converted to a house “now occupied by Mr. A. M. Dunbar” (the first Lemuel’s grandson?).

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Your writer’s next topics are Winslow and Waterville high schools, about which she has found little second-hand information. Long-time readers will remember that second-hand information is important: original research, in enclosed spaces among unknown people, has been forbidden since this series started early in the Covid epidemic.

The earliest information your writer found about Winslow high schools was from Kingsbury. He said in 1892, Winslow appropriated $250 to support two free high schools. One, he said, was in “the village of Winslow” and the other “in the eastern part of the town near the Baptist church.” That year they had 80 students between them.

Two on-line sites provide tantalizing bits of information from the first half of the 20th century. One says a wooden, three-story high school building on Halifax Street (which was then Getchell Stret) burned in 1914 and was rebuilt on the same lot in 1915. Halifax Street, also Route 100, runs east from the Kennebec at Fort Halifax.

Another site says the new high school that opened on Danielson Street in 1929 replaced the previous schools, plural. The Danielson Street school started out housing grades seven through 12, but seventh grade was soon moved elsewhere. Danielson Street, site of the current Winslow High School, is several blocks north of Halifax Street.

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Your writer’s short part-article on Waterville’s high schools in the Sept. 9, 2021, issue of The Town Line is unsatisfactory, in spite of editor Roland Hallee’s attractive illustrations. The following paragraphs will expand it a bit:

Elwood T. Wyman, in his chapter on public schools in Whittemore’s history, listed the “masters” of Waterville’s public high school “since its permanent organization in 1876.” There were nine of them up to 1902, and Richard W. Sprague, Colby Class of 1901, was about to become the tenth. Wyman commented that “every one of the masters in the list quoted has been a Colby graduate.”

This permanently organized school was not Waterville’s first high school, but information on previous ones is scanty. From what Wyman wrote, it appears that by the 1830s, some, at least, of the district schools provided some high-school-level courses. Wyman mentioned that in 1855, “Latin and French were authorized as studies in the high school.”

After 1846, some students qualified for high-school level studies attended one of two private high schools, Waterville Academy (later Coburn Classical Institute) or Waterville Liberal Institute. After the Civil War, Waterville temporarily abandoned its public high school(s).

Wyman wrote: “In 1864 pupils of high school rank were sent to Waterville Academy where Dr. [James] Hanson received $4.50 a term for their tuition. This arrangement was continued until the establishment of an independent high school in 1876.”

(Hanson was then starting his second term as Academy principal; he served from 1843 to 1854 and again from 1865 to his death in 1894.)

Skipping to 1902, Wyman wrote that the southern of the two brick primary schools built in or soon after 1853 was by then “the main part of the present high school building.” But he did not describe how it attained that role, or where high school classes were held before the mid-1850s or after 1876.

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Waterville Academy was established in 1829 as a preparatory school for Colby College, Waterville Liberal Institute in 1835 as a Universalist high school. (See the Oct. 21, 2021, issue of The Town Line.)

Waterville Academy boys initially took classes at the college. In 1828, college trustees decided on a physically, but not yet legally, separate school.

Timothy Boutelle, a prominent Waterville lawyer, donated land, Wikipedia says, and President Chaplin raised the funds for “a small brick building” where classes started in the fall of 1829, with 61 students. The first head of the academy was Colby senior Henry W. Paine, assisted by a classmate; Kingsbury wrote that Paine returned in August 1831 for another five years.

The Academy closed in 1839 and 1840, because, according to Waterville historian Ernest Marriner, Waterville Liberal Institute took too many of the eligible students. It reopened in 1841 and a year later separated legally from the college.

Kingsbury wrote that in the fall of 1843, when Hanson became principal for the first time, the Academy had five students. By 1853, there were 308 students, and Hanson got an assistant, George B. Gow, who became principal when Hanson left in 1854.

Female students were admitted beginning in 1845. Kingsbury wrote that “another room was fitted up and Miss Roxana F. Hanscom was employed to teach a department for girls.”

In 1865, according to the Wikipedia writer, the Academy was renamed Waterville Classical Institute. In 1882, it was renamed again, Coburn Classical Institute, in honor of benefactor Abner Coburn. In 1970, Coburn merged with Oak Grove School; the combined school closed in 1989.

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Waterville Liberal Institute was chartered by the Maine legislature Feb. 28, 1835, and opened Dec. 12, 1836. The first principal was Nathaniel M. Whitmore, Kingsbury said, and the school started with 54 students.

A “female department” opened in 1850. In 1851, according to that year’s catalog, the Institute had 174 students, 91 boys and 83 girls. Most were from Waterville, but other Maine towns, Massachusetts and New Brunswick were represented.

The Institute closed in 1857, when, Kingsbury wrote, “the growth of Westbrook Seminary sufficiently filled the field.”

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