Radio Script #452

Little Talks on Common Things

March 20, 1960

Fifty years ago one of Waterville’s big institutions was the Central Maine Fair. At that time there were only three annual fairs in Maine that were distinguished by the name of State Fairs. The one that was glorified by the title of Maine State Fair was held during the week of Labor Day in Lewiston. In the previous week came the Central Maine State Fair in Waterville, and in the week before that the Eastern Maine State Fair in Bangor.

Recently I had a chance to examine a scrap book filled entirely with newspaper clippings concerning the Central Maine Fair in 1911. It was J. C. Fuller’s first year as secretary and general superintendent of the fair, although for several preceding years he had been in charge of the Exhibition Building which went under the rather glorified name of the Coliseum.

President of the organization was Martin Bartlett and the Treasurer was Lewis Whipple. Besides Bartlett, the directors were George Winegar, Sel Whitcomb, C. W. Abbott and William T. Haines. Early in the spring Secretary Fuller opened an office in the Edith BUilding and started to prepare for the big event in the fall.

In May the Waterville Sentinel said: “Supt. J. C. Fuller of the Central Maine Fair is a very busy man. For the past month he has been in correspondence with western millers and has induced them to offer 25 barrels of flour as prizes for the best biscuit, bread, rolls and doughnuts. He has also received from the American Agricultural Chemical Co. a promise of a ton of Bradley’s fertilizer for the farmer exhibiting the best bushel of yellow corn. The Danforth Company is giving 300 pounds of Bug Death for potatoes. The Remington Company offers a $25 Auto-loading rifle for the best exhibit of deer heads.”

As the weeks went by Fuller announced several hundred additions to his premium list. He got $300 in prizes to be distributed among exhibiting granges. The MCRR put up $50 for potato prizes. The Holland Rod and Bait Co. offered $10 for the best moose head. The A. I. Rort Company, dealers in bees and bee-keeper supplies, would give an Italian queen bee for the best display of comb honey. There were scores of prizes for apples, including 100 pounds of Pyrox for the best packed box; and there were ten different pages for maple syrup and maple sugar.

In July the Sentinel had something to say about the Fair’s prospective attractions: “While it is early to announce any of the larger attractions for the Central Maine Fair, Supt. Fuller is daily receiving offers of feature acts. The old style balloon ascensions will not be engaged this year, but there will certainly be a flying machine to arouse the wonder of spectators. The holding of a State Firemen’s muster is being considered as an attraction.”

The Fair opened on Tuesday, August 29 and the opening day was set aside as Children’s Day, just as is now the annual custom of the Skowhegan Fair. The Children’s program was in charge of Mrs. Herbert Emery, and she gathered a large crowd of youngsters from two to seven years of age to compete for prizes in the morning, and a similar program for older children in the afternoon. There were prizes for the prettiest girl and the handsomest boy; for the best singer, the best pianist, and the best whistler; for the best behaved child, the most graceful child, and the child with the most polished manners. The boy and the girl judged to be the best all around attractions among the contestants were given cups.

Of course the harness races have long been a major feature at Maine fairs, and the race card at the Waterville Fair in 1911 received much attention. The big race was the Futurity Stakes for colts foaled in 1909. The sum of $1,200 had been deposited in an Augusta bank as stakes for that race for two year olds in 1911, and all three of Maine’s biggest fairs had been invited to bid for the race. The Central Maine Fair made the best bid, and it was on the Waterville track that the big race was run.

A lot of Maine-bred and Maine-trained horses were entered in the nine races on the Fair’s four-day card. Hod Nelson and Sel Whitcomb both had Waterville horses on the track. Other well known Maine owners represented were F. W. Carleton of Woolwich, for whom later the Carleton Bridge was named; E. E. Walker of Winthrop; Albert Richardson of Clinton; J. H. Jones of Monmouth; and Pope McKinnon of Bangor. Sel Whitcomb was the only owner that had at least one horse entered in every race. The fastest classes were the 2:17 pace and the 2:18 trot; the slowest was the 2:40 trot for Maine-bred horses. As the home town of world champion Nelson, Waterville had long been a center for race enthusiasts, and those races in 1911 drew big crowds.

A month before the Fair, the big news was that President Taft hoped to be present.

At that time Charles F. Johnson of Waterville was U. S. Senator from Maine. On July 22 Johnson wrote to Martin Bartlett: “Today I received a letter from the President’s secretary which looks favorable. I trust we shall have the honor of entertaining the President at our fair.”

The letter to which Senator Johnson referred did not exactly commit Taft to come to Waterville. It said: “After the President reaches his summer quarters in Beverly~ he will take up the question of a possible cruise along the Maine coast. He hopes he may be able to accept your invitation and will soon let you know.”

President Taft did not come to Waterville’s 1911 fair, and for a celebrity the officials had to be content with the presence of Governor Frederick Plaisted. The officers of the Fair fulfilled their promise, however, about an airplane. An aviator was on hand, and he took passengers for short flights over the fairgrounds. There are a lot of people who have fond memories of those fairs on the grounds near Mt. Merici, and of the long line of trolley cars that used to run between the heart of the city and the fairgrounds during the busy week.

Fifty years ago few persons would have predicted that before 1950 there would be no Waterville Fair and that the little, sparsely attended fair at Skowhegan would become the biggest fair in Maine. For several reasons, after 1911 the Waterville Fair continued to lose money. It is interesting to know how it was basically financed in 1911. It was this way: Stock was sold at $25 a share. I have seen one such subscription paper, totaling 220 shares for $5,500. A number of men took four shares, among them being William T. Haines, Frank Redington, H. R. Dunham, W. J. Lanigan, C. J. Clukey, Martin Blaisdell, F. J. Arnold and Dr. F. C. Thayer. A. Otten, the baker, subscribed for ten shares, as did also P. S. Heald, the clothier, and Buzzell, the restaurant man. Public spirited men all of them, but even their sacrificed dollars were not enough to save the old Waterville Fair.

In the 1840’s a town down on the Androscoggin, that has now become one of Maine’s largest cities, was only a small village. In 1840, when Waterville had more than 3,000 people, Lewiston Falls, as it was then called, had only 1,800. The decade from 1840 to 1850 saw a splurge of small newspapers spring up allover Maine. Many of them were weeklies, but a few were published only once a month. Such was the Lewiston Falls Advertiser, put out on the first Friday of each month at 50 cents a year. Not long ago I chanced to see the first issue (Vol. 1, No.1) of that paper, published on November 3, 1843. Listen to the boost which the Advertiser gave to its little village: “Lewiston is one of the most beautiful towns in Maine. It is a large township extending along the river for twelve miles, and its soil is in a good state of cultivation. It was incorporated in 1795 and now has more than 1,800 people. In 1823 it was connected with the town of Minot by a bridge 1,000 feet long, costing $5,000. The bridge is at the foot of the falls, where the river descends 47 feet within a few rods. This affords mill privileges quite as extensive as those at Lowell or Manchester. The wheat crop of 1837 was 1,920 bushels. The value of boots and shoes manufactured yearly exceeds to 20,000. Most of these go to the Bangor market.”

Everyone knows that Lewiston is now in Androscoggin County and that the community at the other end of the bridge is not Minot but Auburn. Listen to the following words in the old Advertiser and note how the names of both towns and counties have changed: “On the east side of the Androscoggin lies Lewiston in Lincoln County. On the west are Danville and Auburn in Cumberland County. Of what is now known as Lewiston Falls about three-quarters of the buildings are on the Auburn and Danville side, as are also two of the three hotels, two of the three churches, the academy, and six of the nine stores. The woolen and cotton factories — five substantial buildings — are all on the Lewiston side. Besides the village of Lewiston Falls, we have, just above, a flourishing village known as Lewiston Corner. The Lewiston post office is at the Corner, while most of the folks at the Falls get their mail at the west end of the bridge, called Goff’s Corner.”

The year 1844 was the big year of the Millerites, a religious sect to which we have referred several times on this program. Miller predicted the end of the world for October 22. 1844. On that day his followers, many of them scattered over Maine. as well as in other states, donned white robes, went to rooftops and the outdoor tops of hills and awaited the end. The editor of the Lewiston Falls Advertiser had his say about that event in his issue of November 7, 1844. He wrote: “Millerism, like Mormonism, has at last received a death blow. The 22nd of October was the day nominated for the wreck, and we can rejoice that the intelligence of our people never tolerated the doctrine in this vicinity. We chanced to be in New Hampshire on the designated day and in a town where the believers were quite numerous. We met many of them on the street, smoothly shaved and dressed in their Sunday best. As they walked along ready and anxious, their eyes would often turn to the sky, as though they expected some finger to shyly call them to Paradise, rather than a voice to make Earth’s old pillars tremble. It is no disgrace to believe in Millerism, because if Nature has not given one the power to see beyond the end of his nose, he must be expected to fall into the pit of ignorance and superstition.”

At this time when Lewiston has so recently got a new plant of the big Raytheon Corporation, it is interesting to note that in 1844 the town was trying hard to get a textile mill. In his December issue the editor of the Advertiser said: “It was the intention of some gentlemen of Massachusetts, together with others from this vicinity, to erect a large cotton factory in Lewiston, but since the result of the presidential election has become known, the project has been abandoned. We regret this exceedingly, because our water power is as good as that of Lowe 11 or Manchester.”

How little human nature changes! In 1844 people were inclined to blame politics for every turn of fortune just as they do today. The Advertiser was apparently a Whig paper, for what had happened was that the Whig administration of Tippecanoe and Tyler too (William Henry Harrison and John Tyler) elected in 1840, had been overthrown in 1844 by the Democratic election of James K. Polk.

Therefore, said the Advertiser, the proposed mill wasn’t built in Lewiston.

Year: 1960