<\/p>\n
This broadcast opens the 32nd consecutive year of Little Talks on Common Things. It seems appropriate to devote this broadcast to a glimpse at, changes that have taken place in local,state, and national life during the last third of a century.<\/p>\n
Since this program first went on the air in the fall of 1947, seven presidents have occupied the White House. In the autumn of 1947 Harry Truman, who had inherited the presidency because he was vice-president when Franklin Roosevelt died, seemed so unpopular that most political analysts predicted that he could not possibly be elected in his own right in 1948. Truman fooled everybody and won that election. Now, 32 years later, historians consider him one of our strong presidents. He was certainly faced with one of the toughest decisions that ever confronted any head of our nation – whether to drop the atomic bomb. That ,happened, of course, three years before the 1948 election and the post-war cooling off period had scarcely set in.<\/p>\n
Since 1947 we have seen the assassination of three national figures: a president and his brother, a presidential candidate; and the leader of Black Americans. We have also witnessed the unprecedented resignation of a president, for the first time in 190 years. Also for the first time we have seen one president pardon another for any crimes he may have committed. The Truman presidency was also marked by another first. He has so far been the only American ‘president to be the nation’s Commander in Chief during parts of two wars: World War II and Korea.<\/p>\n
During these 32 years has come our landing on the moon. We can no longer talk about its big man nor that it is made of green cheese. We have experienced the orbiting of satellites and the falling of one of them. By satellite, television can now keep in instant touch with any part of the earth. In 1947 we thought air flight was fast. But then we had no jets, and nobody dreamed there would be a Concorde that would fly twice the speed of sound.<\/p>\n
In 1947 the Near East was made up of poor, deprived, backward countries. The new status of Israel was blossoming into world recognition. The Arab nations were without money or national resources to become truly civilized, despite the wide spread of Mohammedanism, under whose dominance a thousand years ago a great Islamic civilization had prospered. Look at the change today. Oil has turned the world upside down. All the world’s wealth is rapidly flowing to a few Arab nations, because the rest of the world must have their oil, and pay whatever they demand.<\/p>\n
Much of the third world, that was once composed of colonies owned by European nations has now become free. Did you notice how much was made of the fact that there were few royal monarchs left to attend the funeral of Lord Mountbatten a few weeks ago?<\/p>\n
In 1947, nobody had heard of public housing, of medicare, of a host of welfare programs since added to the modest state welfare of the 1940s. The United States seems not merely becoming a socialistic nation, it already is one. Very soon, at present rate of change, less than half of the American population will be supporting more than half. The economist doesn’t live who can tell us how that can long continue without national catastrophe.<\/p>\n
Even as late as 1947, most people considered it safe to leave doors unlocked while they went shopping, and no one thought it necessary to lock a car. During the subsequent 32 years crime has become so prevalent that nearly every issue of the Morning Sentinel recounts half a dozen crimes. And the outrages are so brazen, that few people thought it unusual that a prominent Maine historian was murdered in the very entrance of a southern hotel.<\/p>\n
In 1947 most people were burning coal to heat homes, though a lot of wood stoves were still in use. As the third of a century went by, it dawned on the public that our natural resources of energy are not inexhaustible, and in 1979 we have a recognized energy crisis, so alarming that national polls show it is considered by many citizens to be more important than inflation.<\/p>\n
But let us not despair, the United States is still a great nation. It has overcome many crises in its history. No one can predict what new inventions and new discoveries may yet solve the energy crisis. No one dares say that in both our country and in the Soviet Union there may not be the will and the ingenuity to keep us at peace.<\/p>\n
What about our own State of Maine during those 32 years? For the first time in its history, the state’s population now exceeds a million and the 1980 census is expected to show further growth. The period has seen the disappearance of all passenger trains on railroads in Maine except for a short section of the state covered by the Canadian Pacific. Many short lines, like the Somerset road from Oakland to Bingham have been almost wholly abandoned. On the Somerset there is not even freight traffic beyond Madison. What makes the situation worse for persons who need public transportation is that many local bus lines gave up the ghost because of lack of patronage. For longer distances the Greyhound line still serves
\nMaine’s major cities. Air service has improved greatly since 1947, with Air New England serving Augusta and Waterville with several daily flights.<\/p>\n
The period has also seen marked improvements at the Waterville Airport. At one time there was strong sentiment for a large port off 1-95 in Sidney to serve both Waterville and Augusta, but political interests at the state Capitol defeated it. As for Maine highways, it is now hard to find any much traveled unpaved road, whereas in 1947 we had many gravel roads on which automobiles raised clouds of dust. The most notable improvement has been the extension of the Maine Turnpike from Augusta to Houlton, not as a toll road, but as a freeway under the federal plan of interstate highways. That road, called Interstate 95, has also been opened between Gardiner and Brunswick, making a through trip on the freeway now possible from Portland to Houlton, though many travelers pay the toll on the Turnpike from Portland to Augusta because of the shorter distance.<\/p>\n
New during the third of a century has been the School Administration Districts, the so-called Sinclair Law, under which towns combine for school services, usually with a single high school. While the plan has become subject to repeated criticism, it is still the favorite method of school operation in Maine.<\/p>\n
One result of the SAD’s has been the closing of many of the old academies. A few that were already higher grade boarding schools, like Hebron, Kents Hill and North Yarmouth Academy, survived on their own, and in competition with the new enlarged high schools. A few others fortunately persuaded SAD directors to make them the high schools for a district. In this capacity are such independent schools as Thornton Academy in Saco, Mel in Pittsfield, Fryeburg Academy and Lincoln Academy at Newcastle.<\/p>\n
Long before 1947 taxation was a perplexing problem, but since that date we have seen the coming of a state sales tax and a state income tax. Meanwhile, so heavy became the burden of the property tax that the state was finally forbidden to impose one, though it is still the chief source of revenue for towns and cities.<\/p>\n
Now let us take a glimpse at what the last 32 years have done to Waterville. In any municipality the most obvious change to be noted is in the physical appearance of the place. In Waterville the most conspicuous change has been the building of the Concourse in the downtown business area. Concerned about what the erection of shopping centers was doing to the merchants on Waterville’s Main Street, they and other foresighted citizens planned and finally completed an urban renewal project that leveled many old buildings, built a new business complex west of Main Street, and created between that street and the new structures a huge parking lot. Another phase of renewal brought down the buildings on the east side of Front Street, enabling even more free parking, and the creation of a pedestrian-parkway along the river. Almost as noticeable were changes on Upper Main Street and on Kennedy Memorial Drive, where other buildings quickly developed along with big shopping centers.<\/p>\n
The architectural feature of the new Waterville, however, is the new campus of Colby College. With only 11 buildings complete in 1947, and classes and housing conducted on both old and new campuses, the ensuing 32 years saw the completion of 42 buildings, the abandonment of the old campus, all resulting in a college of national renown. Notable also has been the expansion of Thomas College. Originally a proprietary institution on a single floor of an office building on Main Street, it became during the last third of a century a non-profit, fully accredited four-year college. First occupying what was earlier a large residential estate, it has now a fine campus with splendid new buildings on the West River Road.<\/p>\n
New to Waterville since 1947 is public housing with a large seven story building for the elderly on Elm Street, another on Water Street, and numerous units for low income families in various parts of the city. Industrial change in Waterville began with the shock of the closing of the Lockwood Mills. Could the city ever recover from that blow?<\/p>\n
Expansion of other industries and the coming of smaller ones did partially absorb the shock. The C. F. Hathaway Company, makers of shirts since the 1840’s, centralized its operation from several buildings to one of the Lockwood structures. The Wyandotte Co., maker of fine worsteds, abandoned its old plant on the river bank, and built a spacious modern factory on the West River Road.<\/p>\n
Another loss was the closing of one of Waterville’s older industries, the Waterville Iron Works, which had been founded in the first decade of the 19th century. With its first factory on the Messalonskee, it had then moved to the bank of the Kennebec near Front Street. But meanwhile the purchase of the Hollingsworth & Whitney paper mill by Scott Paper not only saved but expanded that industry and on the boundary between Waterville and Fairfield, Keyes Fibre continued the growth. Its recent sale to a California corporation seems not to have jeopardized the local plant.<\/p>\n
The 32 years have seen changes in longer established Waterville churches and the coming of new ones. Very prosperous is the Calvary Temple on West River Road, which not only provides religious services to a large congregation but also operates a private school of more than 300 pupils. On Marston Road has been built the Kennebec Valley Baptist Church, and on the Ridge Road a new home for the Seventh Day Advents. The older Advent Christian Church in the city now has a new structure on Pleasant Street.<\/p>\n
Two of Waterville’ s oldest churches have built new edifices since 1947 – the Methodists on Pleasant Street; and the Congregationalists, seeing their old building taken by Urban Renewal, built a handsome new building at the corner of Upper Main Street and Eustis Parkway. The old First Baptist Church on Elm Street has now bee.n placed on the National Register of Historic Places.<\/p>\n
Three new public schools have come on the scene: the Senior High School west of the Messalonskee, the Junior H.S. on the West River Road, and the Hillside School, off Drummond Avenue.<\/p>\n
In 1947 the National Guard used the old town hall on Front Street. Now they have a large, well fitted armory on Drummond Avenue, used also for many civic occasions.<\/p>\n
The Boys’ Club, which took over the Colby Alumnae Building, is now open to both sexes, and is named the Boys’ and Girls’ Club. The YMCA has a fine home on the site of the old North Grammar School at Pleasant and North Streets.<\/p>\n
Recreational facilities operated by the city have become impressive: the park and swimming pool on North Street, facilities in the South End, and most recently the Muskie Center on Gold Street. What a change has come in private as well as public housing: Thayer Village, Seton Village, condominiums, and other private housing projects furnish apartments for many citizens – a kind of housing utterly unknown here in 1947.<\/p>\n
As for our city government, the old, awkward, outdated bicameral aldermen and common council, totaling 21 persons, is now a single body of seven the City Council. They and the Mayor are the governing body, but much of the detailed operation is supervised by a full time City Administrator.<\/p>\n
I am sure every listener to this program will think of numerous items that I have omitted. I assure you such omissions are not intentional, but one cannot cover it all during the 15 minutes of this program.<\/p>\n
Year: 1979<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Read the script for “Little Talks” program #1208, Broadcast on September 16, 1979<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":405,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[803,35296],"tags":[],"builder_content":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9903"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/405"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9903"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9903\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9903"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9903"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9903"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}