July 7, 1893 Advertiser

 

Oxford County: An injunction has been filed against the building of new county buildings and there must be a sixty days wait until construction can begin.

 

Bethel: The new post office building is receiving its finishing touches.

 

The Fourth of July passed quietly with no drunken rows. There was a large gathering at the races at Riverside Park.

 

In a special article about the Fourth of July Races at Bethel, it was reported that a goodly number of people from Norway and South Paris came on the train to watch the races. Also, the bicycle races were a big attraction and each race was well filled. Ed Thayer was behind Griffin, the Andover favorite; Charles Crosby, the Norway trainer, was guiding H.P.E. while Dr. G. W. Fernald tried to get Owoissa under the wire first.  Judges were W.H. Warren, Norway, starter; Dr. J. A. Twaddle and H.S. Hastings, Bethel, timers, and timers: W.T. Abbott, Prof. W.R. Chapman and H.L. Horne. Only one large wheeled sulky was used in the race.

 

The Universalist Society furnished dinner in the dining rooms on the grounds and it is understood they made a good number of dollars—a number of hundred dollars.

 

Sunday River:  The checks for cream received by farmers in this place from the Bethel butter factory are very satisfactory.

 

Rumford Falls: A baggage room and awning over the platform have been completed at the new passenger station.  The Paper Company is having ells built on eleven of their cottages on Washington Street.

 

July 14, 1893 Advertiser

 

Bethel: W.S. Parker has engaged with the So. Waterford chair factory at a salary of $880. a year. He will close out his furniture stock in the Cole Block with a special sale.

 

Summer boarders: 22 are reported at the Locke Mountain House; E.C. Chamberlain of Mayville has a large fine house and his house will be full of boarders; the grand modern home of S.B. Twitchell will be filled this week with summer company.

 

 

Gould Academy: Academy advertised its fall term as beginning August 29, 1893, for twelve weeks. D. Merriman, Principle. Four Courses: College Preparatory, Commercial, Literary and Scientific. Healthful location, light expenses. Contact for further information or catalogue, G.R. Wiley, Bethel, Maine.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Above is an extract of the 1893 table of Oxford County town student census and mill tax. The mill tax amounted to $2.43 per student.

 

Locke’s Mills: The spool mill has been shut down for the last week for lack of orders but I understand it will start up again this week. E. L. Tebbetts and family start for the lakes for two weeks vacation at the fishing ground.

 

West Bethel Concert: Evening concert at Bean’s Hall on July 1st under the management of W.S. Wight. An “outsider” reported the event and described the entertainment as a rare musical treat.  The proceeds of $25. were given to the Chapel Aid towards building a union church at the Corner.

 

Rumford Falls: There have been rumors afloat that the whole Rumford Falls enterprise was to be suspended on account of the money stringency. They are not correct.  There will be temporary contractions of work and the sulphide pulp mill, till money is easier. The crew will be gradually reduced. That is all there is to it.

 

Work on the boarding house to be built by the Paper Company at the corner of Hartford, Canal and Lowell Streets has commenced.

 

South Bethel: The house on the Elijah Brown Farm on Chandler Hill that was owned and occupied by Mr. Herrick was burned to the ground.

 

July 21, 1893 Advertiser

 

Bethel: Special G.T.R. rates for a Masonic excursion—$1.45 to Portland and return from Bethel and West Bethel depots, Saturday, July 29th.

 

Katie (Abbott) Locke arrived in Bethel last week from Denver, Colo., for a visit until September 1st. Her husband, S.S. Abbott, will visit Maine later and return with his wife. (S. Abbott was a former town clerk of Bethel).

 

Fire department: G.R. Wiley has provided a key box for our hose door so that any person can break the glass in the box and get the key to ring the fire alarm bell. The box is on the hose room door.

 

The  Advertiser’s editor was in town last week. Also there was an incident on the Common caused by a traveling salesman selling his wares from a wagon. When he insulted the crowd for not buying from him several fellows started pelting him with a supply of eggs—inducing the salesman to leave.

 

Uncle Tom’s Cabin Company: Production of Witherell & Doud with 25 people and 25 horses will put on their show under the mammoth new pavilion opera house with elevated seats at Bethel on July 21st. Grand street parade by their mounted brass band, pony, donkey, dogs, etc. This is claimed to be the largest and best Uncle Tom’s Cabin Company ever organized.

 

Locke’s Mills: The Advertiser’s editor sent a correspondent to the village to help the regular correspondent. “Your regular correspondent, we think, is excusable for he is haying and has just received notice of his appointment as Post Master of Locke’s Mills to supersede W. B. Rand, so we thing the prospects of sudden wealth and official honors will occupy his mind for some time.”

 

Sale of the Mason Farm:  The sale of the Mason farm, Bethel, on which is the Riverside Trotting Park has been made. Three years ago a company was organized in this village and leased of Mr. Mason the right to build a track on his land. The conditions were that the company should build the track and give him 25 per cent of all the gate money and all he could make outside, and at the end of ten years the track should revert to him or the owner of the farm.

 

Saturday Mr. Mason sold his entire farm and track to Charles Ryerson of Upton for $10,000. Mr. Ryerson of Upton is a large lumber operatory and has  bought this for his future home. He will continue his lumbering during the winter season. He intends to convert the large two-story house into a hotel.

 

July 28, 1893 Advertiser

 

Bethel: Cole Bros. block containing Bethel Savings Bank and Odeon Hall will be sold at auction in Bethel, Tuesday August 1. (The Cole brothers say) that the have a nice jewelry business in Washington and it needs all their attention. J.T. Small of Lewiston will be the auctioneer.

 

July 26 the Bethel post office changed masters and the mails were delivered to our new office. Postmaster, G.R. Wiley, says the same box number is retained to each person as in the former office as near as possible. Calvin Bisbee will reopen his old store in the Odd Fellow Block opposite Hapgood’s, August 1st. It will be a general store with family groceries.

 

The Women’s Relief Corps and the Brown Post serve supper every Saturday night this season at their rooms for the benefit of a G.A.R. monument. Supper is 15 cents.

 

There is a log jam against the middle pier of the toll bridge filling the Androscoggin back to the old cemetery.

 

A new church organization was formed on July 16th in connection with the First Universalist Parish of Bethel—nineteen members. The unfinished work to this end started by Rev. F.E. Barton has been completed by Rev. F.K. Beem. July 31, Grand Musicale at Odeon Hall for the benefit of the Universalist Society.

 

Asa Stowell has a very large and handsome two year old heifer for sale. She is part Jersey and part Durham.  Mr. Stowell has no pasture and has to keep her up to hay and that is his reason for selling.

 

Grover Hill: Edward P. Lyon was home from (his employment) in Auburn last week—went fishing with  his brother and they caught 19 nice pickerel.

 

West Bethel: A.S.  Bean had a wood pile 85 rods long (1,402.5 feet) just west of this village. July 20th, sparks from the engine set fire to drifted grass and set the wood pile on fire. About one hundred cords were burned.

 

Bear River Grange: An account of a meeting was published in this issue. Worthy Mater: H.H. Bean.

 

South Bethel: (R.J.) Virgin has finished bolting and sawing birch for a time.

 

August 4, 1893 Advertiser

 

Bethel Trot: There will be a trot and  base ball tournament on the Riverside Driving Park Tuesday and Wednesday, August 22 and 23. Arrangements will be made with the Grand Trunk so passengers can go east after the race.  E.M. Walker, Sec., says:  Owoissa and Griffin will be matched for a race to ascertain which is the speediest and the gamiest horse.

 

Bethel: Albert Brooks and Charles Davis of Grafton have taken the contract to carry  the lake mail the next four years at $500 a year. So James Lane is relieved. Mr. Lane has carried this mail for the last sixteen years and has lost only one trip. In Grafton Notch snow in the fall requires sleighing on the upper end of the route for two weeks while it is good wheeling on the lower end.

 

Lieut. Peary who started lately on his second exploration voyage through Greenland toward the North Pole is an own cousin of G.R. Wiley our postmaster.

 

Dana C. Philbrook has put into his jewelry shop  a fine line of guns and rifle of the latest styles.

 

August 11, 1893 Advertiser

 

Bethel: Elmer D. Cole who has been in Bethel more or less the last week or two will return to Washington this week. He did not succeed in selling Cole Block.

 

Reports have been circulated that some of the leading operators at Rumford Falls want to hire ten thousand dollars at seven per cent. We understand Ceylon Rowe has loaned them several thousand dollars.

 

On August 9th Owoissa trotted a mile in 2:29 3/4 at Riverside Trotting Park.

 

Milton Penley is one of our most enterprising townsmen. He runs two meat and fish wagons and employs two men besides himself, making ten trips a week. He wagons go to Gorham, Shelburne, West Bethel, Hanover, Rumford and covers Bethel village area. Last week he sold six quarters of Chicago beef, 215 pounds of fish and killed two cattle, 15 lambs and a lot of poultry. So it appears people have to eat if it is hard times.

 

Train Accident at Rumford Falls: A special freight train over the Grand Trunk left Portland for Mechanic Falls at 6 a. m. on Friday under the charge of Conductor Tryon. At Mechanic Falls is ran onto the Rumford Falls railway. At Rumford Falls there is a branch that runs off to a turn table where the engine is turned to take its place at the other end of the train for the return trip. The accident: a horse scared by the engine overturned a wagon injuring one of two women in the wagon.

 

Sunday River: Fred Atherton has come from Portland to spend the month of August at his home. Amy Atherton has just finished a term of 12 weeks school at Gilead Station and will return there in September.  Richard Williamson is progressing finely on his new house. Haskell & Rolfe have contracted to saw a thousand cords of birch a year for ten years near Rumford Falls where they will soon move their birch mill.

 

August 18, 1893 Advertiser

 

Bethel: Fund raising for the Soldiers Monument— concert and entertainment at Odeon Hall. Admission 20 cents.  “A handsome sum is already in the bank.”

 

Scribner and Smith’s circus, here on the 15th, drew a large audience in the afternoon and evening. A big show for  25 cents.

 

Elmer D. Cole and wife will come from Washington to Bethel to live next week and have engaged the upstairs rent in the Frank Rich house on Broad Street.

 

West Bethel: The fair at Bean’s Hall raised $40. for the Chapel Aid’s union church fund.

 

August 25, 1893 Advertiser

 

Bethel: The big race day came and the match between Griffin and Owoissa ended with Griffin winning three straight heats.

 

Middle Interval: A good rain last Monday and some damage was done by lightning to Carter Bros. barn.

 

Gilead: Entertainment at the town hall on August 28 with  Burnham & Barnett’s Orchestra of Berlin Falls, N.H. Proceeds for building a new platform in front of church and other repairs.

 

Locke’s Mills: The new post office is being built and will soon be ready for occupancy.

 

The spool mill which has been shut down for a few days for lack of orders starts up today, Monday, with a fair prospect of work ahead.

 

Mason: Mr. Tilton, superintendent of the Bethel butter factory, was in town the past week calling on the farmers. Herbert Clough of Boston, son of the late Eber Clough of Bethel was in town the past week with his brother Orville on the cream wagon.

 

South Bethel: Rain has been very welcome as the drought has been very severe in this part of town. The apple crop here is a failure—potatoes will be scarce.

 

 

September 1, 1893 Advertiser

 

Bethel:  Bethel correspondent invited to tour the grounds of Dr. Gehring’s estate. Dr. Gehring is developing an extensive garden. He is attempting to capture the look and substance of gardens he viewed in Europe. The Dr. is collecting and transplanting many rare shrubs and plants from our native woods, besides rare and beautiful things fro other countries. He will intersperse throughout his elegant lawn of several acres, masses of many varieties of valuable flowering plants. Also a large rockery, which will be covered with  varieties of clematis and flowers. 

 

The outlook in lumbering is gloomy and but little will be done in this vicinity unless the business outlook improves.

 

Calvin Bisbee has now two stores in full blast and he is making arrangements to build a house on Clark Street.

 

Bethel corn factory will commence  operations the last of this week. Yield expected to be quite heavy despite the drought.

 

Miss E.E. Burnham has moved her millinery store in the Cole Block from the second floor down into the room recently occupied by the Huse Bros.

 

Bethel Coronet Band make their appearance on the band stand last Friday.

 

Albany: The Y.P.S.C. Endeavor celebrated the 4th Anniversary of the formation of the society on Thursday by holding a meeting in Cole’s grove at the Corner. About 60 were present.

 

Rumford Falls: “The new city” is to have a church and a sewing circle. Work has begun on the foundations of both.

 

Oxford Avenue is to be built through the pine grove from Knox Street to the Swain Road this fall

 

Haskell & Rolfe (of Sunday River ?) have contracted to saw a thousand cords of birch a year for ten years.

 

The river drivers are having a pretty serious time getting that six million of logs over Rumford Falls. Flush boards have been placed on both dams in trying to raise a head of water sufficient to float them and dynamite is being used.

 

West Bethel: The ladies’ chapel aid society has purchased the building spot for the new church. It is on the east side of the road between Milton Holt’s and Mary F. Holt’s land. It is considered by all a fine location.

 

Hastings: A number went to Portland and Peak’s Island, Sunday.

 

Mason: Thermometer was 90 in the shade at 10:00 AM Monday, August 28.

 

September 8, 1893 Advertiser.

 

Bethel: We have seen the plan of our new brick school house on High Street and believe it will be an honor to the town.

 

Extensive changes are being made to the interior of the Universalist Church. The addition recently erected at the rear of the church opens into the main body. It is finished above for a vestry and ladies parlor and below there is a large dining room and kitchen. A recess has been made back of the pulpit for the pipe organ recently purchased and the organ is now in place. A new furnace is to be put into the basement of the church this fall.

 

The corn factory is now running and employing a large number of hands. Prospects are good for a large yield.

 

Harvey Philbrook now has his new house on Mechanic Street nearly completed. Eben Kilborn is making arrangements to put up a stable to his house on Chapman Street.

 

Albany: Herbert I. Bean is at home for a vacation as there is no work for carpenters in the cities.

 

Hastings: The Wild River Lumber Co. mill is soon to shut down for  two weeks or more.

 

September 15, 1893 Advertiser

 

Bethel Cattle Show and Fair:

 

Arrangements have been made to carry passengers from Lewiston and Portland and from Island Pond to Bethel for one fare round trip. The will be a special car attached to a train going east each day after the races so people down the line can get home that night.

 

Entries registered for the first race were from Acton (York County), Auburn, Bethel, Cornish, Locke’s Mills, Newry, Paris, South Paris, and Rumford. Bethel owners registered: H.S. Hastings, and C.M. Wormell.

 

Towns from which owners brought their racers for other races were: Fairfield, North Stratford, NH, Gorham, Norway, and Waterville.

 

September 22, 1893 Advertiser

 

Bethel Fair:  Extensive coverage of the Bethel Fair was a front page column of the Advertiser.  Special items: The Bethel Butter Company was exhibiting its product this year.

 

Busy Officers At Work.

 

President C.M. Wormell is driving about talking weather, horses, etc.  Secretary E. M. Walker is everywhere and more, to. I.W. Mason sells tickets at the entrance gate. H.C. Barker takes pasteboards at the gate. F.L. Edwards is entry clerk and is kept busy with cattle, sheep, swine, etc.

 

There is an excellent police force. Their duties are light as the people who visit here are mostly law abiding. The force consists of Gerrard Smith, Caleb Wight, Milton Penley and Will Lowe.

 

Newton E. Richardson sell tickets for the Grand Stand and Gilbert Tuell  takes them in. In the hall you meet Dr. F. Be. Tuell, Ann M. Robertson and Fannie Mason. They have lots to do. The ladies of the Universalist Society are busy in their dining room—nice location and do a thriving business.

 

The Advertiser reporter traveled in a special car Tuesday night from Bethel home. He was the only passenger in the coach attached to the Berlin lumber train. Through train, no stops or changes until South Paris was reached.

 

Bethel News: Col Edwards reports to parties headed for the World’s Fair that good board and room can be obtained for $1.00 per day and single meals at 25 cents.

 

The corn canning factory has employed 150 hands. At the close of the week last Saturday, 250,000 cans have been put up. One day last week 32,000 cans were put up.

 

September 22, 1893 Advertiser

 

Special Feature:

 The Androscoggin (Rangeley) Lakes

 

For nature lovers, a tour of the Rangeley Lake system whether for angling or not cannot fail to be interesting.

 

There are now three routes by which the lakes can be reached, and excursion tickets by either route can be purchased in Boston, or if the tourist prefers, he can purchase a ticket to go by one rout and return by another.

 

Completion of the narrow gauge railroad from Phillips to Rangeley provided an all rail route for those who prefer to travel that way.

 

To those who prefer to travel a portion of the way by teams, the old route by Bryant’s Pond still remains, and a new way by rail to Rumford Falls, thence by stage or team to Andover and the South Arm of the lower Richardson Lake is a very pleasant route. 

 

It was our fortune to go in by way of the narrow gauge railroad and come by way of Andover and Rumford Falls.

 

The article goes on to relate what good fishing the lakes provide since the ice went out on May 23 and that tons of trout have been carried out this season. “The law is too liberal by one-half and the time is coming when the limit will have to be placed at 25 pounds.

 

The Rangeley Lake House , J.B. Marble, proprietor, is situated in the pretty village of Rangeley, and a fine hotel it is. Here nearly all tourists tarry at least one night, and make this magnificent hotel their headquarters during the trip.

 

September 29, 1893 Advertiser

 

Mason: Our farmers are getting interested in the poultry business, some will keep large flocks the coming winter. Several farmers are named as keeping 75 to 100 or more.

 

Bethel Steam Mill: The spool mill is down yet for orders.

 

Bethel: The Women’s Relief Corps will serve an oyster supper and pastry next Saturday evening to raising funds for purchasing an organ.

 

The Universalist Church is completed. The pipe organ has been placed in its permanent position and a number of changes in the church have been made.

 

Hastings: The Wild River Lumber Company mill is soon to start up again. David R. Hastings, 2nd, is soon to start up his birch mill and N.B. Bean will take charge for him.

 

 

End of Part III, 1893 Journal

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Maine Building at the World’s Fair

Over a dozen couples from Bethel and surrounding towns visited the world’s fair in Chicago.

The above cut represents the Maine building at the world’s fair. The site of this building is one of the finest assigned to any state in Jackson Park. The site was secured largely through the efforts of the association known as the “Sons of Maine”, composed of natives of Maine resident in Chicago. .. The building stands upon the lake front, there being nothing to obscure the view of the lake.

The building is designed by Chas. O. Frost, a former resident of Lewiston. The granite and slate used in its construction, with some of the ornamental fittings, are Maine products and were furnished by Maine manufacturers. The building is octagonal in shape, a form in general not conducive to good architectural effect, but in this case especially fitted to the form of the lot on which the building stands. The building has two stories, the roof supported on four turrets with a grand tower 140 feet high rising from the centre

of the roof. In the rear of the rotunda on the first floor is a handsome open fireplace above

which will be a large oil painting of the Poland Spring House and its surroundings.

This is not an exhibition building. It will be used as a kind of headquarters for Maine people, who will be expected to register there. It contains a gentlemen’s smoking and reading room, ladies’ parlor, store room, committee room and executive commissioner’s room. The central door affords a good panoramic view of the entire world’s fair grounds.

For the first of April, the building will be occupied by the executive commissioner. The fair formally opens the firs of May, and after that time the Maine building be the general headquarters and resting place of Maine visitors. They will be expected to register their name, date of arrival, date when the intend to depart, write letters, renew old friendships and in general “make themselves at home.”

 

1893 Home   Part 1   Part 2    Part 3     Part 4

The Bethel Journals

The 1893 Journal

Part III July to September

October 19, 2007