20. The Powder House “Old Thunder Jug”
At the Town Meeting of April 5, 1819, Hallowell voters approved a warrant “to see if the Town will give directions for building a Magazine for the safe keeping of powder”. By June of 1820 the Powder House building was erected here on Couch’s Ledge, land owned by Ebenezer T. Warren, and once owned by Continue Reading
7. Row House: A Tenement with Style
Sign Number: 7 Location: Second St. Method of Display: Attached to building North Side Permits/permissions required, date obtained: Town Properties LLC , 245 River Road, Topsham, ME 04086 Row House, built in approximately 1840 by Isaac Gage, is the sole remaining example in Maine of a wooden row house, a typical form of labor housing Continue Reading
17. Wilson Hall
Location: Liberal Cup Building Perley Lane Method of Display: Affixed to buildingWilson Hall (this building) was built by Charles Wilson in 1872 at a cost of $10,000 “in answer to popular demand for a place of public amusement”. The first floor was occupied by a meat and provisions market; the second floor housed a dining Continue Reading
15. The Heart Cure Co. – Pope Laboratories
Sign Number: 15 Location: Boynton’s Market Method of Display: affixed to building Henry Pope Clearwater was a pharmacist who identified himself as Dr. Clearwater and began his career at the City Drug Store on Water Street. Around 1900, Dr. Clearwater started a successful mail-order patent-medicine business, named the Heart Cure Co. One of his most Continue Reading
14. Hallowell Cotton Mill
Sign Number: 14 Location: Cotton Mill Apartments north west corner Method of Display: Steel pole The availability of cheap cotton from the South in the pre-Civil War years prompted local businessmen to construct a spinning mill here in 1845. During a typical week, it used 35 bales of cotton shipped from New Orleans and burned Continue Reading
6. Hallowell House
Hallowell house was designed and built by John D. Lord, who had previously supervised the construction of the Maine State Capitol building. Construction began in 1832 in the hope that it might swing favor towards Hallowell becoming the Capital of the newly annexed state. The hotel became home to legislators and hosted visits by Daniel Continue Reading
3. Hallowell City Hall
MUSEUM IN THE STREETS Sign Number: 3 Location: City Hall 1 Winthrop St. In 1898-99, Eliza Clark Lowell, great granddaughter of Hallowell’s first settler Deacon Pease Clark, donated $20,000 for the construction of a City Hall. She said, “Build it strong that it may last for years to come.” Its auditorium served as a Continue Reading
19. Sheppard’s Point
Kennebec Turnout Sheppard’s Point, the small peninsula located where Vaughan Stream enters the Kennebec River, was first settled by Briggs Hallowell, who built a house there to look after the business interests of his father, Benjamin Hallowell. Commercial activity flourished on the Point. A brewery and distillery established by John Sheppard was said to produce Continue Reading
18. Life Long Learning
Sign Number: 18 Location: Key Bank Building Method of Display: Attached to Building Hallowell’s early settlers brought their passion for education to their new home. The first town meeting in 1771 voted funds for public schools. A private school, The Hallowell Academy, founded in 1795, offered a top rate classical curriculum with a program in Continue Reading
16. Everything That is Fit to Print
Location: Hallowell Printing The first newspaper published in Kennebec County, the Eastern Star, was printed in Hallowell by Howard S. Robinson on August 4,1794. In 1797 he published the first book of fiction printed in the District of Maine, “Female Friendship, or the Innocent Sufferer: A Moral Lecture”. During the next two decades Hallowell printers Continue Reading
13. A Seaport on the Kennebec
Location: Water Street State Boat landing In the early 1800’s, it was said that if a Hallowell boy hadn’t been to the East or West Indies by the time he was 20, he “didn’t amount to much”. From 1785 to 1875, 229 ships were launched from her shipyards. Hallowell ships carried lumber and other products Continue Reading
12 Old South Congregational Church
Second St. Method of Display: Post Hallowell’s first meeting house was Old South Congregational Church. It was a wooden structure built in 1796 but destroyed by fire in 1878. Lost in the fire was the distinguished bell tower designed by Charles Bulfinch and the organ which had been imported from England. It was rebuilt on Continue Reading
11. A Town House For All Occasions
Sign Number:11 Location: front of Hallowell Fire Station Method of Display: Affixed to Building Permits/permissions required, date obtained: City The Town House was built in 1828 and served as municipal offices, school, jail and community center. Sunday School programs were offered here as well as concerts, dances, roller skating and other events. The Hallowell Lyceum, Continue Reading
10. The Power of the Purse: Hubbard Library
Sign Number: 10 Location: Union and Second St. Method of Display: Steel post in front Women in 19th Century Hallowell didn’t have the vote or a presence in many of the professions but they did wield power and influence. In 1868 they began to raise funds for the purchase of property and the construction of Continue Reading
9. The Golden Age of Hallowell Granite
Sign Number: 9 Old Hallowell Granite office Location: Union St. in front of old Hallowell Granite office (Brahms/Mount) Union St. Method of Display: affixed to granite post Permits/permissions required, date obtained: Brahms/Mount Hallowell’s high quality white granite was prized at an early date as material for public monuments and statuary and orders were filled for Continue Reading
1. Head of Tide and Heart of Maine
MUSEUM IN THE STREETS Sign Number: 1 Location: Waterfront Park The rapids in Augusta that mark the “head of tide” made Hallowell the last port on the Kennebec able to accommodate larger ocean-going ships. By 1810 thirteen major wharves lined the riverbank, some extending more than 50 feet out into the river. Hallowell fast Continue Reading
2. From the Ashes
MUSEUM IN THE STREETS Sign Number: 2 Location: Valle Real Estate Building Winthrop and Water St. James Ingraham’s residence and grocery store occupied this site in the early 1800’s. It was a favorite gathering spot for the men in town and famous for its stock of rum and fine wines. Both the home and Continue Reading
4. A Cure for Smallpox
Second and Lincoln Sts Dr.Benjamin Page, one of the first physicians to practice medicine in Hallowell, lived here. Dr. Page was an associate of Dr. Benjamin Vaughan who followed discoveries in science and medicine. Dr. Vaughan learned of the successful experiments of London surgeon Dr. Edward Jenner in developing a vaccine against smallpox. In 1800, Continue Reading
5. A Refuge for the Oppressed
Ebenezer Dole House Second and Lincoln Sts. Ebenezer Dole, his brother Daniel and others, met here on November 18, 1833 and formed the first anti-slavery society in Maine known as The Hallowell Anti-Slavery Society. A year earlier Dole contacted William Lloyd Garrison, publisher of the Boston abolitionist newspaper The Liberator, and invited him to speak at Continue Reading