March 2, 1797: Massachusetts Gov. Sam Adams signs a bill approved by the state’s legislature, known as the General Court, calling for a referendum in the District of Maine about whether Maine should separate from Massachusetts.
The General Court acted in response to petitions received from Maine. The vote is scheduled for May. Unlike a previous failed effort to achieve separation, this proposal includes all five Maine counties, rather than excluding Hancock and Washington counties.
In the May vote, the pro-separation side achieves a slight majority, but the General Court ignores the result because only about 5,000 votes are cast. The anti-separation votes are clustered in seaport towns, which depend heavily on trade with other states.
Maine statehood is still 23 years away, awaiting historical events such as the War of 1812, which will convince Mainers more firmly of the need to govern themselves.
March 2, 1896: Flooding across a wide swath of Maine sets high-water-mark records that will stand for years.
Flood, Merchants Row, Hallowell, 1896 Collections of Hubbard Free Library, Courtesy of VintageMaineImages.com item #31077
Several bridges in the Portland area are wrecked, as are a gatehouse and a power station at the S.D. Warren mill in Westbrook, putting 2,500 people out of work and depriving surrounding areas of electricity.
The flood washes the East Turner Bridge away and destroys 12 others in Turner.
In Hallowell, the Kennebec River rises and covers Water Street, site of the business district. The date of the high-water mark is carved into a granite corner of a building at Water and Wharf streets. The marking remains there today, as do markings of the high-water level from other floods. In the 1896 flood, the river reaches the highest level ever recorded to that point, not to be surpassed until 1936.
The flooding of downtown Gardiner, also on the Kennebec, made such an impression that a souvenir china pitcher depicting the event was manufactured.
Joseph Owen is a retired copy desk chief of the Morning Sentinel and Kennebec Journal and board member of the Kennebec Historical Society. He can be contacted at: jowen@mainetoday.com.
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