Feb. 9, 2019: The Rev. Thomas James Brown becomes the first openly gay bishop to lead the Episcopal Diocese of Maine and the third in the United States. Brown, the husband of an Episcopalian minister who is rector of a church in Boston, is elected on the third ballot at a convention of clergy members […]

Feb. 8, 2014: Portland sound engineer Bob Ludwig of Gateway Mastering Studios wins three Grammy awards for his work on new musical releases, after having won four the previous year. His 2014 haul includes Album of the Year for “Morning Phase,” by Beck; Best Engineered Album, Non-classical, for “Morning Phase”; and Best Surround Sound Album, […]

Feb. 7, 1827: Waldo County becomes Maine’s 10th county, formed from part of Hancock County. It is the first Maine county formed after Maine achieved statehood in 1820. The county is named for wealthy merchant, soldier and land speculator Samuel Waldo, who in 1730 acquired title to the land in Maine between Muscongus Bay and […]

Feb. 6, 1815: Albion K. Parris, representing Oxford and Somerset counties in the Massachusetts Senate, introduces a resolution calling for a districtwide convention to consider the prospect of separating Maine from Massachusetts. Parris was frustrated by Massachusetts’ failure during the War of 1812 to drive the British from the eastern District of Maine. After many […]

Feb. 5, 1967: Outdoorsman and Greenwood native Leon Leonwood Bean, 94, dies in Pompano Beach, Florida, 55 years after founding the iconic global company that bears his name. L.L. Bean opened in Freeport selling a single product – the Bean Boot, or Maine Hunting Shoe. Of the first 100 pairs sold, customers returned 90 because […]

Feb. 4, 1953: Prolific writer Ben Ames Williams, the author of “Come Spring” and “Leave Her to Heaven” and ardent chronicler of rural Maine life, dies in Brookline, Massachusetts, at the age of 63. Born in Macon, Mississippi, and raised in Jackson, Ohio, where his father owned the Jackson Standard Journal newspaper, Williams grew up […]

Feb. 3, 1997: The Portland and South Portland city councils vote to approve the name “Casco Bay Bridge” for the new $130 million span crossing the Fore River between the two cities. Earlier, a committee of representatives from the cities and the town of Cape Elizabeth recommended the name after evaluating 137 naming proposals. The […]

Feb. 1, 1976: Former Georgia Gov. Jimmy Carter, relatively unknown nationally until a few months earlier, collects more delegates in the Maine Democratic Party’s presidential caucuses than all the other candidates combined. His victory contrasts sharply with the results of a Gallup poll about a week earlier, in which only 4 percent of voters nationally […]

Jan. 31, 1945: A fire rips through a privately operated boarding home being used as an unlicensed nursery in Auburn, killing 16 babies and a nurse. Three women and five children escape the flames. The state had cited the operator for code violations, and although the operator had delayed making improvements, state authorities failed to […]