Oct. 11, 1819: Representatives of nearly all of Maine’s 236 incorporated towns attend the first day of a convention that will draft a constitution for Maine, which will become a state the following March. The convention opens at the Cumberland County Courthouse in Portland. The next day, it moves to the First Parish Church, which […]

Oct. 10, 1980: President Jimmy Carter signs the Maine Indian Claims Settlement Act, ending 1976 lawsuits by the Maliseet, Passamaquoddy and Penobscot tribes, in which they claimed about 12.5 million acres of Maine, or two-thirds of the state’s territory. Under the new law, the tribes will receive a total of $81.5 million as compensation for […]

Oct. 9, 1866: A fire that began about 3 a.m. burns until noon in Wiscasset, destroying more than 50 buildings, including the customs house, a hotel, a marble works and hay warehouses, as well as two yachts at the wharf. A strong northeast wind makes it impossible to stop the fire, and it races to […]

Oct. 8, 1829: Gov. Enoch Lincoln, Maine’s sixth governor, dies in Augusta at 40, becoming the state’s first governor to die while in office. Lincoln’s chief claim to fame might be his role in determining that Augusta would become Maine’s capital and that the State House would be built there on Weston’s Hill, but he […]

Oct. 6, 1869: The newly built location of the Bangor Children’s Home is dedicated at 218 Ohio St. in Bangor. A group of Bangor women established the home’s predecessor organization, the Bangor Female Orphans Asylum, in 1836 on the city’s Fourth Street. For many years, that institution took in girls and arranged for their adoption. […]

Oct. 3, 2014: A federal judge orders the bankruptcy case of Great Northern Paper Co. transferred from Delaware to Maine. A lawyer for the towns of Millinocket and East Millinocket, where GNP operated two mills, says at the hearing that the company owes the towns more than $3 million in back taxes. GNP filed for […]