Sangerville Historical Society
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President: Diana Bowley 876-4579 Secretary: Alice Moulton 876-4546 Treasurer: Shirley Drew 876-3022 Meeting Time: 3rd Tuesday of month - May through September Artifacts are now being archived as well as other memorabilia T-Shirts are available featuring photo collage
of: Old Sangerville High
School $15.00 each or 2 for $25.00 |
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Town of Two Knights
This slogan came into being at the time of the town's celebration of its one hundred and seventy five years. Two men, who were born in Sangerville, were both knighted by the Queen of England. Sir Harry Oakes at one time became the richest man in the world from his gold mines. Hiram Maxim was the inventor of the Maxim Machine Gun. From the Maxim family came another inventor and predictor of future technology, Hudson Maxim. The "American Heritage of Invention & Technology", Winter 1999, Volume 14 Number 3 magazine noted the inventor with this quote, "While such exercises in prophecy are often absurd flights of fancy, most of Maxim's visions have turned out to be impressively close to the truth.
The September 1994 edition of "Scientific American" featured a picture of Maxim's flying machine with these words, "On Tuesday, July 31, for the first time in the history of the world, a flying machine actually left the ground, fully equipped with engines, boiler, fuel, water and a crew of three persons."
From the 1989 spectacular 175th celebration of this town, sprung the origins of the Sangerville Historical Society. We meet on the 3rd Tuesday of each month in the Community Room of the Town Hall. Our membership dues are $5.00 annually.
One of our fund raisers is the sale of tee shirts. This year the tee shirt features the historic building design pictured at the top of this page. One of our society members, a local artist by the name of Shirley Drew, painted the picture of some of our old buildings, the Sangerville High School , the partially renovated Town Hall, the Historical Society Building and the Union Church. this water color painting was silk screened onto fine crafted white tee shirts of various sizes. The sizes range from small, medium, large to extra large. The price for each is $15.00 including shipping and handling. Send your order request to the above address or call any of the listed telephone numbers. Orders must include a check or money order mad out to the Sangerville Historical Society and include the size wanted and address to ship to.
This picture taken from the Green Bridge in the village depicts the town's natural beauty. With the northern boundary being that of the beautiful Piscataquis River and the many streams and tributaries, natural beauty is plentiful. The town has three ponds which provide beauty and recreation to all. All this quiet magnificence must also be preserved for future generations to enjoy. These ponds, the river and streams contributed to the very reason why our early settlers chose this area to live in. They brought with them their plans for their future and put down roots.
The area of Sangerville, first known as Amestown, was purchased from the State of Massachusetts for twenty five cents and acre in 1800. Two years later the first settler, Phinease Ames, arrived. The next settler was James Weymouth in 1804 near Center Pond. The third settler, Jesse Brockway, settled south of the village. William Jackson was instrumental in establishing the village, around the year 1806. These first settlers formed the four distinct points of settlement in this 24,216 acre community. Lanes Corner in East Sangerville, Sangerville Village, Brockway Mills south of the village and Gilman's Corner and French's Mills southwest of the village.
The Sangerville Historical Society's mission is to dedicate ourselves to preserving the history and artifacts from these beginnings and on through the ages so that future generations will have knowledge of the spirit of this community.