Richland County Baseball

  • Subscribe to our RSS feed.
  • Twitter
  • StumbleUpon
  • Reddit
  • Facebook
  • Digg

Wednesday, 30 December 2009

Millinocket's Little Italy

Posted on 23:19 by blogger
Maine has only one "Little Italy"—established in 1899 to house the families of immigrants imported to build the Great Northern paper mill.
Italian immigrants coming to the area were unfamiliar with the land and the language. Fred Peluso was working as a clerk for John Merrill, and he was appointed to watch over the new workers. Peluso saw to their every need by placing them in jobs, providing them with food, acting as translator, and helping them start their homes. Peluso built a substantial home with some outbuildings that become known as Peluso's Square, and it was complete with cobblestones. He started a store that catered to the homesick Italian immigrants and provided traditional Italian foodstuffs that could be purchased on credit. As more immigrants arrived, they settled in an area that ran along the Millinocket Stream just across from the mill. The small settlement was to become known as Little Italy, and Peluso was called the padrone or king of Little Italy. [Link]
Of Millinocket's 1,002 residents in 1900, 432 were natives of Italy.
Email ThisBlogThis!Share to XShare to FacebookShare to Pinterest
Posted in | No comments
Newer Post Older Post Home

0 comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)

Popular Posts

  • Horace Wilson, Japanese Baseball Hall of Famer
    A man from Gorham is credited with bringing baseball to Japan. Horace Wilson, a Gorham farm boy who returned from the Civil War only to go w...
  • Three Junks of Pork
    There are at least three places in Maine called "Junk of Pork." One lies a few miles beyond Peaks Island , and was described by S...
  • Old News from Southern Maine
    Old News from Southern Maine offers interesting episodes in York County history. Such as when Charles and Anne Morrow Lindbergh's honey...
  • Was Talleyrand Born In Maine?
    Was French diplomat Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-PĂ©rigord —popularly known as "Talleyrand"—born in Maine? Edward Robbins, a forme...
  • Millinocket's Little Italy
    Maine has only one "Little Italy"—established in 1899 to house the families of immigrants imported to build the Great Northern pap...
  • In Search of Maine's Mountain Lions
    Students at Dexter Regional High School, led by teacher-adviser Regan McPhetres, will be investigating whether mountain lions exist in Maine...
  • The Origins of Burnt Coat
    Swan's Island was called "Burnt Coat Island" when James Swan bought it and two dozen adjacent islands sight unseen, July 7, 17...
  • Maine's Degree Confluences
    Of the 64,442 degree confluences on Earth—spots where latitude and longitude integer degrees intersect— twelve are located in Maine , and al...
  • The Duke Launches a Battleship
    Lisa Paul shares this story of John Wayne christening a ship at BIW. An executive at the Bath Iron Works, the shipyard that has been produci...
  • Proposed Maine Counties
    Following up on this list of Maine towns proposed but never incorporated, here are some Maine counties that never came to be: Waterford Cou...

Blog Archive

  • ►  2013 (1)
    • ►  April (1)
  • ►  2011 (1)
    • ►  April (1)
  • ►  2010 (22)
    • ►  September (1)
    • ►  June (4)
    • ►  April (4)
    • ►  March (2)
    • ►  February (5)
    • ►  January (6)
  • ▼  2009 (44)
    • ▼  December (3)
      • Millinocket's Little Italy
      • 235-Year-Old Elm in Yarmouth To Be Felled
      • Androscoggin Riverlands State Park
    • ►  November (6)
    • ►  October (7)
    • ►  September (6)
    • ►  August (1)
    • ►  July (3)
    • ►  June (8)
    • ►  May (3)
    • ►  April (1)
    • ►  March (3)
    • ►  February (2)
    • ►  January (1)
  • ►  2008 (29)
    • ►  December (9)
    • ►  November (3)
    • ►  October (1)
    • ►  August (3)
    • ►  July (3)
    • ►  June (2)
    • ►  May (2)
    • ►  April (4)
    • ►  February (1)
    • ►  January (1)
  • ►  2007 (3)
    • ►  December (3)
Powered by Blogger.

About Me

blogger
View my complete profile