The World Typewriter

The World Type Writer Company of Portland—incorporated in Maine Aug. 19, 1886—patented the World Typewriter two months later.

Two models of this delightful machine were produced with small variations. The World 1 wrote capital letters only. The World 2 wrote capitals and small letters.

The machine worked as simple as the other index writers. The user would point at a letter with the swinging index pointer and then stamp the letter onto the paper, using the keys over the platen on the left. This brought down the printing hammer onto the semi-circular rubber type sheet that was attached to the top of the index. An ink pad kept the type constantly inked. [Link]

Mabel Loomis Todd used a World Typewriter when setting Emily Dickinson's poems in type for the first time.

Read More

Birthday Man Dies

Elwyn W. Lancaster, who died Sunday in Lee, had a peculiar talent.

Elwyn had a remarkable memory for dates and numbers and was known in the community as the "Birthday Man." He loved to greet people by their birth dates as he sat at McDonald's. Often times, he would receive birthday cards signed only with birth dates. He could recite hundreds of birthdays, anniversaries and social security numbers. He was even interviewed by the local news station for this tremendous talent.

Read More

Bruce McToose Visits Norway

A program on "Intrepid Traveler" Bruce McToose's visit to the exotic land of Norway will air on MPBN this Sunday at 11pm and again Saturday February 27 at 11am.

[Producer Steve] Hrehovcik said "The Norway Show" was the inspiration for their continued work on the series.

"In future shows we will be traveling around the state to various cities with foreign connections. In Paris, Maine Bruce will hope to climb the Eiffel Tower; in China he'll want to stroll on the Great Wall; in Mexico he'll search for some Aztec artifacts. Also on our list of "distant lands" are Poland, Naples, Rome, Denmark, Sweden, Moscow, Egypt and several others," he said.

Hrehovick said Bruce McToose's travels are "all in good fun and an excellent way to explore the world without leaving the state of Maine." [Link]

Read More

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 honeymoon cruise was interrupted by gawkers.

They were spotted off Isle of Shoals on June 6th by two New York press planes. The next day the Mouette tied up for gas and provisions at Hartley Philbrick’s fish wharf in York, Maine. Try as he might, Hartley could not engage Mr. Lindbergh in meaningful conversation. While they were loading supplies in relative silence, a 13 year old girl recognized Lindy and ran off to spread the word at the town’s high school graduation celebration. Within minutes, more than 100 people crowded onto Philbrick’s wharf to get a snapshot of the elusive aviator.

Read More

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 County (1796) — Proposed nine years before the incorporation of Oxford County, it would have comprised the "northerly part of the county of York and the northwesterly part of the county of Cumberland."
• Casco County (1835) — No details are available, but the name suggests a bifurcation of Cumberland County.
• Mattanawcook County (1841) — To be taken from the northern part of Penobscot County (several towns in this section would be annexed to Aroostook County in 1843).
• Androscoggin County (1846) — To be formed from the eastern part of Oxford and the western part of Franklin County. The name would be used for a county created in 1854 from parts of Cumberland, Kennebec, Oxford and Lincoln Counties.
• Sebasticook County (1848) — The residents of Albion remonstrated against it.
• Ticonic County (1852) — To be created from parts of Kennebec, Waldo and Somerset Counties.
• Kings County (1853) — The residences of petition and remonstrance signers suggest that this would have included many of the same towns as Sagadahoc County, established in 1854.

Read More

Portland Native Nominated for Oscar

Oscar nominee Anna Kendrick is a Portland native and Deering High graduate.

At Deering High, Kendrick's former drama teacher, Kathleen Harris, wasn't surprised by the Oscar nomination.

"Maybe I should be, but when she came to my drama class as a freshman or sophomore, she had already been on Broadway. And she has truly worked for everything she's gotten," Harris said. "She always did well at memorizing, improvisation, and she was always just one of the kids. Just a delightful kid. She never talked about things she had done unless someone asked her."

When she was 12, Kendrick played the kid sister in a revival of "High Society" on Broadway and was nominated for a Tony Award. [Link]

Read More

Proposed Maine Towns

Among the introduced legislation found in the Maine Legislative Index are the petitions of Mainers seeking to create new towns. Here are a few proposed towns that ended up in the legislative graveyard:

• Brutus (1822) — To be set off from part of Chesterville.
• Truxton (1822) — The town now known as Hudson would be incorporated as Kirkland in 1825, and adopt its current name in 1855.
• New York (1829) — To be made from a piece of Old York.
• Maineport (1830) — To be created from part of Prospect.
• London (1832) — To be composed of parts of Carthage, Wilton and Dixfield.
• Weskerangan (1841) — Clinton would have been divided under this proposal.
• Genoa (1849) — Proposed by residents of Belfast Academy Grant in Aroostook County. They would be incorporated as Ludlow in 1864.
• Louisville (1854) — Proposed by the residents of what is now Magalloway Plantation.
• Umbagog (1854) — This was Upton's first attempt at incorporation. They succeeded in 1860.
• Madocawando (1861) — To be created by dividing Penobscot. Madocawando was a Penobscot sachem who made peace with the English in 1676.

Previously: Rejected Town Names

Read More