Map of downtown Bowdoinham. This map was developed with the help of local historian Frank Connors. The descriptions were written by fourth grade students. We plan to update this map at a later point.
Click on the numbers to see what was located at this site. In some cases there may have been more than one thing that happened at a particular point.
This was the site of the steam sawmill. The first steam saw mill was built in the 1830's on the shore of the Cathance River south side of route 24, just before one comes to the bridges over the Branch, known locally as the White Bridges. This Mill ran until 1910. The mill was an important business in early Bowdoinham. It was next to the railroad and the river. A.C.
This is the location of the Masonic Lodge. It is across Main St. from where the Town Landing Place is now. It was rebuilt after the fire of 1902. There was a store at the bottom of the building. The building at this site before the fire may have been the place where the 1902 fire started. No less than three times fire has destroyed its buildings and all possessions. By AB
The Bowdoinham Jail was located here. The Jail was used mostly for tramps and homeless people. The Jail was across the road from the Bowdoinham Country Store. There is a story about 2 men that drank a lot at a party then their house was very far away so they spent the night at the Jail then the police went to their house with the key and never told the people who worked there. Then in the morning the police forgot about them. The 2 men got restless and one of them lifted up the roof and climbed right out!!! Then he went around and got the other key and unlocked his friend!!!
Many wooden ships were build at this spot in Bowdoinham. From Bowdoinham's early history it was a shipbuilding center. The last ship was built in Bowdoinham was in 1912. The name as Emma. In 1890's the ship building was nearly stopped when they started to build metal ships. Wood ships went out of business and Bowdoinham stopped making ships. J.L. & S.H.
The Village National Bank was built on Feb. 6, 1856 as a village bank. Later in 1865 it was turned into a national bank. The first president was Mr. Berry and the first cashier was Robert Butterfield. The bank closed on August 28, 1890. -R.F.B.
On June 21, 1866, at probably 1:00 in the morning, 3 or 4 robbers (no one knows if there was a 4th man) broke into Robert Butterfield's home demanding the key for the bank vault. The men got the key after beating Mr. Butterfield. The robbers left the Butterfields house with the key, but they returned shortly because they also needed the combination to the safe. The robbers got away with 73,461.00. There was a reward of 10,000 for catching the thieves. Davis Mcguire, 28, Orrin Simms, 33, and David Bartlett, 50 were caught in October. The money was not found. Butterfield never fully recovered from his injuries and died several years later. -A.B.
The Bowdoinham Fire took place Sunday, December 14, 1902. It is believed that the fire was started by a robber. Bowdoinham lost 15 major buildings, including a hotel, 4 of it's 6 grocery stores, a hardware store, a general store, a drug store, a funeral parlor, a blacksmith shop, a barber shop, and 10 private residences during the fire. It took firefighters 5 hours to extinguish the fire. -by R.F.
This is the location of an ice house. Ice houses were a very important industry in Bowdoinham and one of the ice houses was located next to where the bridge is now. Farming and other industries that wouldn't do anything in the winter would go and help with ice cutting. Back then there were no refrigerators so they used ice blocks to keep things cold. The original ice house was divided into four sections and was shaped like an 'L'. There were three even sections at the bottom of the 'L' where the ice was stored. The forth section contained a conveyor belt where the ice was carried from the river to the storage sections. The blocks were covered in saw dust to keep the blocks from melting and from sticking together. A.B.
The Sagadahoc Fertilizer Mill was established in 1880. The mill was owned by W.M.B. and Edward P. Kendall. The mill was built in the old plaster mill on the Cathance River. The mill burned down in 1907, but was rebuilt. -K.R.
11. First Bridge/Tide Waterwheel
The first railroad station was built in 1850 in Bowdoinham under an act of the legislature. Surprisingly it was built 4 years after the railroad (1846). It was a small one story brown building (brown was a strange color for a rail station) and used mainly for passengers and goods from and to town. This station was torn down for a new station (in the same spot) in 1872. -R.F.B.
The Town Hall was built in 1823 by the Baptists, Methodists, and Universalists. In 1882 or 1890 the town took possession of Union Church (fallen into decay) and converted it to a "Town House". The steeple was damaged by a storm and the steeple was replaced with the "Onion" Dome. In 1896 the steeple was removed for repair. In 1897 a new steeple (constructed by Robert Hanscom of Greene ) was replaced on the tower.
In January 1, 1912 the Coomb's School was built. Miss Viola Coombs generously assisted in the construction. It was used as a high school from 1912 to 1946.Then it was used as an elementary school for a while.Then it wasn't used until the late 1980's. The principle was Mister John McCart Now its a library and the location of town offices that the whole town use. It was painted bright yellow with white trimmings. The floors and walls were made of neatly polished North Carolina pine wood.J.B. and A.B.
The Bowdoinham Community School was built in 1955. It was originally a four classroom school house that held the 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th grades. The cost to the town for this $80,000 school building was $51,829 of which only $35,000 came out of the town treasury. The remainder was financed by seven 4th of July Chicken Barbecues (over $8,000); donations of money ($13,000); labor (3,000 man hours); lumber (60,000 board feet of the 100,000 board feet used) plus equipment of all kinds. In seven years the town had this new school debt free.
-Excerpted from "History of the Schools of Bowdoinham"
20 Gray Estate This is the location of the Gray Estate.
This is the Stinson House. The Stinson House was built in Bowdoinham Center, it was named by William Stinson about 1839. It was a 3 story Hotel on the corners of Main street and Elm's street right where a canon is now. The Stinson House was destroyed in the Great Bowdoinham Fire of 1902.
Now there is a canon. It is a memorial to the Civil War. It was put there in May 1, 1905.
The first fire station was located at this point. It was later moved to Main Street and is now located at the corner of Center Street and Post Road.