Bangor History: 1800s

As commerce flourished in Bangor access between the two areas on either side of the Kenduskeag became necessary so, in 1807, they built the first bridge. The toll was one cent for strangers and free for residents. Between 1807 and 1812 the Rev. John Seymour, during his stay here, founded the Bangor Theological Seminary.

Once again, during the War of 1812, Bangor was not immune from the warfare. The town was captured and occupied by the British in September of 1814. However, the occupation did not last long and by the middle of 1815 Bangor was once again American. In November of that same year, Peter Edes started the first newspaper titled the “Bangor Weekly Register.” 

The year 1820 was a banner one for the new State of Maine, and Bangor, with a population of 1200, was instituted as the shire town of Penobscot River County. This decade ushered in a period of phenomenal growth in both population and prosperity. This was due to the lumber industry coming to the forefront of the Maine economy. Trees were harvested in the winter and skidded down to the Penobscot River and tributaries. In the spring the logs were driven down the rivers to Bangor, where they were sawn and then shipped to various destinations. Bangor became the center of the lumber industry, which included all levels of society: the timberland owners, lumber companies, sawmills, shingle mills, lumbermen and log drivers. The rough characters who worked in the woods and the waterfront lived and sought recreation in the part of town known as the “devil’s half acre” by the more pious residents. Bangor became a very prosperous town and grew incredibly fast. 

Anti-slavery groups organize in Maine towns such as Hallowell, and the Maine Antislavery Society is created in 1834. Also in 1834, a series of brawls in the “devil’s half acre” erupted into riots, and the rioters rampaged through the city for a number of days. The town government was completely unable to cope with the riots and suggested some changes. The incorporation of Bangor, now with a population of over 8,000, as a City was the solution. Allen Gilman, the town’s first lawyer was elected the city’s first mayor. Bangor was referred to in the press as being a New York City in miniature.  

Over the next three decades, Bangor grew in population and in wealth. In 1833, the Bangor House opened as a first class hotel.

The second “garden cemetery” in the country, Mount Hope Cemetery, was opened in 1834, as an indication of the progressive nature of the new city. 1836 saw the first railroad open: the Bangor and Piscataquis Canal Railway. In 1838, the “Daily Whig and Courier” newspaper began to publish. Also in that year a road was built to Houlton connecting the timberlands of the northeastern part of Maine to the rest of the state. Lumbering, in what is now Aroostook County, led to a border dispute between Maine and New Brunswick. It was a dispute that almost caused a war. By 1839 the dispute, called the Aroostook War, became so heated that militias and forces were called out on both sides of the border. Bangor was involved as the staging area for the Maine Militia. Fortunately, cooler heads prevailed and the dispute was settled through negotiation and the signing of the Webster–Ashburton Treaty. 

The year 1846 brought the first disaster to Bangor. In the spring of that year the ice built up above the falls on the Penobscot River and when the water and ice finally broke loose, Bangor was flooded. On the up side this was the first year that Henry David Thoreau came to the area. In1847, Bangor became a “Port of Entry”, and in 1853 built its first customhouse.  In the 1850s, the Underground Railroad funneled runaway slaves through Maine.

1855 was a year of culture and chaos. Norumbega Hall was built for cultural events and expositions, and it indicated the prosperity that the city was enjoying. The new wealth in the area, though, attracted immigrants, and the Irish were a large portion of these people who supplied labor. In that year the “Know Nothing” Party was elected to office. They were anti-immigrant and pro-temperance - a combination that is at odds with the labor force. In the late summer of 1855, the enforcement of temperance and the anti-foreign feelings led to violence. The Irish and their taverns were the targets of the “Know Nothings.” The rioting was not quelled until October when the agents of enforcement were disbanded. 

The War Between the States began in 1861 and the sons of Bangor did their part. The 2nd Maine Infantry was raised in the Bangor area and was known as the “Bangor Regiment.” Bangor supplied a large number of men to many Maine regiments throughout the war and after the war things returned to normal in Bangor. Civil War President Abraham Lincoln’s first vice-president was Bangor native Hannibal Hamlin.  

The lumber and shipping economy reached a high point in the 1870’s. The European and North American Rail Road opened with President Ulysses S. Grant in attendance. President Grant stayed at the Bangor House, which still stands at the corner of Maine and Union streets. In the 1890’s both the Bangor and Aroostook and Maine Central Railroads served the Bangor area and made possible the success of Great Northern Paper Company. In 1906-07 the Union Station was completed and helped make Bangor the hub of transportation for northern and eastern Maine.

In 1896 the Bangor Symphony Orchestra was founded, and continues as the oldest community orchestra in the country. A Bangor landmark, the standpipe on Thomas Hill, was built in 1897. At the same time, a dam on the Penobscot River allowed water to be pumped to the standpipe and electricity to be generated for a newly electrified city. This decade saw Bangor’s streets paved, sewers, telephone service, electric utilities, and street railways instituted.

Lumber was not the only industry to support Bangor. The ice industry tapped another abundant commodity of the area and flourished between 1876 and 1906. Every winter the Penobscot River froze and the ice was harvested. Penobscot River ice was considered to be the finest in the world and was shipped as far as India. Many icehouses could be found around the Bangor waterfront. 

Continue to read Bangor History in the 1500-1700s or 1900s.