Odds and Ends From The MUSEUM!
By Trudy Wyman, Curator, Millinocket Society Museum
Much of the news written by local correspondents years ago was in a style much different than today. Many adjectives and more flowery speech were commonly used. One very noticeable difference is the spacing. For example, for July 10, 1922, Millinocket’s news was contained in the Bangor paper in a column 7 inches long, 2 inches wide and with very small font. One paragraph after another with no separation and no heading to distinguish one news item from the next! The July 10 news includes details of the funeral for a local gentleman who had been “knocked down and run over by a heavy touring car” at the 4th of July celebration. That paragraph is immediately followed by the news that “the playground is a scene of great activity just now and parents would be amply repaid to visit there.”
Next is news that “the huge new score board on the ball ground is a vast improvement on the old one and all visitors both on the grandstand and bleachers can keep well in touch with the score as the game proceeds.” The last three items for July 10 tell of five locals who were on an auto trip through New Hampshire and Vermont. That day’s news ends by explaining that one of the town’s ministers had returned from vacation and an interim minister had returned “to his regular duties in New York City.”
Some highlights of other July 1922 new items:
- A special town meeting was held at the Armory to see if the town would issue bonds to the amount of $150,000 for construction of the George Stearns High School and to authorize $1000 to build sidewalks to enable delivery of mail. Homeowners would be required to place numbers on their homes at their expense.
- Many items tell of someone’s day trip to Patten or East Millinocket or of spending a week in Bangor. One lady and her children had just returned “from a delightful vacation” spent with relatives in Lee.
- A young boy “had the misfortune on Monday to sustain a fall, breaking his arm.” Another item informs that Mrs. B’s (name is given) nine-year-old daughter is doing well after an operation for appendicitis. “This is the third operation which has been necessary in that family in a few months.”
- The class of 1922 “may be interested to learn that the necessary corrections on the diplomas have been completed.” They had to apply and then pick up the diplomas at a named person’s home. The Millinocket High School and Common school had burned the previous fall and at graduation students were attending school in various buildings around town.
The old newspaper articles are full of interesting information! Stop in at the museum and have a look at some of the old newspapers and scrapbooks!
