local History Pro.

Dakota Bussell Bussell 1
English 10B
Mr. Middleswart
1/3/08

History of St. Albans


St. Albans is a small town located in the center of the state of Maine that has vacationers that come in the summer to enjoy boating and fishing on Big Indian lake and its Streams. They also come to ride the trails with 4- Wheelers and mountain bikes on Devils Head Mountain, which great foliage in the fall. According to Sebasticook Valley Chamber of Commerce, These actives in the summer bring people here and increase the normal population from 1836 to 2836.
In years past farming was the normal living style. It was normal because that was how everyone got their food was by growing it in the summer. In 1816 there were 21 Barns and 22 houses. When all combined there was 19 horses, 27 oxen and 54 cows (History of St. Albans Maine). John Lyford owned the largest farm. He had 20 acres in mowing fields and 20 acres in pastures having the total of 40 acres he owned. He also had 4 cows, 4 oxen, 3 horses, 10 young live stock and 3 barns. Today it is owned by Kenneth and Phyllis Chambers (History of St. Albans Maine). They still
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have the largest farm in St. Albans as of right now. In 1860 the population increased to 1808. There were 285 horses, 533 milking cows, 319 working oxen, 688 other cattle, 2,565 sheep, 853 bales of wheat, 447 bales of rye, 7,429 bales of corn, 14,010 bales of oats and 6,700 lbs. of wool (History of St. Albans Maine/ Wikipedia). In 1960 my Grate Grandfather owned one of the largest herds in St. Albans (Cooney). In 1963 Elmer Chambers and his son Kenneth had the largest herd of cattle. 172 milking cows, 100 dry cows, which is cows to old to milk any more, and young live stock (History of St. Albans Maine). It is hard to grow fruit in Maine because of the weather but there is one person that knows how to and his name is Irving Parkman. “He would grow Apples, Pears, Plums and Cherries in the summer” (Cooney). He also made maple sugar candy that was sold though out New England (History of St. Albans Maine). Bernard and Lottie Weymouth grew and sold Strawberry. Larry Wintle and Newman Gee were the Poultry Framers of St. Albans. All of this shows how we have come a long in Farming.
In 1964 Omar Norton Became Superintendent of schools and S.A.D. 48 was formed. They formed with Hartland, St. Albans, Palmyra, Corinna, and Newport. Directors voted to elect Omar Norton as Superintendent of schools. He was making a salary rate of 12,000 per year. In July 1978 the
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Building committee of S.A.D. 48 met. Ruth Knowles requested to remodel the St. Albans school or build a new one. October 5, 1978 they approved the request for a new school. The school is 7/10 of a mile from the center of town. There is 9 class rooms, a cafeteria-auditorium, 2 conference rooms, a library and a office space (History of St. Albans Maine). I graduated from that school and when I go into it now I feel like a giant in the school.