|
1750 |
Area visited by hunters from
Topsham |
|
1770 |
First surveys of "Ten mile lots
west of the Kennebec" made |
|
1773 |
Territory now Litchfield
included in the Kennebec Purchase |
|
1776 |
First settlement |
|
1789 |
First sawmill built on Potter
Mill Stream |
|
ca.1790 |
First Purgatory saw and grist
mills built |
|
1791 |
First Baptist Church organized |
|
1794 |
Smithfield Plantation organized
at the house of Henry Jewell |
|
1795 |
Town incorporated; name changed
to Litchfield |
|
1795 |
John Neal, Esq., elected
selectman; served 29 years |
|
1798 |
North Baptist Church organized;
meeting house built in 1810 |
|
1800 |
Population 1045 |
|
1803 |
Ten men, "one from each
district," named to school committee |
|
1805 |
First post office opened in the
house of Jonathan Clark at Purgatory |
|
1806 |
First schoolhouse built |
|
1810 |
Population 1847 |
|
1810-1880 |
Brickyards, some eight in all,
established |
|
1811 |
First Congregational Church
established at the Corner |
|
1814 |
First carding and fulling mill
built by "Mr. Adams" |
|
1820 |
Population 2120 |
|
1820 |
Elias Plimpton built the first
of his factories at Purgatory |
|
1822 |
Morning Star Lodge of Freemasons
chartered |
|
1826 |
Plains Baptist Church organized;
meeting house built in 1837 |
|
1830 |
Population 2308 |
|
1840 |
Population 2293 |
|
1840 |
Town House built |
|
ca.1840 |
First shingle mill built by
Jesse Tucker and Daniel Bartlett |
|
1845 |
Litchfield Academy incorporated;
building erected in 1852 |
|
1846 |
Litchfield Liberal Institute
incorporated; building erected in 1851 |
|
1850 |
Population 2100 |
|
1850 |
Sodalite, a rare deep-blue
mineral, discovered in town |
|
1857 |
Farmers club, formerly the
Litchfield Agricultural Society, organized. |
|
First annual exhibition - the
Litchfield Fair - held in 1858 |
|
1860 |
Population 1704 |
|
1860 |
Town Farm, to support town poor,
bought |
|
1868 |
Fifteen district schools "kept"
this year |
|
1870 |
Population 1506 |
|
1873 |
Litchfield Fire Insurance
Company incorporated |
|
1875 |
First steam power used - in
Wyman's cider mill |
|
1875 |
Litchfield Grange, Patrons of
Husbandry, #127 organized |
|
1880 |
Population 1310 |
|
1886 |
Union Hall built by a stock
company |
|
1890 |
Population 1126 |
|
1895 |
Town celebrated the centennial
of its incorporation with a procession, |
|
band concert, historical
addresses and a community dinner |
|
1897 |
History Of Litchfield, Oramandel
Smith, editor, published |
|
1898 |
Kendall Chapel dedicated |
|
1900 |
Population 1057 |
|
ca.1900 |
Frank Wyman said to have the
first gasoline engine in town |
|
1900 |
Mystic Chapter #60, Order of the
Eastern Star, instituted |
|
1903 |
Town established free high
school education by paying tuition of town
|
|
youth at Litchfield Academy |
|
1907 |
First anti-pollution law
covering town's ponds and waterways enacted |
|
1908 |
The Lewiston, Augusta and
Waterville Street Railway built across town |
|
from East Monmouth to West
Gardiner |
|
1910 |
Population 964 |
|
ca.1913 |
Telephones reached Litchfield.
The first telephone service was to |
|
Purgatory Village; later lines
were extended to Lapham-Packards on the
|
|
Lunt's Hill Road, Chase's on the
Pond Road and Starbirds at the Corner |
|
1914 |
First automobile owned in town |
|
1920 |
Population 815 |
|
1927 |
The Ivy (girls) 4-H Club
organized. Gertrude Small Rowe served as
|
|
leader for 36 years |
|
1927 |
First electric power line
reached town |
|
1930 |
Population 773 |
|
1940 |
Population 722 |
|
1946 |
North Litchfield Fire Department
organized; Fred Edgecomb chief |
|
1949 |
New Central School opened for
grades one to eight and the last six
|
|
district school closed |
|
1950 |
Population 953 |
|
1954 |
Litchfield Academy bought by
town; two new rooms added the next year |
|
1955 |
First town manager, H.R.Johnston,
appointed by selectman |
|
1961 |
Richard C. Smith appointed
second town manager |
|
1966 |
Litchfield Academy ceased
operation as a high school; Grades 9-12
|
|
conveyed to Monmouth Academy |
|
1966 |
St. Leo's Roman Catholic chapel
built and dedicated |
|
1968 |
The post office moved into a new
building at Bachelder's Corner |
|
1971 |
A new wing was added to the
Academy building, which was renamed |
|
the Libby-Tozier School in honor
of Mrs. Elsie Libby and Mrs. Irene Tozier |
|
long time Litchfield teachers |
|
1971 |
The remaining members of the
Congregational Church donated their |
|
meeting house at the Corner to
the Litchfield Youth Fellowship. During
|
|
1973 and 1974 the group, under
the leadership of Lester Black, and |
|
and with generous donations of
logs, equipment time, labor and other |
|
things got their building ready
to use for a Youth Center |
|
1973 |
The town built and occupied new
town office and garage building |
|
1974 |
The town elected a committee to
establish a museum or historical society
|
|
at the old Town House; the group
incorporated as the Historical Society of
Litchfield |
|
1974 |
The town joined Sabattus and
Wales in a Community School District
|
|
to build and operate a secondary
school |
|
1975 |
The Litchfield Bicentennial
Committee sponsored "Settlers Days" on
|
|
July 25 through 27 with parades,
public suppers, colonial costumes, |
|
floats, programs, exhibits,
socials, concerts and dances |
|
1976 |
Construction of the new
community high school, named Oak Hill High
|
|
School is well under way opening
planned for fall |
|
1976 |
By the mid 1970's, all of
Litchfield's poultry farms had gone out of
business |
|
1976 |
The Gowell's opened G&G General
Store in Rte 197 |
|
1980 |
The 1980 census put the
population of Litchfield at 1,954 persons |
|
1981 |
The town office burned to the
ground and a new office was built |
|
1983 |
David Byras was appointed Town
Manager |
|
1983 |
The Country Cafe opened for
business at Bachelder's Corner |
|
1985 |
A major addition to the
Litchfield Corner fire station was completed |
|
1986 |
The Pulks opened the Family
Pizza and Diner opposite G&G Feed; in 1988,
|
|
it was sold and reopened as
Riccardo's Pizza and Video |
|
1988 |
A library, classrooms, offices
and multi-purpose hall were added to the
|
|
Libby-Tozier school; and the
Academy ceased being used for classes |
|
ca.1989 |
Two of the five remaining dairy
farms (Harvey's and Week's) ceased operating |
|
1989 |
Smithfield Plantation, a
100-acre piece of town forest land on the Libby
Road |
|
was dedicated as an outdoor
science "classroom" for elementary school use |
|
1990 |
The new Walter "Red" Cook, Jr.
fire station at Purgatory was completed |
|
1990 |
The Litchfield Country Store was
reopened by Dennis and Sharon Tilton
|
|
after being closed for three
years |
|
1990 |
The 1990 census counted a
town-wide population of 2,650 |
|
1992 |
The old Masonic Hall burned down |
|
1992 |
The Town Meeting voted to adopt
a Comprehensive Land Use Plan to guide
|
|
growth in town; the Plan noted
that Litchfield grew at an average rate |
|
of 30 new houses every year
during the 1980's |
|
1993 |
The town accepted Whippoorwill
Beach, a State Park, as a town-owned facility |
|
1993 |
Wendy Nesbit served as Town
Manager for 12 month; she was followed by Steve
Musica |
|
1994 |
A new wing, consisting of six
classrooms, offices and courtyard, was added to
Oak Hill School |
|
1994 |
A new Masonic Hall was built on
the corner of the Hallowell Road and Plains Road |
|
1994 |
Central School was destroyed by
fire; temporary classrooms were erected at
Libby-Tozier |
|
and a decision to build a new
middle school west of Libby-Tozier, was made |
|
1995 |
February 18, 1995 marked the
Town's 200th birthday |
|
1995 |
July 7, 8 and 9 were designated
as the dates for Litchfield's official
bicentennial |
|
celebration, to be held at the
fairgrounds. A bean-hole supper, parade, |
|
marathon, speeches and memorial
service are among the special events scheduled |