The Bangor Maine Masons - Before & After

On January 15th, 2004 the Masonic Temple in Bangor, ME was totally destroyed by fire. A building that had served the Masons in Bangor so well since the 1800s was a total loss. Thus, it was the end of an era and the beginning of a new time.

For the next five and one half years the members would attempt to resolve this dilemma. They formed the Bangor Masonic Foundation, a 501(c) (3) tax-free entity. They purchased a three-acre parcel of land in an industrial park on the Perry Road and had plans drawn of a proposed building. The economy changed and the cost of the building and maintaining the property became prohibitive. A second plan was then developed of a smaller building and when fuel prices went out-of-site, this plan was also abandoned. A third attempt was made to purchase a warehouse on the Perry Road, gutting it and reconstructing the interior.

During the negotiations to purchase the property on April 17, 2009, the former Bangor Theological Seminary came onto the market. Richard Trott negotiated a price of $550,000 subject to the approval of the board of directors of the Bangor Masonic Foundation. On Monday, April 20th a few members of the board inspected the property and asked that a special meeting of the Foundation be called to discuss the purchase of the property. The board met on April 21st and authorized the purchase. The next day April 22nd three members of the board met with the owner, Mr. Paul Cook, and signed the purchase and sale agreement. The sale was completed on June 29, 2009.

In 1810 all of Maine was considered a vast spiritually poverty-stricken territory. The population of the three largest communities in Penobscot County was Brewer with 1,341 in habitants, Hampden with 1,270 inhabitants, and Bangor with 850 inhabitants. Maine was admitted to the Union as a sovereign State on March 15, 1820, Bangor was still in third place but showed signs of overtaking the others. In 1822 Penobscot County was geographically larger than in 1970, and contained 27 incorporated towns and 13 organized plantations. The whole region had but one Congregational minister.¹

The actual origin of the Bangor Theological Seminary is somewhat obscure. Its birth involves the efforts of the Reverend John Sawyer, who was one of Maine’s first journeying evangelists.² Rev. Sawyer lived to be 103 years old and his grave is located in a cemetery west of the town of Garland, ME. The Seminary was chartered on February 25, 1814. The first meeting of the Board of Trustees was held in the Town of Montville on May 5, 1814 and was named The Maine Charity School. The first location of the school was in Hampden in 1816, where the trustees of Hampden Academy made an agreement with the seminary’s trustees to share the same building for a term of three years.³

On July 8, 1819 the board decided to move the school to Bangor as its permanent location. Mr. Isaac Davenport, Esq., an old fashioned Orthodox Unitarian, donated seven acres of land to the school. It was a hayfield, located at the end of Union Street where it intersected Hammond Street. (Union Street only extended to the end of Columbia Street at the time.) There were no trees or buildings that would inhibit the view of the Penobscot River of the village of 1,200 inhabitants below the site because of its elevation.

The deed granted to the trustees of the school by Mr. Davenport was reversionary and not fee simple. If the school failed to keep any of the conditions in the deed, the Davenport heirs had the right to take the property back. The Trustees paying $6,000 to the heirs for the surrender of their rights obtained two release deeds. One was executed by fourteen heirs of Mr. Davenport on May 14, 1902, entered in Boston on July 2, 1902 and received in Bangor on August 6, 1902. The other was executed by William R. Miller of Montreal, Canada, as guardian of John Frothingham Moat and Mary Moat on August 1, 1902 and received in Bangor on August 6, 1902.⁴ As a result of these two deeds the land is now by the Trustees in fee simple.⁵

The removal of the school to Bangor took place in the late summer or early fall of 1819, since the academic year did not close until August 25th. Between that date and the erection of the Seminary’s own buildings the professors lived in their own rented quarters and the students boarded with private families. Their classes were held in several of the buildings in Bangor that included the old Court House. Later, rooms were rented for use of the Seminary in a brick building on the corner of Water and Main Streets, owned by Mr. Alexander Savage. This site, later, became the site of the Masonic Temple in Bangor that was destroyed by fire on January 15th, 2004.

The first Chapel was constructed in 1824 in the yard of the Hamlin house. It was built almost entirely by the members of the seminary at a total cost of $1,200. This building was totally destroyed by fire on March 29, 1829. The building was insured for $700. The Chapel was used for recitations, lectures and other public exercise of both Seminary and Classical School.⁶

The second building constructed was the Commons House, which housed 26 students. It was started in 1827 but not completed until 1828. It was remodeled in 1839 to a residence for two faculty members.

The Dormitory or Maine Hall so-called was started in 1833 and finished in 1834. The building was brick, 106 feet long and 38 feet wide and 4 stories high. The cost was $13,000. It contained 32 suits of rooms, each having a study room and two adjacent bedrooms for a total capacity to house 64 students. The lower level was used for recitation, reading rooms, a library and a schoolroom, which was also used as a chapel. The old Commons House had the boarding facilities for the students besides providing rooms for 20 to 30 students.⁷

The new Commons House was erected in 1836 at a cost of $6,000. This building was to serve the students as a boarding facility and an infirmary. It took the place of the old commons House, which was turned over to the Classical School. Around 1827-28 the Seminary was described as having two schools, the Theological School and the Classical School. The Classical School was designed along the lines of a liberal education rather than one based on theology.

The present Chapel was completed in 1859, with the cornerstone being laid on June 10, 1858 and the building dedicated on July 27, 1859. The present Gym was built in 1895. The two buildings were connected in 1986 by the Ruth Rice Hutchins Center.