James Phinney Baxter (March 23,1831 –May 8,1921) was an American politician,businessperson,historian,civic leader,and benefactor of Portland,Maine. [1] [2] He was elected as mayor of Portland for six single-year terms between 1893 and 1905.
His personal library,containing over 100 leather-bound books of maps,portraits,engravings and personal letters,is available for reference at the Portland Public Library. [3]
James Phinney Baxter was the son of Dr. Elihu Baxter and Sarah Cone Baxter. [4] He was born in Gorham,Maine (in what is now called the Baxter House),on March 23,1831,but lived in Portland from 1840. He attended Master Jackson's School until 1844,and then Lynn Academy until 1848. He began work in the Boston law offices of Rufus Choate,but ill health forced a return to Portland,where he worked in a dry-goods importing business with William G Davis,pioneering a canning and packing business (Portland Packing Company) that became important to the state's economy. [5]
He used the wealth engendered by his successful business for many philanthropic purposes. He was particularly passionate about supporting educational endeavors,and donated a public library (the Baxter Memorial Library) to his birthplace,Gorham,and a library to his adopted city,Portland. [5]
He was mayor of Portland for six years,and the moving spirit behind Baxter Boulevard,a tree-lined road that circles the edge of Back Cove,which is often used for exercise and recreation. He was also recognized as an authority on New England history,and among his other interests,he was president of the Maine Historical Society for thirty years and an overseer of Bowdoin College,and connected with many other organizations that furthered the interests of New England history. One of his greatest literary and historical achievements was the editing of twenty of the twenty-four volumes of The Documentary History of Maine. [5]
Baxter also devoted several years to unearthing the details of Capt. Christopher Levett's settlement at Portland in 1623–1624. An English sea captain and explorer,Levett's history and the details of the colony he attempted to found had been largely forgotten when Baxter's scholarship illuminated them. Baxter later published a book about Levett,which incorporated the text of Levett's own earlier work,published in 1628 in London. [5]
In 1887 Baxter was elected a member of the American Antiquarian Society in 1887. [6] He was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1915. [7] Baxter was a member of the Maine Society of Colonial Wars.
Baxter was a life-long opponent of vivisection and his Will prohibited any payment from his estate to persons who practiced vivisection. [8]
Baxter died in 1921 at the age of 90,and a Congregationalist pastor officiated at his funeral,although Baxter was also affiliated with the Swedenborg Church. [9] He is buried at Evergreen Cemetery and a large monument to him and his family is located at his gravesite.
His son,Governor of Maine (1921–1924) Percival Proctor Baxter,wrote a short biography of his father,James Phinney Baxter,Historian in 1921. [10] concluding with "My father had faith in mankind,faith in the future of America,faith in God and faith in the world to come."
He published:
Descendants of James Phinney Baxter include:
Falmouth is a town in Cumberland County,Maine,United States. The population was 12,444 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Portland–South Portland–Biddeford,Maine metropolitan statistical area.
Sir Ferdinando Gorges was a naval and military commander and governor of the important port of Plymouth in England. He was involved in Essex's Rebellion against the Queen,but escaped punishment by testifying against the main conspirators. His early involvement in English trade with and settlement of North America as well as his efforts in founding the Province of Maine in 1622 earned him the title of the "Father of English Colonization in North America," even though Gorges himself never set foot in the New World.
Percival Proctor Baxter was an American politician and philanthropist from Maine. The son of canning magnate and Portland,Maine,mayor James Phinney Baxter,he served as the 53rd Governor of the U.S. state of Maine from 1921 to 1925. A noted philanthropist,he donated several pieces of land to the public domain including Baxter Woods (Portland),Mackworth Island State Park (Falmouth),and Baxter State Park.
Casco Bay is an inlet of the Gulf of Maine on the coast of Maine in the United States. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's chart for Casco Bay marks the dividing line between the bay and the Gulf of Maine as running from Bald Head on Cape Small in Phippsburg west-southwest to Dyer Point in Cape Elizabeth. The city of Portland and the Port of Portland are on Casco Bay's western edge.
Cushing Island,or Cushing's Island,is a privately owned island in Casco Bay in the U.S. state of Maine. Part of the city of Portland,roughly 45 families live there seasonally.
Jean-Vincent d'Abbadie,Baron de Saint-Castin (1652–1707) was a French military officer serving in Acadia and an Abenaki chief. He is the father of two prominent sons who were also military leaders in Acadia:Bernard-Anselme and Joseph. He is the namesake of Castine,Maine. He died at Pau,France,in 1707.
Mackworth Island is an approximately 100-acre (40 ha) island in Casco Bay,Maine,United States. Politically,it is part of the town of Falmouth,which is adjacent to Portland. In 1631,Sir Ferdinando Gorges,who first attempted to colonize Maine,gifted the island to Arthur Mackworth,his deputy in Casco Bay,and the island has retained his name. A causeway,which carries the traffic of Andrews Avenue,connects the island to Mackworth Point on the mainland. Visitors to the island must pass a state park entrance tollhouse and pay an entrance fee;cars can enter the island,but parking is limited. There is a footpath around the perimeter of the island with views of Falmouth,Portland,and other islands surrounding the bay. The island is heavily wooded and one portion of those woods is dedicated to "Fairy Houses" which are constructed by visitors using natural materials found on the island. Although most areas of the island are State Park lands,there is a school area that is not open to the public. The island is also home to the Governor Baxter Dog Memorial,a pet cemetery where fourteen of the former governor's Irish Setters and one of his horses were laid to rest,accompanied by two bronze markers and a gravestone,all enclosed by a circular stone wall.
James Phinney Baxter III was an American historian,educator,and academic,who won the 1947 Pulitzer Prize for History for his book Scientists Against Time (1946). He was also the author of The Introduction of the Ironclad Warship (1933).
George Cleeve was an English early settler and founder of today's Portland,Maine. He was Deputy President of the Province of Lygonia from 1643 until the final submission of its Maine towns to Massachusetts authority in 1658.
James,Jim,or Jimmy Baxter may refer to:
Captain Christopher Levett was an English writer,explorer and naval captain,born at York,England. He explored the coast of New England and secured a grant from the king to settle present-day Portland,Maine,the first European to do so. Levett left behind a group of settlers at his Maine plantation in Casco Bay,but they were never heard from again. Their fate is unknown. As a member of the Plymouth Council for New England,Levett was named the Governor of Plymouth in 1623 and a close adviser to Capt. Robert Gorges in his attempt to found an early English colony at Weymouth,Massachusetts,which also failed. Levett was also named an early governor of Virginia in 1628,according to Parliamentary records at Whitehall.
The History of Portland,Maine,begins when Native Americans originally called the Portland peninsula Məkíhkanək meaning "At the fish hook" in Penobscot and Machigonne in Algonquian. The peninsula and surrounding areas was home to members of the Algonquian-speaking Aucocisco branch of the Eastern Abenaki tribe who were forcibly relocated to current day Canada during European settlement.
The Maine Historical Society is the official historical society of the U.S. state of Maine. It is located at 489 Congress Street in downtown Portland. The Society currently operates the Wadsworth-Longfellow House,a National Historic Landmark,Longfellow Garden,the Maine Historical Society Museum and Store,the Brown Research Library,as well as the Maine Memory Network,an online database of documents and images that includes resources from many of state's local historical societies.
Robert Gorges was a captain in the Royal Navy and briefly Governor-General of New England from 1623 to 1624. He was the son of Sir Ferdinando Gorges. After having served in the Venetian wars,Gorges was given a commission as Governor-General of New England and emigrated to modern Weymouth,Massachusetts,in 1623,building his settlement on the site of the failed Wessagusset Colony.
John Levett was a 17th-century English naturalist who was the author of a ground-breaking early study of the habits of bees,with close observation of their behaviour and suggestions on how to manage their hives,published in London in 1634. The Ordering of Bees:Or,The True History of Managing Them was one of the first agricultural textbooks,with a preface in rhyme by the author Samuel Purchas. It is among the earliest examples of what later became a flood of literature treating the English love of gardening and horticulture.
The Baxter House is an historic house museum at 67 South Street in Gorham,Maine,United States. Built in 1797,it was the birthplace of James Phinney Baxter,mayor of Portland. He was the father of two-term Governor of Maine Percival Baxter. The house was donated to the town by James Phinney Baxter in 1907,and opened as a museum in 1908. It is open on Tuesdays and Thursdays from June to August. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.
Gorham is a town in Cumberland County,Maine,United States. The population was 18,336 at the 2020 United States Census. In addition to its urban village center known as Gorham Village or simply "the Village," the town encompasses a number of smaller,unincorporated villages and hamlets with distinct historical identities,including South Gorham,West Gorham,Little Falls,White Rock,and North Gorham. Gorham is home to one of the three campuses of the University of Southern Maine. In 2013,Gorham was voted second-best town in Maine after Hampden by a financial website.
The Baxter Memorial Library is the public library serving Gorham,Maine. It was built in 1908. The gift of James Phinney Baxter,the library building is constructed of pink granite and the interior is completed in red oak. In 2003,a 10,000 square feet (930 m2) addition became the primary library.
The Baxter Summer Home is a historic house on Mackworth Island,in Casco Bay off the coast of Falmouth,Maine. Now a centerpiece of the campus of the Governor Baxter School for the Deaf,the house was built in 1917–18 by James Phinney Baxter,and was given to the state by his son Percival,a two-term Governor of Maine best known for establishing Baxter State Park. The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.
The South Street Historic District encompasses an early residential area of Gorham,Maine. Located just south of Gorham's small commercial center,South Street is lined with an architecturally cohesive collection of about 20 late-18th and early-19th century houses,primarily interrupted only by the presence of the modest Colonial Revival Baxter Memorial Library. The district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988.
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