Articles by Wayne E. Reilly
WAYNE E. REILLY
The exploits of Minnie Gilbert, ‘Queen of Thieves’
During the early years of the 20th century, a gang of yeggmen — contemporary slang for burglars who blew up safes — terrorized Maine’s small-town post offices, train stations, stores and other places where valuables were stored. The activities of what was originally called the Boston Shorty Gang first appeared ...
WAYNE REILLY
Odd Fellows convention a century ago highlighted African Americans in Bangor
Early on the afternoon of Thursday, Aug. 8, 1912, a century ago this week, a group of African-American men wearing dress suits and silk hats lined up for a parade in Bangor’s East Market Square, where city hall is currently located. Accompanied by the Brewer Band playing Sousa marches and ...
WAYNE E. REILLY
Shipbuilding’s ‘golden days’ disappeared quickly on the Penobscot
When Isaiah K. Stetson died in 1940, a newspaper headline over the prominent Bangorean’s obituary identified him as having been associated with “Shipbuilding’s Golden Days.” Shipbuilding once had been a major industry along the Penobscot all the way to the head of navigation at Bangor and Brewer. For the Stetson ...
WAYNE REILLY
Bangor club women waged war on flies with children’s help
A century ago, in the age of the swill pail and the manure heap, back when window screens were still a luxury, the sight of a common house fly zooming through your kitchen could provoke pandemonium. That was when fears of typhoid, diphtheria, cholera and other serious illnesses believed to ...
WAYNE E. REILLY
New Bangor Auto Club lobbied for better roads
By Wayne E. Reilly on June 24, 2012, at 4:10 p.m.
When bicycles became the rage in the 1890s, Bangoreans founded a new country club catering to enthusiasts. Located on the shore of Pushaw Lake, the Niben Club became a gathering place for “wheelmen” in the summer and ice boat enthusiasts in the winter. While mainly a social club, it lobbied ...
WAYNE E. REILLY
First aeroplane soared over Bangor like ‘graceful white-winged bird’
The Bangor Street Fair and Carnival was held a century ago to celebrate the Queen City’s recovery from the great fire that had devastated much of the downtown the year before. Bangor had seen plenty of circuses, carnivals and fairs over the years, but this one was going to be ...
WAYNE E. REILLY
Bangor trolley took off ‘like a bullet’
Bangor’s electric trolley system, just 23 years old a century ago, was a wonder to behold, connecting downtown Bangor with the city’s outskirts as well as nearby towns like Hampden, Old Town and Charleston. Workers, the elderly, youngsters, poor people and others without horses or automobiles could travel cheaply and ...
WAYNE E. REILLY
Gas blast rocked Bangor a century ago
By Wayne E. Reilly on April 29, 2012, at 4:09 p.m.
A huge explosion reverberated through downtown Bangor just after 3 p.m. on April 26, 1912, a century ago last week. A blast in an old brick reservoir under busy Mercantile Square left a crater 30 feet in diameter, unsealing a piece of the city’s infrastructure that most people had forgotten ...
WAYNE E. REILLY
Bijou marked Bangor’s entertainment pinnacle
Bangor’s most elegant theater — more glamorous today perhaps because it was torn down shortsightedly during Urban Renewal — opened a century ago this week. The Titanic had sunk a few days before, but doubtlessly, for some who attended the grand opening, the hoopla surrounding the Bijou Theater’s second coming ...
WAYNE E. REILLY
First presidential salmon sent a century ago
One of the rituals that defined the Queen City of the East each spring was the annual contest to see who would catch the first Atlantic salmon at the famous salmon pool in the Penobscot River between Bangor and Brewer. One of the top contenders for the prize in the ...
WAYNE E. REILLY
What happened to Captain and Mrs. Fickett?
Bangoreans were used to reading about shipwrecks, but when they picked up their newspapers Monday morning, Feb. 19, 1912, they were confronted by a shocking story that could have come straight from the pages of Joseph Conrad. The three-masted ship Erne had been disabled at sea in a titanic storm ...
WAYNE E. REILLY
Bangor greeted cold with enthusiasm in early 1900s
Winter started early in Bangoreans’ minds a century ago. Long before the snow and ice appeared, they were thinking of ways to make the best of the harsh times ahead in the era before central heating and jets to Orlando. ICE YACHTS READY, proclaimed the Bangor Daily Commercial in early ...
WAYNE E. REILLY
Bangor prospered as sawmills declined
SAWMILLS FEWER, BANGOR BIGGER This seemingly nonsensical headline, which appeared in the Bangor Daily News a century ago this month, means little to most readers today. Its irony would have been obvious, however, to the average Bangorean in 1912. Sawmills had once been a barometer of economic health. The Queen ...
WAYNE E. REILLY
Commercial fairs helped Bangor rise from the ashes
Commercial shows sponsored by various merchant groups helped jump-start Bangor’s revival after the big fire of April 30, 1911. The Queen City of the East had been the area’s trade and transportation hub before the fire, and it just kept getting bigger afterwards thanks to the tireless activities of its ...
WAYNE E. REILLY
‘Jobbing trade’ gave Bangor economic backbone
Bangor rapidly rose from the ashes after the great fire of April 30, 1911. By October, 40 new houses were either completed or being built. By December, the Bangor and Aroostook Railroad and some other tenants were mostly moved into the new six-story Graham Building at Harlow and Central streets. ...
WAYNE E. REILLY
Tuberculosis crusade galvanized Bangor
An oddly titled editorial, THE ONE-LUNGERS GET BUSY, appeared in the Bangor Daily News on Nov. 8, 1911. The subject was not the new one-cylinder boat engines, also called one-lungers, that could be heard chugging up and down the Penobscot River. Rather it was about the treatment of victims of ...
WAYNE REILLY
Kitchen barrooms targeted by Bangor police 100 years ago
OUR CITY — ITS PRIDE AND SHAME: That was the title of the Rev. Christopher W. Collier’s sermon at Hammond Street Congregational Church on Sunday morning, Nov. 19, 1911, a century ago. Being one of the most prominent clerics in the Queen City and given the importance of his subject, ...
WAYNE E. REILLY
‘Auto hunting’ captivated Bangoreans a century ago
HUNT WITH AUTOS, asserted a Bangor Daily Commercial headline on Sept. 23, 1911, a few short weeks before the hunting season opened. The subheads continued: The Sport Will be Popular With Bangor People This Fall … CAMPING BY ROAD SIDE … Many Ingenious Devices to Add to the Comfort of ...
WAYNE E. REILLY
Telegraph, telephone, wireless revolutionized communications a century ago
“IN TWO MINUTES: New Record for Communications Between Bangor and N.Y.” A new “direct wire service” had been installed between Bangor and New York City, said the story under the headline in the Bangor Daily Commercial on Nov. 4, 1911, a century ago this month. “Bangor is a great deal ...
WAYNE E. REILLY
Bangor sold popular park for new post office
The era of political good feeling that followed Bangor’s great fire of April 30, 1911 ended abruptly on May 25 with an editorial blast condemning the recommendations of the committee appointed to restore and beautify the burned area. “Jules Verne in his palmiest days never evolved a more ridiculous or ...
Orono man enters not guilty pleas in Cable kidnapping, murder
Maine House deals final blow to Medicaid expansion
A vote against the budget is a vote for a state shutdown
Susan Collins: Why Congress should reform federal court
From Aroostook to York, how small businesses are driving the rural economy
Report: Patriots’ Aaron Hernandez not ruled out as homicide suspect
American Lung Association retires number of cyclist killed in Trek Across Maine
UMaine basketball assistant coaches pursue new jobs
Bangor High golfers to play 100 holes for charity
Midcoast multibajillionaire knows what her husband is doing before he does it
‘Sopranos’ star James Gandolfini dead at 51