Arsenal Site | Essex Street, Bangor

Bangor State Arsenal | Lewiston Sun Journal, 1910

Nestled in the woods between the perennial sledding spot Essex St hill and the Broadway shopping center is the nexus of what could possibly have been one of the most tense moments that the city of Bangor had ever seen.

One political party had been in control of the state until 1878, at which point a politician of the opposing party was elected Governor. This man was Alonzo Garcelon, and after the Civil War he changed sides of the aisle - from Republican to Democrat. Like many newly-minted politicos, Garcelon tackled what he thought was a pressing issue for the time: voter fraud.

Here is where much of what I've found gets a little cloudy. Garcelon investigated the voter fraud and determined that Democrats, not Republicans, should have control of the legislature. Whether or not the perceived fraud had actually occurred is not known. As you can well imagine, lots of people really didn't like that. Republican (at the time) senator James Blaine went to Augusta with 100 armed men to 'protest' Governor Garcelon's findings. What did Governor Garcelon do? Call out the state militia to occupy Augusta and order the contents of Bangor's arsenal transferred to Augusta as well .

These actions, taken on Christmas day of 1879 were met with general furor. A civil servant transporting the arms/ammunition was stopped by a crowd of "well liquored woodsmen" who sought to fight back against what they saw as an attempt by Garcelon to entrench his power. They unhitched his horses and surrounded him, stating that they sought to hang him. The mayor showed up in the nick of time and informed the civil servant that he could not be responsible for the inevitable riot that would occur should he remove the arms from the Bangor State Arsenal and even went so far as to offer the civil servant police protection if he were to disobey the Governor's orders and return the weapons.

Buuuut...there's always some local yahoo who likes to make any situation worse: a man who shall remain nameless of Old Town armed himself (and others), came back, and tried to get the civil servant to bring the weapons to Augusta. No kidding.

The Christmas Day incident in 1879 blew over, only to have tensions once again exacerbated early in January by an over-zealous guard. Once again arms were ordered to be transferred from the arsenal in Bangor down to Augusta. This time the order came from Joshua Chamberlain. The guard had political allegiances to the Greenback party and did not recognize the authority of the current governor (Daniel Davis, at the time) He was promptly removed, and probably had more than that done to him...

A 'mashup' of an 1875 map from HistoricMapWorks & Google Earth. Arsenal visible by (under) highway.
Per HistoricMapWorks usage policy - not commercial use.

No evidence of this structures presence is currently in existence, if you drive around between Broadway and Essex Street, the most interesting abandoned thing you'll find is Mama Baldacci's.

The arsenal was built on land given to the state by Asa and Elisabeth Davis in 1838, shortly thereafter several executive 'warrants' were issued in favor of constructing a state arsenal on site. 1847 saw the state legislature resolve to make appropriations for military purposes. (Which is odd, as canteens dating from the War of 1812 were found there in 1902.) Despite some excitement in the late 1800s, the arsenal operated until the early 1900s, at which point it was abandoned completely. The Lewiston Evening Journal described it in 1910:

A large amount of arms were kept there, but six or seven years ago it was entirely abandoned. The guns which had been there were sent to the capitol to be cared for.

Since then the old arsenal building, the stable and ht eold brick powder house have been falling into decay. Even the old high picket fence which encloses the place is taking on a weatherbeaten and dilapidated appearance. Pickets are broken and falling off, the rusty old padlocks on gates, the hingest of which are even more rusty, are jokes so far s keeping folks off the grounds. For there are a dozen holes in the fence as easy to go thru as the gates themselves would be.

The arsenal site was returned to nature by 1927 when the "Arsenal Site Lot" was proposed as a State Park. Instead, it's where the highway runs through...


Timeline & Sources

• 1838: Asa and Elisabeth Davis gift the land.
• 1838:Warrant in favor of erecting state arsenal issued by Rufus C Vose. 
• 1847: State legislature resolves making appropriations for military purposes.
• 1849: State legislature authorizes repair and repainting of the state arsenal in Bangor.
• 1876: "Military property" removed from Portland and placed in the state arsenal in Bangor. 
• 1879: Arms removal is intended as a loyalty test to see if Bangor's citizens will obey civil authorities.
• 1879: A crowd tries to stop transfer of arms and ammunition from Bangor to Augusta. A talk of armed rebellion ensues.  Tensions boil over and a bunch of liquored woodsmen nearly killed a guy....
• 1880: Joshua Chamberlain expected to order arms from the arsenal to be removed and placed in charge of the city marshal, not the state.
• 1880: Chamberlain orders arms removed, the guard refuses -- recognizing only the authority of an unelected governor. He is forced to open the doors, the keys are changed, and he's replaced.
• 1881: The state rejects Sumner Bolton as the new keeper of the arsenal. 
• 1882: 50 cadet rilfes, breech loading and w/ bayonets are transferred to the Lewiston armory.
• 1893: The arsenal is almost closed. General Henry Mitchell tries to save it. 
• 1902: Lewiston Daily Sun reports that canteens from the war of 1812 were found at the Bangor Arsenal's 'obsolete stores' by Gen Farnham.
• 1903: A serial arsonist nearly destroys the arsenal.
• 1911: A book is written and sold detailing the history of the arsenal. The end goal was to turn the building in to a convalescent home.
• 1927: The arsenal apparently no longer standing, the lot becomes intended as a state park.