Browse Items (34 total)

  • Collection: Bethel: A Historic Town images

Bethel Civil War monument dedication

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The dedication in 1908 of Bethel's Civil War monument gave townspeople yet another opportunity to celebrate and commemorate the past. Fundraising efforts towards the purchase of such a memorial had begun as early as 1866.

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Clark S. Edwards house at the 1896 centenary

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The Vernon Street home of General Clark S. Edwards was trimmed in patriotic bunting for the 1896 centenary of Bethel's incorporation as a town. Visible behind the porch roof balustrade, Edwards distinguished himself in several major Civil War…

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Molly Ockett gravestone

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Baptized by the French as "Marie Agathe"—a name that became "Mali Agit" when pronounced with difficulty by the Abenaki—Molly Ockett (the English version) is a legendary figure in Bethel's past. Though she died at Andover, Maine, in 1816, it was not…

Jonathan Clark House

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Long associated with the famous 1781 Indian Raid on Bethel and surrounding settlements, the Jonathan Clark House (which was actually built about 1785) was a much-venerated local landmark that finally succumbed to neglect in the 1920s. This ancient…

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Prospect Hotel "tally-ho coach" (?)

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What may be the former Prospect Hotel "tally-ho coach" appears in front of the recently completed Bethel Inn around 1915. Once utilized to carry travelers throughout the hills of western Maine and northern New Hampshire, such conveyances lingered on…

Prospect Hotel

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The Prospect Hotel was Bethel's largest nineteenth century hostelry. Begun in 1863, the hotel faced north from a site very near the present Bethel Inn. From its rooftop cupola, five stories above the ground, guests could take in an unobstructed view…

Spring Grove Farm

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Long the home of the Valentine family, Spring Grove Farm on the North Road just west of Mayville furnished summer sojourners of the 1880s and 1890s with a quiet retreat that was only a few minutes ride by wagon from the Grand Trunk Railway station. …

Anasagunticook House

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One of several medium-sized hotels that catered to the tourist trade in Bethel a century and a half ago, the Anasagunticook House was erected in 1859 by John S. Chapman on an elevated site opposite and a little downriver from West Bethel village. …

Soiree on the the lawn of "The Howard"

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Bethel evolved into a much-favored inland watering spot for the well-to-do between the Civil War and World War I. In this circa 1900 photograph, a large group of elegantly-attired gentlemen and ladies prepare for a soiree on the lawn of "The…

The Bethel House advertisement

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The Bethel House was constructed in 1833 as the first of several large wooden hotels facing onto the Bethel Hill Common. Even before the railroad's arrival in 1851, Bethel had established itself as a popular stopping-off place for travelers.

Pleasant Valley Grange No. 136

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Following on the heels of the Farmer's Club movement, the Patrons of Husbandry (Grange) became highly popular throughout northern New England in the 1870s. Such organizations not only provided important social activities for isolated farm…

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Bethel Chair Company

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One of this community's largest nineteenth century industries was the Bethel Chair Company, established in 1886. The firm originally restricted itself to the production of Shaker-type rockers, but a variety of styles were eventually introduced. In…

Nineteenth century women working

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Women's work in eighteenth and nineteenth century Bethel was often tedious and backbreaking. Few today can imagine the difficulties faced in the never-ending routine of home life during this earlier time.

Log drive

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Logging was an extremely difficult and dangerous task before the advent of mechanized transportation, but furnished a winter's occupation and supplementary income for many Bethel farmers. Stimulated by the development of papermaking facilities in…

Kimball Block

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The largest commercial structure in Bethel for many years, the Kimball Block stood from 1865 to 1965 at Bethel Hill near the site of the town's new fire station. In the pre-automobile age, this community, and others like it throughout the Nation,…

Bean's Corner village (East Bethel), circa 1900

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Bean's Corner village (East Bethel), circa 1900. Local photographer Irving Kimball captured this classic farm scene only a couple of decades after Bethel reached the peak of its agricultural production. In front of the "English barn" at right, two…

Eber Clough birch and stave mill

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The Colonial period settlement of Bethel began with the construction in 1774 by Joseph Twitchell of both a sawmill and gristmill at the foot of Mill Hill (Route 5). Necessities in the founding of most New England towns, these mills were the first…

Bennett's Garage

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The twentieth century brought major developments to Bethel, beginning with the arrival of the first automobile in 1901. The popularity of the "horseless carriage" eventually transformed Bethel from a place of numerous shops where a wide range of…

Allen's depot at West Bethel

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The end of passenger and mail service on the Grand Trunk Railway in this region in 1960 caused the abandonment of many small stations along the line. The conversion to more efficient diesel locomotives also drastically reduced railroad employment…

Swift-Wiley Block and Charles Davis stage

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The Swift-Wiley Block on Main Street, with the Charles Davis stage in the foreground, circa 1896. Transporting "baggage, express, and mail matter," as well as passengers, this open coach (with canvas curtains that could be dropped during stormy…

Bethel railroad station

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The arrival of the Atlantic and St. Lawrence Railroad in Bethel took place on March 10, 1851. First proposed in 1844 by Andover native John Alfred Poor as a way of boosting Portland's dwindling mercantile trade and providing a winter link to the sea…

Bethel Hill-Mayville covered bridge

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To prepare the way for a permanent and dependable crossing over the broad and often unpredictable waters of the Androscoggin River, a toll bridge company was organized by town vote in 1861. It was not until 1869, however, that this huge three-span,…

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Bartlett/Bean Ferry

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A half-dozen primitive but picturesque river ferries positioned along a fifteen-mile stretch of the Androscoggin once provided safe transport for Bethel's citizens. Shown here is the Bartlett/Bean ferry, which operated (utilizing the waterway's…

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Bethel 1880 map

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Bethel's system of roads extended into every district of the town by the time this 1880 map was published in the Atlas of Oxford County, Maine. In 1843 a two-thousand acre area of Bethel (upper right hand corner of map) lying north of the…

Telstar Regional High School

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Gould Academy's transformation from the town's high school into a private boarding school in 1968 marked the end of a significant era in Bethel's history. That same fall, the newly completed "Telstar Regional High School" opened on a Route 26 site a…