OVERVIEW OF THE HISTORY OF EDGECOMB

Edgecomb was incorporated as a township on March 3, 1774 combining the Freetown Plantation, first settled by Samual Trask, Ebenezer Gove and Nathan Gove circa 1744-1749, and Jeremisquam Island. The island of Jeremysquam, now Westport Island, was set off in 1828.
 

TOWN GOVERNMENT

As was typical in bills incorporating new townships, the inhabitants of Edgecomb were instructed to meet and choose officers to manage the affairs of the town. As set out by the incorporation papers, the first recorded meeting for the town was on May 31, 1774 at the home of Nathan Gove, and freeholders and inhabitants were instructed to choose all such officers as would be necessary to manage the affairs of the town. Thus, the officers chosen at this first meeting (Selectmen, Constables, Wardens, Assessors, Tithingmen, Fence Viewers, among others), and the issues addressed in subsequent meetings during that year (such as the location and building of a meeting house, schools and animal pounds), provided the foundation for the form of government still used today. The first meeting house for the township, constructed 1791-93, continues to serve the community as its center of town government— the Edgecomb Town Hall.
 

SCHOOLS

A few years after Edgecomb was incorporated school districts were set up within the town with each district electing agents and officers responsible for running the schools within its area. By 1897 there were eight school districts in Edgecomb, each having one school building. Of these early school buildings a few survive—the District No. 1 “Eddy School” on Cross Point Road altered to a new use as the Eddy Apartments; the District No. 3 “City School” a part of the “Edgecomb Potters’” on Route 27, and the District No. 4 “Salt Marsh School” on River Road serving as a private dwelling.

CHURCHES
As new religious ideas appeared throughout New England through the late 18th century and 19th century, churches were constructed reflecting those changes. In 1801, the Baptist Society petitioned to incorporate into a religious society under the name of General Provision Baptist in Edgecomb and a church was constructed. Unfortunately this building was destroyed by fire in the circa 1870s. The “Free Will Baptist Church” constructed circa 1876 on Old County Road to replace the earlier structure still remains in an altered condition having lost its steeple. “The Methodist Chapel” built circa 1871 on what is now Route One, when not being used by the Methodist Society, was originally open for worship by the Baptist or Congregational Societies. That building is now used for commercial purposes. In 1882, the “Congregational Church” was constructed on Cross Point Road to replace Edgecomb’s traditional early Meeting House, then outmoded or outgrown in form and perhaps also in function.

Owen, “Early Settlers map, 1752,” pp. 2, 12-15, 21-22; ; Town of Edgecomb web site www.maine.gov/local/lincoln/edgecomb/.

Owen, pp. 29-30, 31, 38

  TOWN OF EDGECOMBHISTORIC RESOURCE SURVEY Reconnaissance level, Rose Marie Ballard Boak