Bangor is a trade centre for eight counties, and is connected with their principal places. by steam or electric roads, or by water communica tion.
Banks, etc.—Bangor has three national banks, two savings banlcs, two trust and bank ing companies, two loan and building associa tions and two marine insurance companies. There are two daily papers and several weelcly and monthly publications. There is a Chamber of Commerce with attractive rooms at the city hall. The Kenduskeag, flowing through the centre of the city, is spanned by several bridges, and the city is connected with Brewer across the Penobscot by a bridge 1,300 feet long. A dam.across the Penobscot just above the city furrushes water supply and power, the city owning both its waterworks and municipal lighting plant. The assessed property valua tion of Bangor is $24,000,000.
Buildings, etc.— The city has a fine granite custom-house and post-office, the county court house which is a credit to the great county of Penobscot, of which Bangor is the shire town. Bangor's city hall— the Hersey memorial build ing— is an imposing edifice which reflecks credit upon the city. Bangor suffered a $4,000, 000 conflagration in 1911 but the city has wholly • recovered and the new buildings are modern and substantial structures. The Bangor public library is one of the foremost institu tions of its lcind. The Bangor Auditorium Association has erected the largest building of its kind in the State, and here each fall are held the eastern Maine musical festivals. The Eastern Maine General Hospital is one of the important institutions here and Bangor is also the home of the Bangor State Hospital for the Insane. The Bangor Theological Seminary is a time-honored institution of learning, and only nine miles away, in the town of Orono, is the University of Maine, the law school of which is located in Bangor.
Government— Bangor received a city char ter 12 Feb. 1834. The city seal is typical, the rising sun in the background illustrating the Sunnse State, and the spruce tree in the centre portraying the great lumber interests, while in the immediate foreground are gear wheel, anchor and plow, emblematic of manufactures, commerce and agriculture. The government is vested in a mayor, who is elected annually, and a council divided into two chambers. The city has seven wards, and one alderman and three councilmen are chosen annually from each ward, the city government comprising the mayor, seven aldermen and 21 councilmen. Most of the appointments and administration offices are subject to the control of the mayor and city council.
History.— Bangor's present site was in the early days the camping-ground of the Tarra tines, a famous tribe of Indians. It was in 1769 that Jacob Buswell, Bangor's first white settler, came here from Massachusetts. He was a hunter and boatbuilder, and established his home near the site of Saint John's Roman Catholic Church. The place was for a tinie known as
Kadesquit, afterward as Condeskeag, and later as Kenduskeag. The locality had been visited by the French as early as 1605, and was one of the many places identified with the mythical Norumbega. Kenduskeag plantation was only a small hamlet at the time of the Revolution and during the time when the British had con trol of the river the hardships were severe. At the instigation of Rev. Seth Noble, Bangor's first clergyman, the name of Kenduskeag w.as finally abandoned and Sunbury adopted. With the growth of the place the people became im patient of the plantation organization and dele gated Parson Noble to proceed to the General Court at Boston and secure an act of incorpora tion. Minister Noble was a great lover of music, and the hymn tune of Bangor was such a favorite with him that that name was substi tutell for Sunbury and the act incorporating the town of Bangor was passed 25 Feb. 1791.
Bangor early gave attention to the. matter of improving her transportation facilities, and she had her railroad when most of the proud cities of to-day lcnew nothing of such things. As early as 1836 her enterprising citizens built a railroad to Old Town, a dozen miles up the river, with a view of aiding the development of her natural resources; and this, one of the ear liest railroads in America, prospered for nearly a third of a century. Not only did the city have one of the first railroads in the country but the pioneer iron steamship constructed in America was built to run to this port and bore the name Bangor. She was built in 1845 on the Delaware, her owners being the Bangor Steam Navigation Company of Maine, and she was designed for passenger and freight service between Boston and Bangor. Within recent years, through the enterprise of some of Bangor's public-spirited men, Aroostook County has been brought into direct railroad commu nication with Bangor through the construction of the Bangor & Aroostook Railroad, this sys tem having numerous branches to important points in northern Maine, it having also ab sorbed the Bangor & Piscataquis Railroad. In recent years there has been no more important railroad enterprise inauguated in New England than that of the Bangor & Aroostook, and under its enterprising and progressive management it has become a potential factor in the develop ment of Bangor and the immense territory stretching to the northward. Bangor business men, ever alert to adopt the newest methods, inaugurated in this city the first electric rail road in Maine and more recently electric roads have been constructed reaching Hampden and South Brewer on the south and Old Town and Charleston on the north. These electric lines bring Bangor and the territory immediately con tiguous into close touch, and the benefits accru ing therefrom are far-reaching.