Lincoln, Maine

Responses from four students in Mrs. Harris' Social Studies class can be viewed below:

Reilly Berg
"Research your topic and summarize the ‘who, what, when, and where’ in the form of a few paragraphs"

The Lincoln House Hotel was beginning to be built in the 1820s on the East side of upper Main Street just before Lee street, and opened in 1858. When the hotel was finished, they built stables for the horses so the horses wouldn’t have to stay in the cold. The Lincoln House was four stories; two were made of bricks, and the other two were made of wood. During the time it was open, the hotel was a popular place for weddings.

In 1874, John H. Murray’s Great Railroad Circus came to Lincoln. In total there were 71 actors, and they all stayed at the hotel. By 1891, the Lincoln House had 50 rooms. Also, by the time it was 100 years old, it had been sold 21 times. The owners were William P. Leighton, Peleg T. Jones, H.G. Coburn, the Libby brothers, H.H. Fiske, the Woods brothers, Samuel H. Clay, Hiram Burr, and Albert G. Hunt. It was considered one of the best hotels in Maine. On March 9th, 1958 the building was torn down, and a modern restaurant took its place.

Austin Nantkes
"Create a statement and prove or disprove it with evidence from your research"

Statement: Without the Lincoln House Hotel, Lincoln would not be as big as it is.

With my research, I found out the Lincoln House Hotel was considered one of best hotels in Maine. It allowed people to stay a while in Lincoln to try to get to know the complete Lincoln. Ulysses S. Grant, the 18th president of the United States, has been to Lincoln and he stayed at the Lincoln House Hotel, according to rumor.

The Lincoln House Hotel was built in the 1820s, but it was demolished on March 9th, 1958. It had a stable for travelers, horses, and carriages. In the 1900s, two new stories of wood and two new stories of bricks were constructed to house more visitors to stay. People from all over Maine would sometimes get married at The Lincoln House Hotel. I think that people might move to Lincoln because of the good hospitality they received from the Lincoln House Hotel.

Kelly Niles
"Describe your feelings, or the feelings of someone living at that time when a certain event happened"

Monday, July 27, 1874

Hi my name is Lucy, and I work at the Lincoln House Hotel. I do the same thing every day. I only have a few breaks in my day. I wash blankets and sheets, clean bathrooms, sweep, and also clean the guests' rooms. Then I have lunch break and dinner break. I don’t start work until 9 in the morning. I get paid monthly; it’s just enough for me to pay my rent here. I normally move around until I feel settled. I just moved here to Lincoln about two months ago and I got my job in my second day when I was here. I got a hotel room and I got the job because I like having things clean and neat. When it’s not, I start cleaning. Just today, I heard that there will be new guests that I haven’t even heard of. I am so excited, I just can’t go to sleep.

Tuesday, July 28, 1874

I am so excited, I started my shift early. Around 12 in the afternoon the new guests came. They were different. I had never seen anyone like that before. There were men and some women of all sizes! Some were only 3 feet tall and some were over 7 feet tall! The manager introduced us. It was a pleasure meeting those guys. I told them that I will be cleaning their rooms and getting what they need. They told me that they were part of the circus. There were 71 people total. Some people did not have rooms assigned. I think that some people shared rooms. I was busy with the cleaning while they were here. Somedays I would even have to have to do the dishes. I had fun and I became friends with some of them. I ended up going to the circus. It was amazing. I had an exciting time at the hotel with the circus crew here.

Works Cited

"Lincoln House Hotel." The Buildings & Businesses & Streets Of Lincoln, Past & Present. Vol. 1. Lincoln: Lincoln Historical Society, 2006. 43-55. Print.

"Lincoln House."The Mattanawcook Observer. Vol. 1. Lincoln: Alan H. Hawkins, 1982. 47-57. Print. Ser. 2.

"Lincoln House Hotel." Welcome to Lincoln Maine. Rand Advertising. Web. 13 Apr. 2010. http://www.lincolnmaine.us/new_history/history_lincolnhouse.html