Talbot presented a resolution asking the county senators and representatives to use all honorable means in their power to induce favorable action toward thepassage of the Normal School Act. A special town meeting was planned for an early date.Īt that meeting (January 27, 1909), Edward E.

At this meeting in the selectmen’s office, William C. Leading citizens in Machias met January 20, 1909, which was early in the session of Legislature, to consider possibilities for getting a normal school here. Payson Smith, the State Superintendent of Common Schools, was strongly in favor of a normal school for Washington County and the logical location was in Machias, but others prominent in the school department were not in approval. Such a start is common with most worthwhile projects. The opening of the normal school on the hill followed much controversy and discussion. Payson Smith, the State Superintendent of Common Schools, and the citizens of Machias worked untiringly to realize their dream of such a school in Machias. Other areas, particularly Skowhegan, were rivals for the new normal school. The concept of a state normal school to be located in Machias met with controversy. Its history is a record of a committed people: faculty, administrators, students, citizens of Machias, of Washington County, of the State of Maine and other supporters, whose compelling sense of purpose and direction have enriched the lives of citizens of eastern Maine and far beyond. The University of Maine at Machias, the easternmost college in the United States, had its beginnings as Washington State Normal School.

SUBJECT: HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MAINE AT MACHIAS SECTION I Section I – History of the University of Maine at Machias

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