Highlighting Historical Hampden

Text by Karyn Field

The Penobscot River was very important to Hampden during the 18th and 19th centuries, providing resources and jobs. The schooner Dispatch, built in 1793, is recorded as the first ship built in one of Hampden’s four shipyards. There are records of many ships built between 1793 and 1872, when the completion of the schooner Isabel marked the end of Hampden’s shipbuilding days, except for a brief period at the beginning of World War I when Hampden’s shipbuilders were pressed into service to build the four mast schooner Katherine May. The Boston & Bangor Steamboat Company (1834-1935) serviced a steamboat wharf in Hampden and carried passengers and freight from town to town along the Penobscot, and made trips to Boston when necessary. When the river froze and shipping halted, the ice was harvested by a Hampden company, Dirigo Ice Company, and shipped to cities in the south to help aid in refrigeration.

Although travel on the Penobscot River remained important to Hampden, an alternative means of transportation became available in 1897. That was the year the Bangor, Hampden & Winterport Electric Railway made its maiden run down the twelve mile stretch of track from Bangor to Hampden. The Railway Company also leased ten acres of land in Hampden and operated Riverside Park, a rustic amusement park built on the banks high above the Penobscot. A round trip ticket to the park, from the Main Road just over 2 tenths of a mile, cost 10 cents and included free admission.