The 38 Star Flag .    1877 - 1890 This July 5th we are finally saluting a new flag, having watched the 37 Star flag wave for the past ten years. The 38th star is for the admission of Colorado to the Union on August 1 of last year. Unfortunately for flag makers, it will be another 13 years before we get any more stars. Fortunately for us, there will be a lot of momentous events and great advances take place. To explore them, scroll down.

Modern Note (April 2002): The Franklin Vetrans Club has possession of an actual 38 Star Flag. They are in the process of having it framed for display in the club and we will provide a suitable image as soon as possible.

  

and in the State of Maine           or in Franklin    

In 1877 - 1890 in the United States and the world:

1878	1879	1880	1881	1882
1883	1884	1885	1886	1887
	1888	1889	1890

•   Presidents were:
•   Rutherford B. Hayes , 1877-1881
•   James A. Garfield , 1881
•   Chester A. Arthur , 1881-1885
•   Grover Cleveland , 1885-1889
•   Benjamin Harrison , 1889-1893

•   1878

• Cleopatra's Needle(s) goes/go on a trip. To where ?
• Ellen Terry plays the Lyceum.
• The Turks make peace with Russia, but go to war with Greece.
• HMS Pinafore gets underway.
• David Hughes invents the microphone.
• We have a new silver dollar.   Click on coin to learn more.
  

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•   1879

• The first frozen meat from Australia goes on sale in London.
• The Tay Bridge collapses.
• Ferdinand de Lesseps starts instigating the Panama Canal.
• Albert Einstein is born.

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•  1880

• Lew Wallace writes "Ben Hur". Read the book ! See the movie !
• The popular Italian game "Tombola" debuts with a new name .  
• The word " boycott " makes its way into the dictionary.
• The electric light is invented, but by whom ?
• The first canned fruits and meats appear in stores.
• New York gets electric street lights . But was it the first city in the U. S. to have them?
• Helen Keller is born.
• France annexes Tahiti.
• Rodin sculpts " The Thinker ".
• J. C. Harris concocts " Uncle Remus ".
• The Cathedral of Cologne is completed only 632 years after work was started.
  

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•   1881

• President Garfield is shot and later dies.
• The Canadian Pacific Railway Company is founded.
• Booker T. Washington founds the Tuskegee Institute .
• Flogging is abolished as punishment in the Royal Navy .
  

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•   1882

• Tchaikovsky composes a wonderful piece , later to be used in unforgettable advertising of this .
• Wagner writes " Parsifal ".
• FDR is born.
• Arrgh, Matey! This bloody bloke writes about Long John Silver ! Arrgh!
• Cezanne paints himself.
• Edison's first hydroelectric plant starts operating in this town .
• Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow die. As one can see, it was fashionable at the time to go by complete monikers - "My name is Bond, James Waldo Horatio Badcock Bond".
  

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•   1883

• Karl Marx dies. "My name is Marx, Karl Vogelgesang Kaufmann Marx".
• Wagner dies.
• The Metropolitan Opera House in New York is opened.
• The Orient Express makes it's first run.
• The Brooklyn Bridge is opened to traffic.
• W. F. Cody organizes his Wild West Show.
• Matthew Webb , first person to swim the English Channel, dies tragically in his attempt to become a daredevil of Niagara Falls .
• The Liberty Head Nickel is introduced - in two versions!
  

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•   1884

• Mark Twain writes " Huckleberry Finn ".
• Sir Charles Parsons invents the first practical steam turbine engine , used to power ships.
• Mechnikov writes "Theory of Phagocytes".
  

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•   1885

• General Gordon is killed at Khartoum.
• Fighting to the end, U. S. Grant dies and is buried where ?
• Van Gogh paints " The Potato Eaters ". Ummm. This is supposed to be some kind of milestone in art history.
• Golf comes to America.
• Pasteur devises a vaccine for rabies .
• Karl Benz build a single cylinder engine for a motor car.
• Anna Pavlova is born.
• Victor Hugo dies.
• Sir Francis Galton gets his fingers dirty.
  

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•   1886

• Mad King Ludwig II of Bavaria dies, somewhat suspiciously.
• Robert Lewis Stevenson writes " Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde ".
• The Eighth and last Impressionist Exhibition is held in Paris, sponsored by Lenscrafters.
• The Statue of Liberty is dedicated.
• Auguste Mustel invents a new type of idiophone , the celesta - the whaaat?
• Hydroelectric installations are begun at Niagara Falls .
• Aluminum is produced for the first time.
  

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•   1887
  

• L. L. Zamenhof devises Esperanto . Warning - all E-mail sent to the webmaster in Esperanto will be ignored.
• Phenacetin is discovered.
• Jim Thorpe is born.
• In London, a detective makes his first appearance: Click on image.
  

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• 1888

• Tesla invents it , Westinghouse manufactures it .
• Jack the Ripper carves up five, maybe more, women in London.
• Spa, Belgium hosts the first beauty contest.
• Israel Baline is born. Who????
• Dunlop invents the pneumatic tire.
• George Eastman perfects the box camera.

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• 1889

• Archduke Rudolph, Crown Price of Austria, commits suicide .
• Adolph Hitler is born.
• A "useless and monstrous" structure is built for the Paris World Exhibition.
• Mark Twain writes " A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court ".
• Robert Browning dies.
• The French Panama Canal Company declares bankruptcy.
• Frederick Abel invents cordite.

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• 1890

• Charles DeGaulle and Dwight Eisenhower are born.
• First moving picture film is shown in New York.
• There are flu epidemics globally.
• The Daughters of the American Revolution is founded.
• The Forth (not fourth) Bridge is opened.
• Sparked by the debate over the merits of AC versus DC electricity, Buffalo dentist A. P. Southwick has a capital idea .
  

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• Governors are:
• Seldon Connor , 1876-1879
• Alonzo Garcelon , 1879-1880
• Daniel Franklin Davis , 1880-1881
• Harris Merrill Plaisted , 1881-1883
• Frederick Robie , 1883-1887
• Joseph Robinson Bodwell , 1887
• Sebastian Streeter Marble , 1887-1888
• Edwin Chick Burleigh , 1888-1893

• 1880
• Le Messager newspaper is founded in Lewiston.
• Once again the heroism of Joshua L. Chamberlain shines bright as he single-handedly prevents Maine state civil war. Read all about it !
• 1882
• The Knights of Labor become active in Maine.
• Mainer Hiram Maxim invents the machine gun - celebrated each year during this festival in Dover-Foxcroft.
• 1884
• In the Presidential Election , Maine's James G. Blaine loses to Grover Cleveland.
• Bath Iron Works is founded.
• 1887
• A new Maine law makes the maximum legal work day ten hours.
• Capital punishment is abolished in Maine.
  

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And in the Town of Franklin:

•  Selectmen during this period were: Click Here .  

• 1878 - Belle Wooster , a bark of 456 tons and the last square rigger to be built in Franklin is launched.
• 1879 - Maid of the Mist, 15 ton schooner is launched.
  
• 1880 - The population of Franklin is 1,102. (1,370 in 2002) 
• 1881 - Hesperus, built in Franklin in 1864, is driven aground under the command of Captain George A. Thorn of Sullivan - a total loss. As far as we can tell, no one was lashed to the mast. See 1864 for more.
• 1882 - Annie E. Rickerson, 238 ton schooner is launched.
• 1883 - Our school budget is over $2,000 and we have 415 students.
• 1886 - Raucous Saturday night dances at the New New Town Hall threaten the foundation.
• 1887 - Heavy spring rains collapse the dam at the outlet of Donnell Pond. The resulting flood down Card's Mill Stream destroys the bridge at Hog Bay in East Franklin. There is talk that it may have been an act of man vice an act of God.  A new bridge is built for $300.
• 1890 - Carolyn C. Foss, 362 ton schooner is launched.