Norway Historical Society

05/31/2026

Don't forget - our 2026 programs start on June 9, in our meeting room. We understand Paul Cote has many great stories, in addition to his fabulous snowshoe collection. It should be an interesting program.

05/05/2026

You need to be aware that some fraudsters are attempting to separate you from your money, via our page.

They are advertising t-shirts, mugs and hoodies with our logo, (stolen from one of our photos), and attaching their ad as a comment to many of our posts. They take it a step further and tag everyone who has commented on that post. Just ignore it. We are deleting the posts and banning the twits when we find them. We are not selling anything on our page and apologize for the hassle.

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04/27/2026

We came across this in a batch of photos taken at the 1988 Norway High School Alumni Association Reunion. If you know, you know. Miss Klain was a member of the class of 1921. She was in her mid-eighties when this was taken and it looks like she still had it.

04/12/2026

If you are "of a certain age," you will remember the Norway Home Bakery. They occupied the store in the Opera House where The Woods Maine Shop is today. Dewey and Verna Thayer are making their early-morning batch of doughnuts, sometime in the 1950s. Photo by Jack Quinn and passed to us by the Paris Cape Historical Society.

Walking past the bakery smelled heavenly.

03/20/2026

Do you remember 1450 on your radio dial?

This is an ad from a 1957 local telephone directory.

02/20/2026

In anticipation of a fair amount of snow tonight and tomorrow morning, plus the necessary clean up, our museum will be closed tomorrow Feb. 21. We apologize for the last minute inconvenience.

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02/07/2026

EGG SALE TO BENEFIT BEN CONANT SCHOLARSHIP
For the 2026 semiquincentennial, the Paris Hill Commemorative Egg project will offer for sale four new wooden eggs, each depicting an historic building on Paris Hill. This year's fundraiser will benefit a scholarship fund in memory of the late Ben Conant, longtime curator of the Paris Cape Historical Society. This year is the last for the egg sales, and the other, previously-offered four eggs will also be available again, along with a stand with space to hold all eight eggs. Building illustrations are based on sketches by Paris Hill artist Peg Doore. The subjects are: the First Baptist Church of Paris, Maine; Hannibal Hamlin Birthplace; Oxford County Jail; Oxford County Courthouse; Oxford County Registry; Paris Hill Academy; the Jailor’s House and the Paris Hill Country Club (the latter four are the new ones).
The eggs are produced by Wells Wood Turning and Finishing in Buckfield. They are $10 each, while the stand is $20 (the original single stands are still available for $2 each). To purchase any of the items, contact Linda Richardson at [email protected] or Speedway Inc. Help us raise funds to honor Ben and help an Oxford Hills senior with further education!
(We will post closeup photos of individual eggs over the next month to show more detail.)

02/02/2026

In June 1908, the Gladys Klark Co. had a three-night engagement at the Norway Opera House to perform the play “A Parisian Princess.” Ms. Klark had the lead role and was described as a “charming actress.” Apparently, she wore four different gowns in the play and “the gowns are much talked about and admired by the ladies in every town the company visits.”

Between the acts of the play, “high class specialties” were presented, including this fellow in the newspaper photograph. He was “Karland, the hand-cuff expert, who escapes from all kinds of hand-cuffs, shackles, boxes, paper bags and mail pouches, and dives from bridges while hand-cuffed and shackled.” It was promised that Karland would present some of his most difficult tricks, including escape from a United States mail pouch, on opening night. Seats for the program were the usual 35 cents.

01/17/2026

We apologize for the short notice, but our museum will be closed today. See you next week.

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12/31/2025

One more charming 1909 postcard. Interesting that the little girl has two champagne bottles and only one slipper.

Happy New Year to all.