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Belfast Area Chamber of Commerce
History:
The Belfast Area is rich in history dating back more than 200 years. In 1765, John Mitchell was making a voyage from Boston to points east and was captivated by the wilderness at the head of Penobscot Bay. He decided the area would be ideal for a settlement. Mitchell, a resident of Londonderry, New Hampshire along with 35 friends, decided to relocate to the area. Many of the founding fathers wanted to name this new settlement Londonderry, but a strong-willed settler, James Miller of Belfast, Ireland, made a protest and a coin was flipped. Belfast won.
The harbor and waterfront were the hub of commercial activity. The Belfast area had many active shipyards. Searsport alone, just to the north of Belfast, was home to eleven yards and to more shipmasters than any other town in America. Between 1810 and 1890, more than 200 ships slid down the ways in Searsport and in 1887 alone, more than 1,200 vessels arrived in local ports.
During this time of great prosperity, shipbuilders and merchants built beautiful Greek Revival, Colonial, and Vistorian mansions throughout the area.
Captains decorated spectacular mansions with treasures carried home from exotic lands. The Penobscot Marine Museum preserves our proud history in a charming village of eleven vintage buildings. Also during this period, the Belfast & Moosehead Lake Railroad was built.
Bustling Belfast carried the spirit of enterprise into the 20th century. Shipbuilding declined as road and rail travel improved. During the 1940's the area embraced the shoe business and two busy poultry processing plants were built. Waldo County took to chicken rearing in a big way as local farms supplied the factories with up to 200,000 birds a day.
As a new century began, the Belfast Area experienced yet another rebirth with the growth of credit-card giant MBNA, the building of a new technical college in Belfast and the arrival of a UMaine campus at the Hutchinson Center.
This is a just brief summary of the history of our area. We also invite you to visit the Belfast Museum, to try the two walking tours of downtown Belfast or to visit the Penobscot Marine Museum in Searsport for a more in-depth look at our past.
The Belfast Area is rich in history dating back more than 200 years. In 1765, John Mitchell was making a voyage from Boston to points east and was captivated by the wilderness at the head of Penobscot Bay. He decided the area would be ideal for a settlement. Mitchell, a resident of Londonderry, New Hampshire along with 35 friends, decided to relocate to the area. Many of the founding fathers wanted to name this new settlement Londonderry, but a strong-willed settler, James Miller of Belfast, Ireland, made a protest and a coin was flipped. Belfast won.
The harbor and waterfront were the hub of commercial activity. The Belfast area had many active shipyards. Searsport alone, just to the north of Belfast, was home to eleven yards and to more shipmasters than any other town in America. Between 1810 and 1890, more than 200 ships slid down the ways in Searsport and in 1887 alone, more than 1,200 vessels arrived in local ports.
During this time of great prosperity, shipbuilders and merchants built beautiful Greek Revival, Colonial, and Vistorian mansions throughout the area.
Captains decorated spectacular mansions with treasures carried home from exotic lands. The Penobscot Marine Museum preserves our proud history in a charming village of eleven vintage buildings. Also during this period, the Belfast & Moosehead Lake Railroad was built.
Bustling Belfast carried the spirit of enterprise into the 20th century. Shipbuilding declined as road and rail travel improved. During the 1940's the area embraced the shoe business and two busy poultry processing plants were built. Waldo County took to chicken rearing in a big way as local farms supplied the factories with up to 200,000 birds a day.
As a new century began, the Belfast Area experienced yet another rebirth with the growth of credit-card giant MBNA, the building of a new technical college in Belfast and the arrival of a UMaine campus at the Hutchinson Center.
This is a just brief summary of the history of our area. We also invite you to visit the Belfast Museum, to try the two walking tours of downtown Belfast or to visit the Penobscot Marine Museum in Searsport for a more in-depth look at our past.