This is part one of the story of two of Millinocket’s pioneer ladies…both named Emma. Emma LePage came to what would become Millinocket with her husband Frank about 1898, three years before the town was incorporated. There was one street and a small settlement on Shack Hill.
Interviewed for an article in the Katahdin Journal in 1971 (Emma was 92), she told of her husband’s and her stubbornness and determination to remain and succeed in the place that had more “trees than people.” Her husband Frank didn’t come to work in the mill, he was barber. He built a barber shop beside the Penobscot Hotel/Boarding House. Emma and Frank lived above the barber shop.
Emma told the Katahdin Journal reporter, “My greatest fear was the lack of police protection. Lack did I say, there was no police protection at that time. The mill was under construction at that time, and the men who were here building it were plenty rough. I was downright afraid to be without protection especially when my husband would go to Bangor on business which he frequently did. So, there was nothing for me to do but insist that Frank buy me a revolver. If I heard anyone trying to get into the house when Frank was away, I’d just open up a window and fire a few shots over their heads! That always seemed to put them on the run.”
Amenities were few in those early years. Penobscot Avenue and Katahdin Avenue were the first streets. Penobscot Avenue only had buildings on one side of the street at first. Emma describes the other side as “swamp land.” They had to carry all their water from a hand pump located in the area where the park and bandstand would later be placed. Emma stated she didn’t have to carry the water in herself. Frank hired a man to do that chore.
In those early days, the only transportation out of town was the railroad. “We would hop aboard a train by 11:00 AM in the morning and be in Bangor by noon!” Emma’s husband Frank bought one of the first three automobiles owned in town.
Emma was a wife, a mother, was active in community affairs and enjoyed fishing at Smith Pond with other local ladies. At some point, the LePage’s built a home on Maine Avenue. That street became a popular place for local businessmen and others to have a home.
The news article ends with the quote from Emma LePage, “I was stubborn and I stayed. I raised my eight children here and I’ll be here til the end, Millinocket is my home!”
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