The Union and Journal (Biddeford, Me.)
Historic newspapers carry the language, views and graphic reporting of their time, including racist content. They are shown to teen and adult profiles.
574 issues from 1860 to 1870, published in Biddeford, Maine, digitised for Chronicling America.
Between 1830 and 1880 the Industrial Revolution significantly impacted Southern Maine. Eleven textile mills operated along the banks of the Saco River, harnessing hydropower from its 45-foot waterfalls. Thousands of people relocated to work in the mill towns of Biddeford and Saco in 1840-55, causing enormous growth and prosperity. Multiple newspapers were created to provide news and advertising for the area’s prospering mercantile businesses.
During 1845 William Noyes began publishing the Union in Saco. Several other newspapers existed in Saco, with different political views. The Union however, favored the Whigs and their candidates. Editor Louis O. Cowan purchased the paper in 1848.
From 1852 to 1854, Daniel E. Somes published the Eastern Journal and Mercantile Advertiser in Biddeford, Maine. In August 1852, Editor John R. French, wrote a scathing editorial about the poor conditions at the county’s Alfred Jail. Within weeks, the newspaper was charged with libel for slandering the jailer. In September 1852, Somes changed the newspaper’s title to the Eastern Journal, adding the tagline “Help One Another.” Somes and French were exonerated at their trial in 1853. By the years’ end Somes sold his interest in the newspaper to Cowan. Somes later became Biddeford’s Mayor. Cowan merged the Eastern Journal with his own paper, the Union and began publishing the Union and Eastern Journal on February 3, 1854 in Biddeford. Cowan served as editor and proprietor of the four-page paper.…
- Genres
- News
- Published in
- Biddeford, Maine, United States
- Language
- English
- Collection
- Chronicling America
- Licence or status
- None stated by the archive
- Rights
- The Library of Congress believes that the newspapers in Chronicling America are in the public domain or have no known copyright restrictions. Newspapers published in the United States more than 95 years ago are in the public domain in their entirety.
- Credit
- Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers, Library of Congress and the National Endowment for the Humanities
- Who can read it
- Teens profiles and older (placed by Invisible Network from what the archive says; archives give no ratings)
- Archive
- Library of Congress