Plaque 1: Dr. Charles C. Knowlton School and Factory

  • Knowlton Park was named after Dr. Charles C. Knowlton, M.D. He was among the leading practicing physicians of Ellsworth and Hancock County since 1903.

  • This plot of land was once the location of the Cole Shoe Factory. Owned by B.E. Cole and Co of Boston Massachusetts and built in 1889. (Ellsworth Enterprise article around 1900)

  • The factory measured 165 feet in length and 50 feet in width. The cutting and stitching rooms were on the third floor, the “bottoming” room was on the second floor, the sole leather room and the treeing, dressing room and offices on the first floor.

  • The Cole Shoe factory produced 125 dozen pairs of shoes in a day.

  • On the night of March 8, 1957, the mill was destroyed by fire.

  • The destruction of the factory opened up an area for Ellsworth’s first modern grammar school  “Knowlton Elementary School” opened in 1961 and was designed by Nicholas Holt of the firm Krumbhaar & Holt.

  • Holt served in U.S. Army Intelligence under General MacArthur in Japan 1946 -1947.

  • The Knowlton School opened in 1961, it closed in 2008, and it was torn down in 2011.

Plaque 2: General Bryant E. Moore

  • Born on June 6, 1894 in Ellsworth, Maine. 

  • In 1917, he graduated from The US Military Academy (West Point). 

  • During WWII, Moore served in the Pacific at Guadalcanal. 

  • General Moore received the Distinguished Service Medal and was promoted to Brigadier General in 1943 for his service in the Pacific.

  • In 1945, he was awarded an Oak Leaf Cluster and promoted to Major General for his success at Antwerp and on the Siegfried Line.

  • After more military service overseas, Moore returned home in 1948.  He was appointed Superintendent of USMA (West Point) in 1949.  In 1951, when the Korean War broke out, Moore was called to service. Shortly after his arrival and during a reconnaissance mission, his helicopter crashed into the Han River. After returning to his quarters, General Moore died shortly thereafter. 

  • He is buried at West Point.

Source:  John L. Moore

Plaque 3:  County Court House and Jail

  • In 1885 a Court House and County Jail were built on the lot that was Judge Peters field.

  • The Court House and Jail were designed by Portland Architect Frances Fassett.

  • Fassett was known for working in high gothic and Queen Ann styles.   

  • In Jan of 1886 Sherriff Dorephus Fields moved into the Sherriff’s Home and Jail with his family, which it was written in the Ellsworth American at that time

  • “The new jail house is a substantial brick building two stories in height containing eleven finished rooms, heated by steam, and we should say is very convenient throughout. The jail itself in most through construction and is well aided to the use of a county prison.  It contains 16 cells, 12 of which are for criminals and four for poor debtors.  This structure is one of massive masonry and strong fastenings and we predict that those who become its inmates with not be likely to break jail.”      

  • The Courthouse was also built at this time for the sum of $100,000.00 featuring fire proof rooms.

  • The imposing structure was destroyed by fire in 1930, said to have started in the attic or near the back of the wall in the courtroom or small jury room. 

  • The Courthouse housed a law library declared one of the finest this side of the Penobscot river.

  • Two men were killed when the belfry tower, made of brick, fell and claimed the lives of Lester Salisbury and Raymond L Peavey.   

  • The Courthouse fire resulted in loss of town records, with a few miraculous exceptions. The registry of Deeds had just been housed there in a fire proof room and included records from Waldo, Penobscot and Hancock County.

  • Saved also were most of the records from the clerk of courts in the fireproof room, but much was damaged from water and debris.

  • Destroyed completely was the “finest Law library east of Portland” valued at $25,000.00.

  • The current courthouse was built after the fire and in an art deco theme, on the foundation remains of the 1885 Court house, some of the exterior rear walls are still the same, and the tile floors still remain in some of the rooms, as well as the fireproof doors. 

Plaque 4: Public Library and Peter’s Block

Public Library (former Tisdale House)

Constructed in the Federalist style in 1817 by Colonel Melatiah Jordan for his son Benjamin.  Judge Joshua Hathaway later purchased the property, followed by Seth Tisdale, for whom the property is named.  In 1897, George Nixon Black renovated and donated the building to the City of Ellsworth to be used as a library. The addition was built in 1991.

Peters Block

Named for Andrew Peters it is actually six buildings.  Five built in 1837 by Andrew Peters, John Hubbard, Thomas Robinson, John Jarvis and James Whiting.  Building six built some years later by Seth Tisdale and located closest to the Tisdale House was ravaged by fire in January 1907 destroying the third floor, which was not replaced. 

  • The series of connected three story brick buildings were built in 1834 during the years that Ellsworth was growing as a port for shipping lumber. 

  • Early businesses located in the “Peters Block” included mercantile stores, a newspaper office and a bank.  A sixth structure added later, housed the Esoteric Lodge.

  • There are five distinct buildings, each having a different owner and builder.  Andrew Peters owned the corner building.

  • Both structures survived the 1923 flood and the 1933 fire.

Plaque 5: City Hall and the First Congregational Church

  • Ellsworth City Hall was built in 1934-35 after a devastating fire destroyed the old seat of government and half the business district.

  • The buildings design reflects more of architect Edmund Gilchrist’s experience with historic Georgian structures in his home city of Philadelphia than of rural Maine.

  • The building was listed on the National Resister of Historic Places in 1986.

  • The Ellsworth Congregational Church was dedicated in 1846.

  • It was designed and built by master builder Thomas Lord of Blue Hill Maine on land that was originally purchased by Colonel Meletiah Jordan in 1783.

  • The Greek Revival church standing today is the second church built by Congregationalists of Ellsworth, who are now affiliated with the United Church of Christ. (Wikipedia).

  • The City Hall pediment is hand-carved wooden depiction of the State of Maine seal was installed in 1935.  The artist is not known.

  • The seal is 18’ long and in 13 pieces.

  • The seal was designed by Edmund B. Gilchrist Jr., the architect of the City Hall.

  • It was extensively restored, including fresh gold leaf, in 1999.