Percival P. Baxter
Encyclopedia
Percival Proctor Baxter (November 22, 1876 – June 12, 1969) was the 53rd Governor
of the U.S. state
of Maine
who served from 1921 to 1925.
where his father James Phinney Baxter
served six terms as mayor and had made his fortune in the canning industry. He graduated from Portland High School
in 1894, Bowdoin College
in 1898. While at Bowdoin, Baxter founded the school's literary magazine, The Quill
. He later earned a law degree from Harvard University
in 1901. He went into the family real estate business in Portland. He had seven siblings. However he was to inherit the bulk of the family fortune.
When Baxter was governor he donated a large parcel of forest land to the people of Maine, which became Baxter State Park
. He said "Man is born to die. His works are short-lived. Buildings crumble, monuments decay, and wealth vanishes, but Katahdin in all it's glory forever shall remain the mountain of the people of Maine."
Baxter was also a fierce opponent of the Ku Klux Klan of Maine
, which supported the career of his political nemesis and successor Owen Brewster
.
, which bears his name, and with Mount Katahdin
, Maine's highest point (the highest knob on Katahdin is called Baxter Peak).
In 1903 Baxter went on a fishing trip to the area around Katahdin for the first time. In 1895 the Maine Proprietors Association had urged the state to turn that area of the Maine woods into a state park to attract tourists. In 1911 a bill was introduced to turn the region into a U.S. National Park but none of the plans came to fruition.
In 1916 Baxter began his campaign to make the area a state park. In 1920 he led a group of politicians up Pamola
Peak, traversing the Knife Edge to the summit (now known as Baxter Peak).
In a 1921 speech Baxter said: "Maine is famous for its twenty-five hundred miles of seacoast, with its countless islands; for its myriad lakes and ponds; and for its forests and rivers. But Mount Katahdin Park will be the state’s crowning glory, a worthy memorial to commemorate the end of the first and the beginning of the second century of Maine’s statehood. This park will prove a blessing to those who follow us, and they will see that we built for them more wisely than our forefathers did for us."
Most of the land around Katahdin was then owned by the Great Northern Paper Company. Following the Crash of 1929, the company agreed to sell 6000 acres (24.3 km²) around the mountain for $25,000 in 1930 to Baxter personally. Baxter in turn deeded the land to the state with the proviso that it: ". . . shall forever be used for public park and recreational purposes, shall be forever left in the natural wild state, shall forever be kept as a sanctuary for wild beasts and birds, that no road or ways for motor vehicles shall hereafter ever be constructed thereon or therein."
The park was named in his honor in 1931.
Baxter was to continue to attempt to add property to the park often running into opposition from those who did not want to sell or making temporary trade offs to allow continued timber operations before the land acquisition was completed. Baxter, saying he did not trust the federal government, resisted efforts to turn the park into a national park. He placed various restrictive covenants on the park so that today it is not actually part of the Maine government body that administers the state's other parks. Rather it is administered by the Baxter State Park Authority.
In 1962 Baxter, at the age of 87, donated his 28th deed. The park now comprises 314 square miles (813.3 km²). Baxter, who died a bachelor, left $7 million to maintain the park.
as a force in Maine and national politics. Although Baxter was an ardent foe of the Klan, it found a foothold in the Maine Republican Party
through the influence of state senators Owen Brewster
, Mark Alton Barwise
, Hodgdon Buzzell, and others, who sponsored bills in the early 1920s which would have cut aid to parochial (Catholic) schools, thus creating a 'wedge issue' between Maine's protestant and catholic communities. Brewster succeeded Baxter as governor in 1925 and, with the help of the Klan and Maine State Senate president Buzzell, sabotaged Baxter's candidacy for the U.S. Senate in 1926. In 1928, when Brewster made his own run for the U.S. Senate, Baxter publicly denounced him as a member of the Klan, helping to ensure the victory of incumbent U.S. Senator Frederick Hale
.
, where the Democratic candidate for President, William Jennings Bryan
, was schedule to speak. Baxter and his crew were so raucous that they were arrested. Although the Baxter's confederates pled guilty, the future Governor fought the charges with the help of his father, Portland Mayor James Phinney Baxter
, and managed to have his record expunged.
In 1953 Baxter donated Mackworth Island
to the state. He also deeded his summer home in Falmouth, Maine
to create the Governor Baxter School for the Deaf (founded in 1957 from what was the Maine School for the Deaf), which still operates today.
Baxter was known for his passionate devotion to animals, and for his commitment to the humane treatment of animals. When his dog, Garry, died while Baxter was governor, he ordered the flag at the State House lowered to half staff, which angered some veterans' groups. Baxter belonged to several humane societies across the country, one of which, the New England Anti-Vivisection Society, called him "America's greatest humane governor."
Baxter died in Portland, and his ashes are scattered in the park.
Governor of Maine
The governor of Maine is the chief executive of the State of Maine. Before Maine was admitted to the Union in 1820, Maine was part of Massachusetts and the governor of Massachusetts was chief executive....
of the U.S. state
U.S. state
A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...
of Maine
Maine
Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...
who served from 1921 to 1925.
Early life
Baxter was born into a wealthy family in Portland, MainePortland, Maine
Portland is the largest city in Maine and is the county seat of Cumberland County. The 2010 city population was 66,194, growing 3 percent since the census of 2000...
where his father James Phinney Baxter
James Phinney Baxter
James Phinney Baxter was an American businessman, historian, civic leader, and benefactor of Portland, Maine.His personal library, containing over 100 leather-bound books of maps, portraits, engravings and personal letters, is available for reference at the Portland Public Library.- Biography...
served six terms as mayor and had made his fortune in the canning industry. He graduated from Portland High School
Portland High School, Portland, Maine
Portland High School is a public high school in Portland, Maine which educates grades 9–12. The school is part of the Portland Public Schools district....
in 1894, Bowdoin College
Bowdoin College
Bowdoin College , founded in 1794, is an elite private liberal arts college located in the coastal Maine town of Brunswick, Maine. As of 2011, U.S. News and World Report ranks Bowdoin 6th among liberal arts colleges in the United States. At times, it was ranked as high as 4th in the country. It is...
in 1898. While at Bowdoin, Baxter founded the school's literary magazine, The Quill
The Quill (Bowdoin)
The Quill is Bowdoin College's oldest and only literary magazine. It is the second oldest continuously functioning club on the Bowdoin campus, second only to the Bowdoin Orient.-History:...
. He later earned a law degree from Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
in 1901. He went into the family real estate business in Portland. He had seven siblings. However he was to inherit the bulk of the family fortune.
When Baxter was governor he donated a large parcel of forest land to the people of Maine, which became Baxter State Park
Baxter State Park
Baxter State Park is a large wilderness area permanently preserved as a state park, located in Piscataquis County in north-central Maine. The Park was established by 28 donations of land, in Trust, from Park donor Percival P. Baxter between the years of 1931 and 1962, eventually creating a Park of...
. He said "Man is born to die. His works are short-lived. Buildings crumble, monuments decay, and wealth vanishes, but Katahdin in all it's glory forever shall remain the mountain of the people of Maine."
Baxter was also a fierce opponent of the Ku Klux Klan of Maine
Ku Klux Klan in Maine
Although the Ku Klux Klan is popularly associated with white supremacy, the revived Klan of the 1920s was also anti-Catholic. In the State of Maine, with a negligible African-American population but a burgeoning number of French-Canadian and Irish immigrants, the Klan revival of the 1920s was...
, which supported the career of his political nemesis and successor Owen Brewster
Owen Brewster
Ralph Owen Brewster was an American politician from Maine. Brewster, a Republican, was solidly conservative...
.
Elective history
- Maine State Senate - 1909-1910
- Maine House of RepresentativesMaine House of RepresentativesThe Maine House of Representatives is the lower house of the Maine Legislature. The House consists of 151 members representing an equal amount of districts across the state. Each voting member of the House represents around 8,450 citizens of the state...
- 1916-1919 - Maine State Senate - 1919-1921 (President in Pro-Tempe in 1921)
- Governor of MaineGovernor of MaineThe governor of Maine is the chief executive of the State of Maine. Before Maine was admitted to the Union in 1820, Maine was part of Massachusetts and the governor of Massachusetts was chief executive....
- 1921-1924 (succeeded upon death of Governor Frederic H. ParkhurstFrederic H. ParkhurstFrederic Hale Parkhurst is a former Maine Republican politician.Parkhurst ran for governor in 1920 and won the general election with 65% of the Maine citizens votes...
and then elected to one term - Unsuccessful run for U.S. Senate - 1926
Baxter State Park
Baxter's history is intertwined with Baxter State ParkBaxter State Park
Baxter State Park is a large wilderness area permanently preserved as a state park, located in Piscataquis County in north-central Maine. The Park was established by 28 donations of land, in Trust, from Park donor Percival P. Baxter between the years of 1931 and 1962, eventually creating a Park of...
, which bears his name, and with Mount Katahdin
Mount Katahdin
Mount Katahdin is the highest mountain in Maine at . Named Katahdin by the Penobscot Indians, the term means "The Greatest Mountain". Katahdin is the centerpiece of Baxter State Park: a steep, tall mountain formed from underground magma. The flora and fauna on the mountain are typical of those...
, Maine's highest point (the highest knob on Katahdin is called Baxter Peak).
In 1903 Baxter went on a fishing trip to the area around Katahdin for the first time. In 1895 the Maine Proprietors Association had urged the state to turn that area of the Maine woods into a state park to attract tourists. In 1911 a bill was introduced to turn the region into a U.S. National Park but none of the plans came to fruition.
In 1916 Baxter began his campaign to make the area a state park. In 1920 he led a group of politicians up Pamola
Pamola
Pamola is a legendary bird spirit that appears in Abenaki mythology. This spirit causes cold weather....
Peak, traversing the Knife Edge to the summit (now known as Baxter Peak).
In a 1921 speech Baxter said: "Maine is famous for its twenty-five hundred miles of seacoast, with its countless islands; for its myriad lakes and ponds; and for its forests and rivers. But Mount Katahdin Park will be the state’s crowning glory, a worthy memorial to commemorate the end of the first and the beginning of the second century of Maine’s statehood. This park will prove a blessing to those who follow us, and they will see that we built for them more wisely than our forefathers did for us."
Most of the land around Katahdin was then owned by the Great Northern Paper Company. Following the Crash of 1929, the company agreed to sell 6000 acres (24.3 km²) around the mountain for $25,000 in 1930 to Baxter personally. Baxter in turn deeded the land to the state with the proviso that it: ". . . shall forever be used for public park and recreational purposes, shall be forever left in the natural wild state, shall forever be kept as a sanctuary for wild beasts and birds, that no road or ways for motor vehicles shall hereafter ever be constructed thereon or therein."
The park was named in his honor in 1931.
Baxter was to continue to attempt to add property to the park often running into opposition from those who did not want to sell or making temporary trade offs to allow continued timber operations before the land acquisition was completed. Baxter, saying he did not trust the federal government, resisted efforts to turn the park into a national park. He placed various restrictive covenants on the park so that today it is not actually part of the Maine government body that administers the state's other parks. Rather it is administered by the Baxter State Park Authority.
In 1962 Baxter, at the age of 87, donated his 28th deed. The park now comprises 314 square miles (813.3 km²). Baxter, who died a bachelor, left $7 million to maintain the park.
Anti-Klan Republican
Baxter's term as Governor coincided with the rise of the Ku Klux KlanKu Klux Klan
Ku Klux Klan, often abbreviated KKK and informally known as the Klan, is the name of three distinct past and present far-right organizations in the United States, which have advocated extremist reactionary currents such as white supremacy, white nationalism, and anti-immigration, historically...
as a force in Maine and national politics. Although Baxter was an ardent foe of the Klan, it found a foothold in the Maine Republican Party
Maine Republican Party
The Maine Republican Party is the affiliate of the United States Republican Party in Maine. It was founded in Strong, Maine on August 7, 1854. The state Chairman is Charles M. Webster....
through the influence of state senators Owen Brewster
Owen Brewster
Ralph Owen Brewster was an American politician from Maine. Brewster, a Republican, was solidly conservative...
, Mark Alton Barwise
Mark Alton Barwise
Mark Alton Barwise was the only publicly practicing member of the Spiritualist religion known to have been elected to a state office in the United States. Born in Chester, Maine of a medianistic mother, Barwise became an attorney and nationally-prominent member of the National Spiritualist...
, Hodgdon Buzzell, and others, who sponsored bills in the early 1920s which would have cut aid to parochial (Catholic) schools, thus creating a 'wedge issue' between Maine's protestant and catholic communities. Brewster succeeded Baxter as governor in 1925 and, with the help of the Klan and Maine State Senate president Buzzell, sabotaged Baxter's candidacy for the U.S. Senate in 1926. In 1928, when Brewster made his own run for the U.S. Senate, Baxter publicly denounced him as a member of the Klan, helping to ensure the victory of incumbent U.S. Senator Frederick Hale
Frederick Hale
Frederick Hale was a politician from the U.S. state of Maine, representing the state in the United States Senate from 1917 to 1941. He was the son of Eugene Hale, the grandson of Zachariah Chandler, both also U.S. Senators, brother of diplomat Chandler Hale, and the cousin of U.S...
.
Other activities
In 1896, Baxter joined a number of his Bowdoin classmates and travelled to Bath, MaineBath, Maine
Bath is a city in Sagadahoc County, Maine, in the United States. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 9,266. It is the county seat of Sagadahoc County. Located on the Kennebec River, Bath is a port of entry with a good harbor. The city is popular with tourists, many drawn by its...
, where the Democratic candidate for President, William Jennings Bryan
William Jennings Bryan
William Jennings Bryan was an American politician in the late-19th and early-20th centuries. He was a dominant force in the liberal wing of the Democratic Party, standing three times as its candidate for President of the United States...
, was schedule to speak. Baxter and his crew were so raucous that they were arrested. Although the Baxter's confederates pled guilty, the future Governor fought the charges with the help of his father, Portland Mayor James Phinney Baxter
James Phinney Baxter
James Phinney Baxter was an American businessman, historian, civic leader, and benefactor of Portland, Maine.His personal library, containing over 100 leather-bound books of maps, portraits, engravings and personal letters, is available for reference at the Portland Public Library.- Biography...
, and managed to have his record expunged.
In 1953 Baxter donated Mackworth Island
Mackworth Island
Mackworth Island is an approximately island on the border line of Falmouth, Maine and Portland, Maine. In 1631, Sir Ferdinando Gorges gave the island to Arthur Mackworth, his deputy in Casco Bay, and the island has retained his name. There is a causeway connecting the island to the mainland in...
to the state. He also deeded his summer home in Falmouth, Maine
Falmouth, Maine
Falmouth is a town in Cumberland County, Maine, United States. The population was 11,185 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Portland–South Portland–Biddeford, Maine metropolitan statistical area....
to create the Governor Baxter School for the Deaf (founded in 1957 from what was the Maine School for the Deaf), which still operates today.
Baxter was known for his passionate devotion to animals, and for his commitment to the humane treatment of animals. When his dog, Garry, died while Baxter was governor, he ordered the flag at the State House lowered to half staff, which angered some veterans' groups. Baxter belonged to several humane societies across the country, one of which, the New England Anti-Vivisection Society, called him "America's greatest humane governor."
Baxter died in Portland, and his ashes are scattered in the park.