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| Today |
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No Longer Just a Summer Place
Drivers along Route 180, heading north from Ellsworth, pass into
Otis without even knowing it.
<complete story>
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Memories
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Ilene Moore’s Long Ago School Days in Otis
When Ilene Moore is a passenger in a car traveling the roads of
Otis, she sometimes closes her eyes—and can tell her driver where
they are.
<complete story>
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Yesterday |
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Ponds Take Town from Sawmills to
Camps
Otis was originally part of Plan #8, a huge tract of land that
became known as Dedham. The land itself was owned by various
merchants and speculators from
Boston,
among whom can be found one Joseph Otis. He was a prominent merchant
and president of an insurance company.
<complete story>
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Neighbors |
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On the Pond
Rufus Merrill has been interviewed before. His observations are
included in a new book about people living within the Union River
Watershed. A few years ago, the Bangor Daily News published a story
about his resilience during the 1998 ice storm.
<complete story>
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Neighbors |
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Store’s the Place For Talk of Town
Located on Route 180 just past the school and the town office, the
Otis General Store doubles as the unofficial center of town.
<complete story>
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Go
Figure |
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Acreage: 15,899
Population, 2000: 543
Population, 1990: 355
Population 19 years old and younger, 2000: 138
Median age: 41.0
School: Beech Hill School
Library: Otis Public Library
Churches: Baptist
Town meeting: Second Saturday in May
<more town facts>
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They
Said It |
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 “Every
time anyone needs anything,
everyone comes
together. It is a
wonderful thing,
very heartfelt.”
—Suzanne
Salisbury,
Otis Historical Society
treasurer
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Milestones |
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1805:
Area first explored and then settled.
1835: Town incorporates, named for an early proprietor,
Joseph Otis.
1852: John Frazier confirmed as Otis’ first postmaster.
1879-1887: Lewis Jordan serves as Otis’ last postmaster
between these years.
1880: Population reaches its high watermark of 304.
1881: Three sawmills are located on Beech Hill Stream.
1920s: Charles Watts establishes cabins, a dance hall and a
dining hall on Beech Hill Pond.
1930: Eight-eight people are listed as living in Otis.
1949: The town’s three one-room school houses are
consolidated into one school located in the Civic Center (now the town
office and library.)
Written and photographed by Allyson Brehm.
She can be
contacted at 667-2576.
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