Preserving the Past.
Building the Future.

WINDHAM, MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY FOUNDED IN 1967

 

FEBRUARY Fund raising opportunity!
Bangor Savings Bank Foundation

As a Thank You each year, Bangor Savings Bank  provides an opportunity your favorite non-profit organizations to receive $1000 by voting for them!    Click on the Click here to vote, enter your email information and you have up to five votes you can either select or write-in under Other. 

Windham Historical Society should come up under Other, but if you don’t see it, please write us in!  Quick and easy! 

…and you can forward this message on to your friends and families so the Windham Historical Society can received lots more votes!

 
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What’s New

The Village Green
becomes a reality!

The property the Society acquired in 2010 is transitioning to a Living History Center known as the Village Green! Surveys, soils tests, many meetings with town officials and ideas for a future educational resource – all this has kept your Society busy! It’s exciting and we hope you have a chance to visit to learn more!

 
 
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The Gazebo, at the center of the Village Green.

 
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Welcome to the
Windham Historical Society

Maine became the 23rd State on March 15,1820.

Maine became the 23rd State on March 15,1820.

Windham was originally settled primarily by farmers who came here in the middle of the 1700s. The agricultural lifestyle continued through most of the town’s history until the industrial age. Several wars and many societal changes have created the town we know today which is primarily residential and includes a large commercial center.

Windham Historical Society was organized in 1967 for the purpose of preserving the town’s rich historical past and providing opportunities for members of the public to learn about their heritage.
 

The Society owns four museum buildings, each of which was an important center for development in Windham.

  • The Old Town House Museum which was not only the Town’s original Town Hall, but also served as a school for many years, is now the Society’s headquarters building.

  • The Old Grocery, owned by the Hawkes family for many years, is now on its permanent location on the Society’s Village Green. 
    A grocery/cobbler shop, it had been a familiar sight at the corner of Windham Center Road and Route 202.

  • The Windham Circulating Library, which is located next to the Old Town House Museum on the Society grounds on Windham Center Road.

  • The South Windham Library that was moved from the Little Falls section of Gorham onto the Village Green. It will become a museum featuring information about South Windham and the railroad that was once such a big part of the community back in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

We also own a house on the museum property that we are currently renting. We hope to one day make it a part of the Village Green. The Village Green is the Society’s vision for the future. Our plan is to open a Living History Center right in the heart of Windham Center. The Village School, our one-room schoolhouse, is the first building we have completed and it is open to the public by appointment.
Call 207-892-1433 if you’d like to arrange a tour.

Update April 2022: We are happy to announce that with COVID restrictions being lifted, the Windham Historical Society is open for visitation on Wednesdays from 9 a.m. to noon. Stop by, take a look around, and have some fun with history!
We’ll look forward to seeing you soon.

BECOME A WHS MEMBER!

 

New Acquisitions

 
 
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 Do you know what this is?

Follow the Windham Historical Society’s Facebook page and you’ll find out who this treasure once belonged to.

 

 

 
 

Have Fun with History!

 
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THe VIllage School

Step back in time at The Village School, our one-room schoolhouse on the Village Green.  A visit will show you what it was like to be in a 19th century classroom complete with desks, blackboards, and a big wood stove. Old slates and McGuffey Readers are on display as well as information about all the one-room schoolhouses that used to dot the Windham landscape long ago.