2022 Proclaimed the Year of the Fort
WHEREAS, Fort Western, of present-day Augusta, was built at the site of a 1628, Pilgrim trading post
called Cushnoc; and
WHEREAS, Fort Western, became the site of a supply garrison to Fort Halifax of present-day Winslow
from 1754 to 1766; and
WHEREAS, Fort Western, of present-day Augusta, then known to be part of Hallowell, was the site of
the first store, called the S & W Howard Store, from 1767-1807; and
WHEREAS, Fort Western became the home of the Howards, Augusta's first prominent family and their
descendants, from 1767 to 1852; and
WHEREAS, Fort Western was later used as tenement housing and housed many residents from 1852 to
1920, many of whom worked in local mills; and
WHEREAS, in 1920 the Gannett family, descendants of the Howards, renovated the garrison, built
reproduction blockhouses and watch boxes, and gave it back to the City in 1922 to be used as a museum;
and
WHEREAS, Fort Western formerly opened its doors as a museum on July 4, 1922; and
WHEREAS, We all owe a substantial amount of recognition and gratitude to the people who have
upheld and prospered at this site for the last 400 years, as history was being made and then remembered;
NOW, THEREFORE, I, David Rollins, Mayor of the City of Augusta, Maine proclaim the year 2022, in
the City of Augusta, be declared The Year of the Fort.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and caused to be affixed the Seal of the City of
Augusta this 16th day of December in the year of our Lord two thousand twenty-one. Signed David M.
Rollins
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