Book details history of children’s home Bangor writer compiles information on asylum

THE INMATES AND THE ASYLUM: THE BANGOR CHILDREN’S HOME, 1835-2002, by Trudy Irene Scee, published by the Hilltop School, Bangor, 420 pages, $24.

When I heard that local author Trudy Irene Scee had written a history of the Bangor Children’s Home, I knew it would be well-written and thoroughly researched. Scee’s past books on Mount Hope Cemetery, Baxter State Park and American bird keeping drew the attention of the Hilltop School’s board of directors (the former Ohio Street asylum now houses a day-care school for children age 3 to kindergarten age), who hired Scee and produced the book themselves.

The thoughtful history is still as relevant today as when originally published last year. Dedicated to the late Barbara Knowles Eames, the longtime board member who encouraged that such a book be written, the history chronicles the institution’s 168-year-old legacy.

Drawing from children’s home archives, Scee guides the reader through the institution’s founding in 1835 by a group of women meeting as a sewing circle who planned a home for “destitute” and “degraded” women or who were in danger of becoming morally “ill reputable.” The Bangor Female Orphan Asylum eventually became the Bangor Children’s Home, giving shelter to hundreds of young boys and girls in its castlelike building located near the Bangor Standpipe.

Some “inmates” adjusted better than others, Scee writes. Some ran away; others lived in multiple homes in their young lives. The book is well illustrated with inmates’ pictures and views of the building, as it appeared a century ago and today.

Executive Director John Fahey is given credit for helping Scee dig out pertinent information from the archives. The board of directors also allowed her free rein to write her own kind of book, right down to the at-first intimidating title. Their respect for her instincts paid off; the book is a welcome addition to local historical libraries.

?The Inmates and the Asylum? is available at BookMarc?s, Borders, Mr. Paperback and from the Hilltop School, 218 Ohio St., Bangor 04401.