Mainers first celebrated Patriot’s Day a century ago. It wasn’t because of a sudden upsurge in patriotism. The Battles of Lexington and Concord were ancient history. Rather legislators had decided to abolish another holiday, Fast Day, and they were looking for something to take its place. Massachusetts had abolished Fast Day in 1894, establishing Patriot’s Day instead. Maine lawmakers decided to follow suit.

Puritan leaders had declared fast days as early as the 17th century. President Abraham Lincoln and the governors of Maine and other states had declared them during the Civil War.

Maine statute indicated that the governor and his council could declare an annual fast day when they wished. The Bangor Daily Commercial said on April 18, 1907, after the holiday’s repeal, that the day had been observed traditionally on the last Thursday of April.

By the late 19th century, Fast Day had become irrelevant, even something of a joke. “Although church services were held, the day became chiefly one of horseback riding, ball games, shooting matches, social gatherings and dancing,” according to historian Donald J. King. “By the end of the century, in fact, the bicycles and trolleys, shows at the Opera House and parading in one’s best clothes had become the main attractions.”

By 1907, Mainers were looking for a new holiday. Gov. William T. Cobb recommended it in his inaugural address. The Bangor Daily News editorialized on Jan. 26: “The days when a state or a nation could compel church attendance or fasting or feasting have gone by.”

The city’s other daily newspaper, the Bangor Daily Commercial, said on Jan. 31 that even ministers wanted to be rid of Fast Day. They didn’t like the idea of the state creating days of religious observance. The Rev. G.B. Merritt of the First Baptist Church said one could hardly expect the people of the 20th century to follow the ideas of those of the 16th century.

Newspapermen had their own ideas about what should replace Fast Day. The Bangor Daily News advocated abolition with no replacement: “Maine has too many holidays, just as it has too many office holders. Abolish one half of both and the state would get along much better.” Creation of a “useless Forefathers day,” as was done in Massachusetts, would amount to “the same old tomfoolery” under a new name, the editorial writer grumbled.

The Commercial proposed replacing Fast Day with Maine Day, in commemoration of the sinking of the battleship Maine in Havana Harbor, an event that still weighed heavily in the minds of many. Other possibilities were Margaretta Day to commemorate the first sea battle of the Revolutionary War, which occurred off the coast at Machias, or Enterprise Day, for the famous battle during the War of 1812 when an American ship captured HMS Boxer off Pemaquid Point.

The House of Representatives briefly debated abolishing Fast Day and replacing it with Patriot’s Day on March 7, passing the measure easily. “[Fast Day] ought to be called by a different name. It ought to be written F-a-r-c-e Day,” said Rep. Elmer E. Newbert of Augusta. “I never knew a man to be a better religious man because he is hungry.”

There were a few skeptics, however. Rep. William Smith Knowlton of Monson predicted, “[I]f we substitute Patriot’s Day instead of Fast Day … there would be very little of the Battle of Lexington talked about. … Baseball and horse trots would occupy the time.”

Maine’s first Patriot’s Day was celebrated on April 19. “Today is Patriot’s Day and it will be accorded the usual observances of Fast Day, which has been abolished in favor of the new holiday,” reported the Bangor Daily News glumly. Schools and most offices would be closed. There would be lots of entertainment as usual. A “dancing matinee” at City Hall would be followed that night with a basketball game and dance in that same building. Those who preferred the theater could go to the Opera House where the Knickerbocker Stock Co. would be performing “The Hand of Man” in the afternoon and “The Creole’s Vengeance” that night.

None of this sounded particularly patriotic compared to what was happening to the west. In Boston, cannons were firing, bells were ringing and patriotic organizations were marching. The annual marathon was under way. A great deal of interest was focused on Tom Longboat, an Indian runner from Ontario.

The day before this first Patriot’s Day, a reporter at the Commercial tried to whip up some patriotic sentiment. “Those words, ‘On the 19th of April, ’75,’ from the poem describing the famous ride of Paul Revere, doubtless will have a greater meaning to the people of the good old state of Maine in the future than they have ever had before,” he wrote optimistically. But today, if you asked 10 people on Main Street to tell why we celebrate Patriot’s Day, you would be hard-pressed to get many precise answers, I suspect.

A week after the first Patriot’s Day, the Bangor Daily Commercial declared the event a disappointment. It was too cold in Maine on April 19 to do much of anything outdoors, and Maine people were too far away from the scene of the legendary battles to appreciate them. “Patriot’s Day, as a state holiday, was a decided failure. To be sure it was better than Fast Day, which has become a farce; but as patriots’ day it was almost as much of a farce as the day which it has supplanted in the official calendar,” said a Commercial editorial on April 27.

Wayne E. Reilly can be reached at wreilly@bangordailynews.net.