OLD TOWN – When former four-time Maine Senate President Joseph Sewall served in the state Legislature back in the 1970s and ’80s, he presented a bill to give Mud Pond the new name of Perch Pond.

The 325-acre pond, located on Poplar Street between the town and Pushaw Lake, is home to Sewall Park, which was created nearly a half-century ago.

The Legislature passed the bill, but the name change was never forwarded to the federal government and was not officially changed. Until recently.

David Sewall, son of Joseph Sewall, stepped in last year to finish the paperwork needed for the name change to become federally recognized. Both men have served as president of Old Town engineering firm James W. Sewall Co. and are now in business together with Sewall Holding Co., a land management firm.

“He started it, and I sort of finished it,” David Sewall said Wednesday.

The U.S. Board on Geographic Names, a branch of the U.S. Geological Survey, approved his request during a June 11 meeting.

The Sewall family has owned land in the Old Town area for generations, he said.

Joseph Sewall’s first foray into politics was when he sat on the Old Town City Council from 1956 to 1965. He was elected in 1966 as state senator for District 27, which then encompassed an area from Old Town to southern Aroostook County, and he went on to serve 16 years.

“He apparently did not like the name Mud Pond that much, and people agreed with him,” David Sewall said. “The bill passed the Legislature and was signed into law … [but] it never got recognized on the federal level because they were unaware that there was a change made at the state level.”

The pond is home to “perch and sunfish,” he said and is “a handy place to swim on a hot day.”