Man and gravity fight a precarious duel as heavy slabs of granite are raised under a blazing sun. Finally the last stone is set in place.
Great efforts require a great purpose and an effort which directs the labor of a thousand men requires a sacred purpose. In any society, the large and awe-inspiring buildings reveal who wields the ultimate power. Thus the new Civic Center on Main Street is the final, authoritative statement on which values rule Bangor.
The new Civic Center spreads out over Bass Park to the very doorstep of Hollywood Casino. One easily can conjecture that its purpose is to draw the public to the casino.
That the Civic Center is being built with money from the casino makes this conjecture a certainty. We may conclude our city fathers listen to the sound of gold and silver rather than their conscience.
It was not always so. The first Bangor Auditorium had bare beams and rafters and looked like a barn. On the outside, the auditorium was balanced and well-proportioned, a fine building built for a purpose of the highest order.
William Chapman dreamed of a music festival starring Lillian Nordica from Farmington. Nordica was the leading soprano of her day and she was to be accompanied by 800 singers from the more than 2,000 choral groups in the state.
Joseph Bass leased the land — then called Maplewood — to the city and specified in his will that Bass Park “would be used for public park purposes, including, if the city sees fit, semi-public purposes such as circuses or fairs.”
Now Maplewood is gone, Bass Park has dwindled to postage-stamp size, and the stone marker commemorating the work of Chapman and Bass has been removed. In its place stands a sprawling urban complex whose color matches the casino but no other building in the city and whose architectural style resembles a chain drugstore.
Nor is the new Civic Center in any sense the center of the city. The true center of Bangor lies somewhere on the long corridor between the Lady Victory statue and the statue of Hannibal Hamlin on Norumbega Parkway.
This is the center of our city, with its reminders of our history, our common purpose and our long struggle for existence. The Civic Center and the casino are on the fringes of Bangor, both in a geographical and ethical sense.
The unnatural scale of the Civic Center and casino dominates the skyline, overwhelming the distant church spires, just as avarice now dominates and overwhelms nobler civic aspirations.
And that is the meaning of the lopsided, asymmetrical architecture. Postmodern architecture reflects the disorder in the heart of modern man, his inability to balance irrational desires and fears with reason and sound judgment. Hence postmodern architecture is preferred by those who exploit man’s impulses and unreasonable desires.
The architecture of the older part of the city expresses order, harmony and beauty. Each ornament whether a trailing vine, an unfolding leaf or sheaf of wheat proclaims joy in life, growth and Creation.
This loss of order happened gradually. The lovely older buildings gave way to the bare but symmetrical buildings of the modern era, which in turn gave way to the asymmetrical hodgepodge of styles which is postmodern architecture.
Nor is this loss of order limited to architecture. The heavenly sounds which rang out in the first Bangor Auditorium have long since been replaced with the subterranean clang and clamor of modern music.
A smiling Paul Bunyan, who looms large in the imagination of every boy and girl from Bangor, now stands watch on a lawn which was once a park, which was once a maple grove. He reminds us of a bygone age when men prided themselves on honest labor, and regarded the land as their greatest treasure.
When the new Civic Center is completed, many a visitor will cast a cynical glance at Paul Bunyan and ask why a woodsman in mackinaw and boots is standing across the street from a casino. Why indeed?
He would be happier, I think, in the real Maine.
Fritz Spencer of Old Town is the former editor of the Christian Civic League RECORD.
Aside from the pretentious undertones of this piece, which serves only to take up space, it would be nice if the editor who reviewed it understood that “civic center” should not be capitalized, as it is not a proper name.
BANGOR: The way life should be. As long as it’s 1950…. Look, we get it, your not a fan of gambling. That’s okay. I think the new auditorioum/civic center looks GREAT. Time does not stand still, nor should it. The next genration deserves a nice new building to enhance their experience in Bangor. Heck, they may even STAY there if there is more to do than when I left. If you love Bangor, embrace the positive changes so the city can grow and prosper.
I remember those old days, though i dont consider 45 to be that old, i remember walking down to the Auditorium for the Bapst Basketball games and stopping by Dunkin Donuts for some sugary energy. If only i had known then how bad those donuts would be for me. I remember getting there early with ball in hand and the janitor letting us shoot some hoops before our practice or game began. I remember after practices got out at 5pm i had to wait outside for my folks to pick me up cause they didnt get outta work till 5pm. It was kewl. Huge parking lot, Paul Bunyan down the way, and didnt worry about anyone approaching me. You cant walk down a street in Bangor unless you are either packing heat or have six friends with you. I can remember every hollow spot on the Auditorium floor where i lost my dribble and i can remember reading stories of Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox and thinking how awesome it was that we had him right here where i lived. NO MORE…Bangor has become just another city where money is the name of the game and whoever has more of it controls what happens in it. I dont blame the Casino for the upgrade in crime, it was going to happen anyway with all of the methadone clinics the city councils have allowed to open here, but there is no way anyone can convince me that this Arena is nothing more than an extended function of the Casino itself and that the Casino is actually in charge of Bangor now. The City Council bought what they were selling hook, line, and sinker and there is no turning back now. Ten years from now, maybe 20, we will all look back and wonder why we sold out, why we gave up such a beautiful little river city to try and become more like Portland, and we will sigh….and wish we hadnt!!!
I have heard stories about how life was back then in certain neighborhoods. Stories of crime and bad neighborhoods-much like what we here about certain neighborhoods today. It wasn’t all happy days.
I find it almost selfish for people to go on about how wonderful life in any give place used to be but how terrible it is now. And if someone likes it in that place now, then it’s just too bad that those people don’t know any better. Great things are happening in Bangor and I’m glad I’m here!
My own hometown had changed dramatically and I miss the way things used to be. But I also don’t focus on the negative (which has always been there) and see the great things that are happening now.
Why should any city stay stuck in time because some people want to hold on to the rosy past?
Jeff, as the end draws nearer for the old auditorium I find myself growing more nostalgic about it too. As someone who grew up in the same era as you, I have so many great memories of the events held there. Having said that, the useful life of the building has long passed. If the casino hadn’t come to Bangor there is a good chance that the BA would have been demolished with NO replacement.
The people of the city voted in the new cc/aud because it was a way to have a nice new building without having to lay $65M on the backs of the taxpayer. It’s okay to not to like gambling, but without it there’s a huge possibility that the next generation of kids would not have the opportunity of waxing nostalgic like you very eloquently did.
When are the owners and editors of the BDN going to realize we want news and not their opinions. More and more of the stories that are posted here are nothing but someones personal views on some topic that the paper’s staff feels a connection to politically. The biggest issue I have with stories like this and the other I read this morning about the BDNs opinion of the Governor? The fact that I can only cancel my subscription to the BDN one time.
Heaven forbid that I defend this liberal fishwrap, but I believe the BDN supports the Arena, so I don’t really know where you are going here.
its an opinion section… it isnt written by BDN. Though I often am very synical of their production and editing… this is the opinion section gotta different opinion spin it up and submit it maybe they will put your essay up.
Newspapers offer opinions. Newspapers around the world have a history of offering opinions. That’s why they have an opinion section, which is where this piece if found-both in the paper and on the site.
Why would you go into the opinion section and complain about the opinion pieces?
This IS the Opinion section, you know…
double post
Paul needs to go. He looks small and insignificant (and quite low-budget) there.
Let Paul Bunyan be the giant that he is at the Bangor Waterfront. Free Paul! Sign the petition: http://www.bangorbytes.com/p/free-paul.html
I dunno, Paul kind of reminds me of the Alamo in San Antonio. A nice mix of the old and new. A quick look at where we were to where we are now…
What a bunch of drivel! One too many trips in the way-back machine, perhaps?
The new Arena is fantastic, and I applaud the citizens of Bangor for voting to build it. This is a very exciting time in the history of this city, so please just ignore Fritz Luddite Spencer. Thank you.
It is uplifting to know that avarice had nothing to do with the prospering of Bangor in the past and that it is only in our greedy times that we have lost the way.
I’m not sure that the civic center SHOULD be in the center of the city. We expect large numbers of people attending the many functions taking place in the facility. We don’t need all that traffic in the center of the city-it’s fine on the fringe near the freeway. It isn’t really that far from the center, anyway.
terrible. how/why was this published here?
reality is just a simple story— old building falling apart. new building, after a city wide vote, needed for more great community basketball and other city and regional events. and built by a local company. it’s too bad the old Auditorium had passed it’s hey day but this new building, it’s purpose and the process that led to it is pretty darn good. i really look forward to it, and Paul Bunyan guarding its entrance makes it even better!
The bigger problem that the city is going to experience is lost revenue. The number of southern visitors to Bangor for slots play before the opening Oxford my have been small but it is revenue lost just the same. Insuring enough revenue from the Casino for the next twenty years had better be on the minds of the big heads in city hall or expect a property tax increase to cover the difference. And do not ignore the reality of further competition from Lewiston, Biddeford and/or Washington County now that the ‘Genie is out of the bottle’.
Paul Bunyan does not belong in Bangor to start with…he is from Minnesota and created the 10,000 lakes.