Kingfield Historical Society
45 High Street, PO Box 238
Kingfield, Maine 04947
Summer Phone: 265-4032
Winter E-mail: [email protected]
Open June – September, Wednesdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and the second and third Sundays of July and August, 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.
Open Kingfield POPS Weekend and during Kingfield Festival Days Weekend (3rd Weekend in July) for Open House every summer!
A Brief History
In 1890, Frank Hutchins hired local carpenter Lavella Norton
to build a picturesque Victorian residence on High Street for
his bride, Effie Pearl Winter. Charles and Alma Wilson
purchased the Hutchins home in 1944 and in 1968, afraid that
it would “become a tenement house,” Alma donated the 13-room
Victorian era mansion to the Kingfield Historical Society.
The Wilson’s forethought and generosity gave the society a
home, and in 1970, its doors were opened to the public.
This two-story home with three porches and an attached two-story barn, retains much of the detailed work both inside and out, that are signatures for the Victorian era. The Scotch Firetube Steam Boiler, built in place while the house was being constructed, is one of a very few still in existence. Local historical artifacts and memorabilia fill the historical home to the brim with 19th and 20th Century furniture, dishware, textiles, photographs, paintings, tools, school yearbooks, war artifacts, Narrow Gauge Railroad memorabilia and more from Kingfield families and their descendants. It is here where visitors can discover the tools and methods that allowed our forefathers to thrive in western Maine.
The Kingfield Historical House features outstanding displays
honoring its famous residents: William A. King, the first
Governor of Maine for whom Kingfield is named; Chansonetta
Stanley Emmons, renowned female photographer, her daughter,
painter Dorothy Emmons, and twin brothers/inventors, F.E. and
F.O. Stanley; Herbert Wing, local entrepreneur and member of
the Maine legislature for many years and builder of the first
Herbert Hotel; Amos Winter and the Winter Family (Amos was
famed, “the father of Sugarloaf”) and Charles Grenville
Wilson, Kingfield resident (who settled here in the 1920s with
his wife Alma) and famous writer, poet, photographer and
artist.
The Kingfield Historical House was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1987.
Kingfield Historical Society Timeline
1890 – Frank Hutchins hired Lavella Norton (local carpenter) to build the house as a wedding gift for his wife, Effie Pearl Winter.
*Victorian style, originally with 8 rooms and attached barn (Now 17 rooms.)
*Picturesque wrap around porch
*Multiple dormers
*Use of uniquely patterned shingles on roof
*Interior decorative tin ceilings
1917 – Frank remodeled upstairs into apartment, ultimately was 3 apartments one was in the barn. Frank and Effie lived in downstairs apartment until 1944
1944 – Effie sold house to Alma Wilson. Alma’s mother lived in one apartment for several years.
1954 – Last resident living in Hutchins House
1964 – Kingfield Historical Society was established as a non-profit organization with charter members
1968 – Alma gave building to Historical Society. She didn’t want to see it remain an apartment building.
1970 – Kingfield Historical Society opens to the public
1986-87 – Historical home on High Street receives National Register of Historic Places status
