In the towns of the District of Maine in 1819 voting for statehood, or to approve the proposed state constitution, could have occurred at a town hall, a meeting house, a tavern, a private residence or a school. In 1820 the announcement of statehood may have been read from the steps of these buildings or announced in a common or posted on a tree.

As the Bicentennial of Statehood approaches this survey seeks to identify the physical places in each Maine community that were associated with the 1819 vote for statehood and the announcement that Maine had been granted state status in 1820. Communities are encouraged to search their record books for information on where the votes were taken in 1819, or from which the Proclamation of Statehood was delivered the following year.

Once locations or properties are identified, please upload photographs and descriptions of the properties to the survey and locate the properties on a GIS-based map. If the historic properties do not exist you may post photographs of town documents describing polling locations, or photographs of where the townhouse or meeting house was located showing what is there now.

This survey may be completed multiple times as necessary.

The information collected here will be used to curate a narrative story map that helps Mainers to envision the places where Maine was created, one vote at a time.

Anyone can undertake the research and post information to the survey. So please share this with your community's schools, scouts, historical societies, or town officials and complete the survey for your town or city.

The survey will remain open until August 1, 2019.

Click here to start the survey: https://survey123.arcgis.com/share/bc5dcfbdc19e416eadb4f195f5693978