GORHAM, ME — On Thursday, August 15, 2024, Reverend Philip Shearman and longtime Chaplin for the Gorham Fire Department received the Boston Post Cane in a ceremony held in the Council Chambers at the Gorham Municipal Center.

History

In August 1909, Mr. Edwin A. Grozier, Publisher of the Boston Post, a newspaper, forwarded to the Board of Selectmen in 700 towns* (no cities included) in New England, a gold-headed ebony cane with the request that it be presented with the compliments of the Boston Post to the oldest male citizen of the town, to be used by him as long as he lives (or moves from the town), and at his death handed down to the next oldest citizen of the town. The cane would belong to the town and not the man who received it.

The canes were all made by J.F. Fradley and Co., a New York manufacturer, from ebony shipped in seven-foot lengths from the Congo in Africa. They were cut to cane lengths, seasoned for six months, turned on lathes to the right thickness, coated and polished. They had a 14-carat gold head two inches long, decorated by hand, and a ferruled tip. The head was engraved with the inscription, —Presented by the Boston Post to the oldest citizen of  (name of town)— “To Be Transmitted.” The Board of Selectmen were to be the trustees of the cane and keep it always in the hands of the oldest citizen. Apparently no Connecticut towns were included, and only two towns in Vermont are known to have canes.

In 1924, Mr. Grozier died, and the Boston Post was taken over by his son, Richard. At one time, the Boston Post was considered the nation’s leading standard-sized newspaper in circulation. Competition from other newspapers, radio and television contributed to the Post’s decline and it went out of business in 1957.

The custom of the Boston Post Cane took hold in those towns bestowed the honor of receiving a cane, including the Town of Gorham. As years went by, some of the canes were lost, stolen, taken out of town and not returned to the Selectmen or destroyed by accident. Fortunately, the Town of Gorham has retained its cane, which has been on display at the Gorham Municipal Center for many years.

In 1930, after considerable controversy, eligibility for the cane was opened to women as well.