Today, the historic Holt Building, originally known as the Maine Eye and Ear Infirmary, stands on one of the most historically significant pieces of land in the United States of America, known to Portland Maine locals as Bramhall Square.
This building was originally designed by an architect named John Calvin Stevens in the year 1886. It has been recently renovated into luxury apartments and offices. This renovation is viewed as the successful preservation of a historic building by the Maine Historic Preservation Society, as the external features of this beautiful brick and granite structure have been kept intact.
Before the construction of the infirmary could begin, a task had to be completed. This task was the removal of the gallows that stood for almost 100 years. There’s a big sign on the edge of the Bramhall Fire Station parking lot, which is a couple of buildings down Congress St., that tells of the hanging of Thomas Bird, which took place on June 25, 1790. It is the hearing of the first federally ordered execution in the history of the United States of America. Although others had been executed during colonial times, for crimes ranging from murder, rape, robbery and witchcraft, until then none had been ordered by an American judge.
The gallows was built by an American martial artist by the name of Henry Dearborn, for the purpose of hanging Thomas Bird. Bird had previously been captured a few miles away at Cape Elizabeth and convicted of the crime of murdering his captain while at sea off the coast of Africa. At the time, the new US government was increasingly concerned about maritime law. In his efforts to coordinate a public spectacle where nearly 3,000 people witnessed the hanging, Dearborn spent tax money building the gallows and a casket.
There is much information available about Henry Dearborn, who later became a US Congressman and Secretary of Defense under President Thomas Jefferson, as well as being a general in the Revolutionary War. Little is available about Thomas Bird or the events of the hanging. And looking around Bramhall Square today, you’d never know it’s a bloodstained land.
