Opportunity Farm

Photo from Thomas P. Blake of the New Gloucester Historical Society, author of “Images of America: New Gloucester.”

Since its beginning in 1910, Opportunity Farm has been a project of the Maine State Organization Daughters of the American Revolution. It was the vision of Mr. F. Forest Pease, a young man who came to Lewiston to assist Mr. Frank Winter in organizing the Androscoggin Boys Club after having been Assistant Superintendent of the Boys Club for a year. Mr. Pease felt the need for a home for underprivileged boys and Mr. Winter offered the use of a farm and buildings in New Gloucester. Mr. Pease and Mr. Winter believed in giving these boys an opportunity to help themselves and decided upon Opportunity Farm as an appropriate name.

During Mr. Pease’s first years at the Farm, Dr. Alfred Williams Anthony and his sister, Miss Kate Anthony, became interested in the Farm. Just when The Maine Daughters became interested in the Farm is not known but there is every reason to believe it was in 1910-1911. The first boys at Opportunity Farm were three homeless boys from Lewiston Social Settlement, brought to the Farm by chapter member Ida Francis Newell. Later Portland friends, including Mary Kendall, Maine DAR State Regent during 1903-1905, became interested and boys arrived from Portland.

June 14, 1912, eleven persons met in Portland and organized the corporation, Opportunity Farm Association, with Mary Kendall the first President and Ida Newell, Vice President. The 1913-1914 Year Book of the Maine State Organization Daughters of the American Revolution said: “A resolution was Passed that the Maine Daughters continue to endorse the work of the Opportunity Farm.” Mary Kendall, State Chairman, reported contributions had been received from Maine Daughters.

In 1913, the Association purchased a small farm, not far from the present location, known as the lower farm. A few years later the house was rebuilt and named Kendall House. In 1914, Dr. Anthony and his sister presented to the Association a farm of over one hundred acres with a set of buildings, this being the present location of buildings.

At one time there were over fifty boys at the Farm, but in 1938 it was voted to limit the number to thirty-eight. During the years there have been different superintendents, matrons, and teachers. While Mr. and Mrs. James Foster were there, Opportunity Farm was placed among the leading institutions of childcare. A band was organized during these years, the different instruments being provided by the Maine Daughters.

The Mary Dillingham Chapter NSDAR contributed to the Opportunity Farm for Boys in 1912 and every year since.

The boys who lived at Opportunity Farm in the 1900s attended public school and helped with the chores around the farm. In 2003 and 2004, two new large beautiful houses, the Welch House and the Snowe House, were added at Opportunity Farm to house girls just down the road on the Short Bennett Road in New Gloucester. The chapter held meetings there annually and kept abreast of the activities. We donated an American flag for the girls’ campus on the Short Chandler Road in New Gloucester.

The Community School in Camden, Maine, merged with Opportunity Farm in 2011, and welcomed young men and women in their alternative high school program at both the Camden and New Gloucester locations. In October 2013, the Community Schools chose ‘Wayfinder Schools’ as their new name because it was felt that it better reflected the mission of the school.

Our chapter has been involved in many fundraising campaigns for the Farm throughout the years, the most successful one being the brick walkway. We have purchased memorial bricks for some of our members as well as three that designate the chapter and year.