THE VILLAGE GREEN in Bar Harbor wasn't always a park. In 1868 it was the site of the Bay View Hotel, built by the Hamor family with their cousin, Edward Young. After being enlarged several times the hotel became part of the Grand Central Hotel complex. In 1899 the town purchased the property from Johnston Livingston for $45,000, a price many voters thought was too high, particularly as no one was sure what should be done with the land. The now dilapidated hotel building was torn down with some of the reusable lumber saved for constructing the Young Men's Christian Association building the next year. The debris was soon cleaned up leaving a large empty lot on Main Street. It wasn't long before a group of people raised $89 to build a bandstand on the vacant lot, though another $40 would be needed before the bandstand could be finished. The first concert was played there on July 21, 1899. Except for the bandstand, the property lay idle for three years, when the town's building committee chose the location as the site for a new grammar school. No sooner had excavation for the school's foundation begun, then they decided that they made a mistake. At a special town meeting it was voted to cancel the building contracts and to construct the new school on Ledgelawn Avenue. Five hundred dollars was raised to once again clean up the lot. It now appeared that a better use of the land would be to make it a park. The Bar Harbor Record suggested that it be named Hamor Park, dedicated to Eben Hamor, one of the town's earliest citizens who had done so much for the village. It would also serve to honor the Hamor family who had built one of the town's first hotels. However, the park continued to be called the Town Lot or the old Grand Central Lot by most people, but eventually would become known as the Village Green. Time passed and nothing was done to improve the appearance of the town's newest property. Dr. Silas Weir Mitchell suggested that the Bar Harbor Village Improvement Association take some action to cleanup the property and make it more attractive by leasing it from the Town for a ten year period. In 1905, with Morris K. Jesup's interest in this idea, it was brought about with the help of a V.I.A. appointed committee. Everyone in town seemed enthused about the improvements planned for the newly named Village Green. Shrubs were given as a gift from school children, trees were planted as memorials to family members, a wooden seat around the large tree at the entrance to The Green was a gift and benches were purchased by the Association. Mrs. John Harrison (Chairman of the Village Green Committee) gave the watering trough at the corner of Main and Mount Desert Street in 1906. Mr. and Mrs. William Roberts donated the large granite seat facing Main Street. It was placed there in 1907 in memory of their son John Whittington Roberts who died in 1904. In the same year a cement garden seat was the gift of Clavin Norris. Some of the Association members paid to have trees transplanted from the old school lot on Cottage Street. The Association donated the granite bench with the letters, I A (Village Improvement Association) cut into one side, which faces Mount Desert Street. In 1908, a Winter Festival was presented by the Association to raise funds for the yearly upkeep of the Green. Summer Festivals were held after this first event and were very successful. Many monuments and memorials have been given to the VILLAGE GREEN over the decades. Some have lost their meaning while others have been lost altogether. The granite seat facing Mount Desert Street marked M.E.F. ( for Mary Ellis Farnum) was given by Mrs. John DeWitt Peltz's mother in memory of her sister, the former Mary Ellis Bell, who had died in 1894. A bubbling drinking fountain placed in back of the watering trough was donated by a friend of The Green in 1917. During 1927 a flagpole placed on the northeast section of the park was moved nearer the fountain. A plaque given by Mrs. Herbert Washington in memory of her husband and sister was laid in the ground by a tree behind the watering trough in 1928. It is not known if this denoted a special gift. In 1909, Philip Livingston gave an antique bronze fountain in memory of his wife. Sculptured by an Italian artisan, it was from an estate near Florence, Italy. For many years water had not flowed from the fountain. Through the efforts of a group of citizens calling themselves Friends of the Fountain money was raised to restore the fountain and install new plumbing. After two years of effort, in the summer of 1992 it was a working fountain again. A diagonal path had been laid across the lot in 1910, making easier access to Firefly Lane and Mount Desert Street. In 1920, Sunday afternoon concerts were given by the Boston Symphony Orchestra. The program from four to six o'clock was well attended, but it was during the warm summer evenings that crowds filled the Village Green. A dance pavillion had been built entirely by volunteers on a piece of town property across from The Green on Firefly Lane. There was dancing to the music provided by the Boston Orchestra playing in the bandstand on Wednesday nights while the Bar Harbor Band performed on Tuesday and Thursday nights. The lease of the Village Improvement Association was renewed and The Green remained under its care until 1923. In 1921, the Association hired the famous landscape architect Beatrix Farrand to improve the landscape of the property. She had a barberry hedge removed that had been planted to border the diagonal broad walk. The bandstand was moved back from the path and lowered. It was rebuilt by the Town on the same site in 1972. In 1945, the Town erected a large bulletin board on a grey granite ackground with the names of Bar Harbor men who served in World War II he design of the memorial would prove to be impractical as more wars ollowed. This was replaced in 1977, by a bronze plaque honoring both en and women who had served their country. This was a gift from the illage Improvement Association who also moved the V.I.A. granite ench from the lawn and placed it in front of the granite memorial. The Village Green is always a busy place during the summer. In recent years it has been the site of art exhibits and craft shows. recently, it has suffered from overuse and is in need of restoration nd long-term care. In the fall of 1992, a Village Green Committee as formed to join with the Village Improvement Association to bring bout this restoration. Donations are being sought from the citizens ho care about this park and want it to look its best again. History oes on and on as do the summer nights, repeating itself but never uite the same.