Judge Rice
The first automobile in Maine was made in Hallowell in 1858. It was made in the McClench Machine Shop on Water Street. Hallowell residents, Judge Richard D. Rice and Dr. Hill, supplied the money to build the automobile which was built by George McClench, Frank McClench, and Charles L. Spaulding.
The car was powered by a small, locomotive engine. They drove it to Augusta and back to the McClench Machine Shop in Hallowell to be dismantled and not to be run again. (excerpt from Maine Memory Network.)
We have no record of what the steam car actually looked like except the description that it was powered by steam and built out of a very rugged cart built for hauling granite—and that it was driven on its maiden, and only trip, by Judge Rice in his top hat.
artist, Chris Cart
I studied other steam vehicles of the time to come up with this vision of how it might have looked.
Associate Justice of the Maine Supreme Judicial Court
(April 10, 1810 – May 27, 1882)
Justice Rice was appointed a Judge of the District Court for the Middle District in 1848. He was appointed an Associate Justice of the Supreme Judicial Court on May 11, 1852. He served until he resigned on December 1, 1863 to take the presidency of the Portland and Kennebec Railroad Company. He died in 1882 at the age of 72 in Augusta.
For the mural, Judge Rice is portrayed driving the vehicle on its trip to Augusta, illustrating an account from the time in a local newspaper.
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