Dingley, Frank L., House
291 Court St., Auburn, METhis fine example of a high-style Second Empire house in villa form was the home from its construction in 1867 until his death in 1918 of Frank L. Dingley, distinguished editor for 57 years of the Lewiston Evening Journal, Maine's second-largest daily newspaper. Upon graduation from Bowdo in College in 1861, Dingley joined his brother Nelson, later to become a distinguished statesman, in founding the Journal as a daily (it had been a weekly publication since its founding in 1847). From small beginnings, it grew rapidly under Frank Dingley's editorship into a highly respected newspaper. The Civil War accelerated newspaper production and Dingley was one of the first to make full use of the telegraph as a news gathering Instrument. In the great era of personal journalism represented by giants like Horace Greeley, James Gordon Bennett and William Cullen Bryant, Dingley established his own reputation for the fecundity of expression, zeal for righteousness, irrepressible uproarious humor and rapier-like wit, all coupled with boundless energy. As years passed he became the oldest-in-service of the major working newspaper editors in the United States. Under his guidance, the Journal was constantly modernized and was the first newspaper in Maine to employ cylinder presses and construct a half-tone plant. In 1898 he "refounded the Lewiston Journal with the construction of a large new building, installation of huge 28-page presses and linotype machines. His outside interests were many and included extensive foreign travel, yachting, and the development of a unique summer resort at Squirrel Island. He became deeply involved in speculative construction and built many houses in various parts of Lewiston and Auburn. A personal friend of Theodore Roosevelt, he was a strong supporter of the Progressive Party. He was an ardent patron of the arts and established a personal picture gallery of some importance. Always interested in science and invention, he was one of the first believers in and supporters of F. E. Stanley, developer of the famous steam automobile and the dry photographic plate. The Dingley House, beyond Its architectural merit, remains as a monument to a man of many parts and certainly Maine's most noted 19th-century journalist.
Local significance of the building:Listed in National Register of Historic Places in 1980.
The National Register of Historic Places is the official list of the Nation’s historic places worthy of preservation. Authorized by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the National Park Service’s National Register of Historic Places is part of a national program to coordinate and support public and private efforts to identify, evaluate, and protect America’s historic and archeological resources.