| The History of Camp Mitigwa | ||
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A Brief History of Camp Mitigwa, Rangeley, ME
The following is from Gary N. Priest's History of Rangeley Hotels and Camps,
published and © Gary Priest 2003
This was a boys camp located on the north shore of Dodge Pond. It opened in the summer of 1919 under the ownership of
George W. Fairchild on land owned by Austin and
Edna Hinkley. It consisted of a main lodge with kitchen attached and 5 sleeping cabins with
five counselors and 20 boys. Fairchild purchased the land in April 1921 and
sold it in May 1921 to Mitigwa Inc. owned by Franklin Gray. Under his guidance the camp grew to
20 buildings, a ball field, 2 tennis courts, a rifle range and two 50 foot
wharfs on the 800-foot waterfront. The number of campers increased from 20 to 100. There was no road
to the camp and all baggage and supplies had to be transported by boat.
He operated it for over 20 years and sold it in January 1946 to Leon and Ruth Nixon. The Nixons built
the road to the camp in 1953 and continued operations much the same as
the Grays had done. The Nixons leased it for the 1965 season to Michael Kober, Robert Grahn, and Ken Arnold under the name Camp Mitigwa Inc.
The following is from a conversation between erstwhile camper Colin Grant and erstwhile owner Ken Arnold.
Ken Arnold, Robert Grahn and William Harman bought the camp from the Nixons in 1966 for $60,000.
They operated the camp until 1972. During those years traditional
summer camps were becoming less and less popular, and they eventually closed the camp because they simply could not make it work economically.
Ken recalls that they
took an absolute bath on the place -- bought it for $60K, sank additional money into it for 6 or 7 years,
closed it during a real estate slump, and finally sold it
around 1975 for $40K. (Ironically, summer camps of this sort have since made a huge comeback, although they are now much
more specialized -- math camps, music camps,
chess camps, and so on.)
Ken says, "We sold the property to a forester by the name of Blin Wing; it was my understanding that the first thing he did was burn or take down the
cabins to get them off the tax rolls (I think it was $75 per cabin)."
There is now little left of the Camp Mitigwa physical plant. The only camp building that stands today is the Recreation Hall, the very last
building at the far end of the camp. The Seeley Lodge fireplace stands alone in an overgrown mess. The ball field is overgrown and completely
unidentifiable, and there are a few private camps along the shore. Remnants of the old dock still survive. Kind of sad.
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