This is the private residence of University of Southern Maine President Richard Pattenaude and his wife Michele. A century old this year, the mansion on College Avenue cost $10,000 to build. A former Maine governor, Frederick Robie of Gorham, contributed $7,000 toward the mansion’s construction. Walter Russell, who succeeded William Corthell as first president of the Western State Normal School, was the first occupant of the mansion. As a legislator, Robie introduced a bill in 1877 to establish the school, which has evolved into a campus of the present-day university.

(GOR remem 2) – Gorham Remembered