On this date in Maine history: Feb. 12

Feb. 12, 1959: A group of builders from New York gives the city of Bangor a 31-foot-tall Paul Bunyan statue in commemoration of the city’s 125th anniversary of incorporation.

The statue is placed in Bass Park on Main Street.

Feb. 12, 1834, also is supposed to be the fictional Bunyan’s birth date. The city clerk’s office has his “birth certificate” on display.

Joseph Owen is a retired copy desk chief of the Morning Sentinel and Kennebec Journal and board member of the Kennebec Historical Society. He can be contacted at: jowen@mainetoday.com.