Percival P. Baxter

Percival Proctor Baxter (1876–1969) served as Maine’s governor from 1921 to 1925. His most enduring public legacy grew from a decades-long effort to acquire and donate land around Mount Katahdin for permanent protection.

Education and early career

Baxter attended schools in Portland and in England while his father researched historical documents. He graduated with honors from Bowdoin College in 1898 and earned a law degree from Harvard Law School in 1901. Although he did not practice law, he managed family business interests, traveled widely, and became active in public affairs.

He was the son of James Phinney Baxter and Mehitable Proctor Cummings Baxter.

A career in state government

Baxter served in the Maine House of Representatives from 1907 to 1909 and then in the State Senate from 1909 to 1911. After losing his seat in the 1910 elections, he returned to the House following the elections of 1916 and 1918. He won election to the Senate again in 1920 and became president of that chamber.

His elevation to the governor’s office followed the death of newly elected governor Frederic H. Parkhurst shortly after Parkhurst took office. Under Maine’s constitutional succession rules, the president of the Senate became governor. Baxter was reelected in 1922 and completed his second term in 1925.

Policy and public life

As a legislator, Baxter challenged powerful utility, water, and forestry interests. He favored preserving Maine resources for use within the state, opposed the transfer of public land to railroad and timber companies, and supported public ownership of wildlands. The measure known as the “Fernald Law” prohibited the export of electric power from Maine.

Baxter was fiscally conservative. As governor, he reduced support for the University of Maine, including the closure of its law school, and opposed federal financial assistance to dependent children on states’ rights grounds. During the rise of the Ku Klux Klan in the 1920s, he opposed its aims and appointed Catholics and Jews to government positions.

Creating a wilderness park

Baxter sought state action to protect land around Mount Katahdin. When the legislature did not authorize a public purchase, he began acquiring the land himself. Over many years, he negotiated with landowners and paper companies for parcels in the Katahdin region.

Beginning in 1931, Baxter transferred parcels to the state. By 1955, the outline of Baxter State Park was largely complete. His gifts ultimately included 28 parcels, along with management instructions and an endowment intended to preserve the land’s wilderness character.

The presidential proclamation establishing Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument later recognized Baxter’s work and the importance of his 1920 trip through the region.

Other gifts and legacy

In 1946, Baxter donated Mackworth Island to the state for public purposes and as a sanctuary for wildlife. When he died in 1969, his estate also provided bequests to a variety of organizations, projects, and individuals.

His legacy joins public service with an unusually sustained personal conservation project. The park bearing his name remains the clearest expression of his belief that Maine’s wildlands should be protected for future generations.