How Bangor Got Its Name by Mistake

Turns out the founding folks of Bangor had a super lame name picked out, but instead named us after a groovy tune.

One story suggests this is how Bangor got its name. In 1791 a dude named Rev. Seth Noble and his 200 to 300 neighbors, at the time, decided they should be considered a town. Because Maine was technically Massachusetts (it was a dark time), Noble had to travel to Boston to petition the Massachusetts General Court to become incorporated.

The name that the town agreed on was Sunbury...which is fun to say with a fancy British accent. Noble was quite the organist and composer. While waiting to be heard by the court, he started jamming out (whistling) a Welsh hymn called 'Bangor.' According to BangorInfo.com that toe-tapper (and surly an early ages Billboard chart topper) goes a little something like this:

"Hark! From the tomb a doleful sound;
My ears attend the cry.
Ye living men, come view the ground where you must shortly lie.
Princes, this clay must be your bed,
In spite of all your towers;
The tall, the wise, the reverend head,
Must lie as low as ours.
Great God! Is this our certain doom?
And are we still secure?
Still walking downward to the tomb,
and yet prepare no more.
Grant us power of quickening grace, to fit our souls to fly.
Then, when we drop this dying flesh,
we'll rise above the sky."

We think The Biebes should cover it.

Anyway...a court official asked Noble 'what do you want to name your town?' Noble was caught off guard and thought the court dude said 'what's that groovy tune your singing?' so he said 'Bangor.'

Boom! Bangor was named, by mistake!

Bangor was officially incorporated February 25, 1791. Historians still don't know why Noble didn't correct the name.

Hey we're cool with it!