Percival Proctor Baxter was born on November 22, 1876 into the wealthy Portland family of James Phinney Baxter, an historian and philanthropist who served six terms as Portland’s Mayor.
Graduating from Portland High School in 1894 and Bowdoin College in 1898, Baxter earned his LL.B. from Harvard in 1901.
Never practicing law but involving himself instead in his extensive real estate business, Baxter served one term in the Maine House in 1905 but lost the next election.
He served in the Maine Senate for the 1909-1910 term, returning to the House in 1916 for two terms.
In 1919 he again returned to the Senate, was reelected and elected President of the body in 1921 when Governor Parkhurst’s death made him Governor.
As Governor, Baxter worked for improvements in Maine’s public education system, fought with some success for conservation and built a new State prison as well as initiating penal reform.
He appointed women to public office, supported prohibition and wrote the nation’s first anti-vivisection law.
Baxter won a term on his own in 1922 but clashes with the Legislature on important issues became more and more frequent. In 1924 he decided not to run again and a 1926 unsuccessful U.S. Senate bid ended his political career.
Philanthropy occupied most of the remainder of Baxter’s life. He gave the State the land which eventually became Baxter State Park.
He also deeded his summer home in Falmouth to the State which eventually became the Governor Baxter School for the Deaf.
He died at age ninety-two in Portland on June 12, 1969.
A bachelor who loved animals, Baxter was often stubborn and often ahead of his time.
The keen eyed visitor to the Maine State House will soon discover, however, that the spirit of Percival Proctor Baxter and his beloved Irish setter, Garry, live on.