KENNEBUNKPORT — In a nod to tradition, Kennebunkport is reviving the tradition of awarding the Boston Post Cane to the town’s oldest resident after a decades-long absence.

According to Kennebunkport Town Clerk Tracey O’Roak, a search has been launched to identify the town’s eldest citizen, who will be presented with the cane.

O’Roak said the recipient must be at least 90 years old and have lived in Kennebunkport for at least the past 20 years.

“This is the first time we’ve done this in quite a while,” O’Roak said. “It hasn’t been awarded here for decades.”

The recipient will be awarded a replica of Kennebunkport’s original Boston Post Cane, along with a certificate and it will be presented by a member of the Kennebunkport Board of Selectmen, a member of the Historical Society and the town clerk.

The name of the recipient also will be inscribed on a plaque to be displayed at Kennebunkport Town Hall.

The recipient will retain the honor and the replica cane for the rest of their life at which time the town will again search out and identify Kennebunkport’s eldest resident to be awarded the distinction.

The original Kennebunkport Boston Post Cane has been lost to the annals of time, but O’Roak said two replicas exist, one for presentation and the other on permanent display at the Town Hall. 

The history of the Boston Post Cane is a fascinating saga that has long outlived its founder.

On Aug. 2, 1909, Edwin A. Grozier, the publisher of the Boston Post newspaper, forwarded to the Board of Selectmen in 700 towns in Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Masschusetts a gold-headed ebony cane with the request that it be presented with the compliments of the Boston Post to the oldest male citizen of the town.

Grozier stipulated that no cities were to be involved, only towns, and that the recipient of the cane was to use it as long as he lived or moved away.

Upon the death of the town’s cane recipient, Grozier mandated that the honor should be handed down to the next oldest citizen of the town. That way, the cane would come to be a symbolic representation of the town and not the individual who received it.

The orginal canes were manufactured by J.F. Fradley and Company of New York and came from ebony shipped in 7-foot lengths from the Congo region in Africa. The ebony was cut into cane lengths, seasoned for six months, turned on lathes to the right thickness, and then coated and polished to an elaborate sheen.

Each original cane had a 14-carat gold head some 2 inches long, and was decorated by hand with a  ferruled tip. The cane’s head was engraved with the inscription — Presented by the Boston Post to the oldest citizen of (name of town) — “To Be Transmitted.”

Grozier specified that each participating town’s Board of Selectmen were designated to serve as the trustees of the cane and pledged to keep it always in the hands of the town’s oldest citizen.

Upon Grozier’s death in 1924, the leadership of the Boston Post newspaper was passed to his son. Richard, but by 1956, the newspaper ceased publication.

But the Boston Post Cane tradition endures to this day, although the custom was modiifed to include women in 1930 after considerable controversy at the time.

At its inception, the Boston Post Cane was awarded to the oldest resident in 431 participating towns. As of 2016, more than 517 towns were continuing to award the cane.

For more information and to print a nomination form, visit www.kennebunkportme.gov/town-clerk or call 967-1610. 

O’Roak said all nominations are due by Monday, March 5.

— Executive Editor Ed Pierce can be reached at 282-1535 ext. 326 or by email at editor@journaltribune.com.