Associate Justice of the Maine Supreme Judicial Court Richard D. Rice

(April 10, 1810 – May 27, 1882)

Justice Rice was appointed a Judge of the District Court for the Middle District in 1848. He was appointed an Associate Justice of the Supreme Judicial Court on May 11, 1852. He served until he resigned on December 1, 1863 to take the presidency of the Portland and Kennebec Railroad Company. He died in 1882 at the age of 72 in Augusta.

From Maine Memory Network:
The first automobile in Maine was made in Hallowell in 1858. It was made in the McClench Machine Shop on Water Street. Hallowell residents, Judge Rice and Dr. Hill, supplied the money to build the automobile. George McClench, Frank McClench, and Charles L. Spauding were the builders of the first automobile in Hallowell. The car was powered by a small, locomotive engine. They drove it to Augusta and back to the McClench Machine Shop in Hallowell to be dismantled and not to be run again.

For the mural, Judge Rice is portrayed driving the vehicle on it’s trip to Augusta, illustrating an account from the time in a local paper.