The town of Addison, Maine was given permission to incorporate by the General Court of Massachusetts on February 14, 1797. The settlers chose the name in honor of the British writer Joseph Addison.
The earliest town records were lost but information has been pieced together from original family documents. The earliest settlers that we have knowledge of were: Moses Plummer, William Ingersoll who came around the Revolutionary War, the Drisko brothers, John, Joseph and Samuel Nash, Daniel Merritt, John Hall, William Tibbetts, Charles Tabbutt and Lemeul Dyer. Later documented settlers were Jeremiah Plummer (son of Moses), Freeman Yates, William Hix and Wilmot Wass. And many of the present Cape Split residents are direct descendants of the earliest settlers. And that is how Cape Split chapel began…
Gilman Wass, son of Wilmot helped build a new schoolhouse in 1875 using hand hewn beams cut from the timber on the small cape. His son, Harry S Wass and most of Gilman’s grandchildren and great grandchildren attended school there.
As time went on three generations of Cape Split children had attended school in that building. There was no electricity, no plumbing, and the only heat was supplied by a wood stove.
For almost 70 years, the building was used as a school, until 1943 when it was announced that the grades one through six would attend school in Mooseneck and grades seven and eight would move to the (now demolished) S.S. Nash School in the center of town.
Eventually the building was repurposed as a church and the school bell was used to announce events such as the end of War War II.
Chapel services were conducted for over 30 years. The membership eventually decided to incorporate as Cape Split Chapel in March 1983.
In 1998 a new belfry was constructed in the memory of Roland Nims, a long time community member and trustee. In June 1998 at the time of the dedication of the Belfry the original school bell rang out once again from the top of Cape Split Chapel.
In 2025, the 150th anniversary of the building, the name changed back to Cape Split Schoolhouse. The purpose of the facility as a community center had expanded beyond the confines of the word "chapel” and the original name was restored.
