Above: L-R, Theodore Roosevelt, Elliot Roosevelt, Maud Elliott,
Corinne Roosevelt, John Elliott. Cousins began a reading club while
living in Dresden, Germany. The summer of 1873 was the summer after TR
would first visit Maine. He traveled to Moosehead Lake Region.
TRC 520.12-018 Houghton Library, Harvard University
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He would return to Maine in early September 1878 when he was a junior at Harvard University. This was one of three trips, over the next 12 months, to Maine guide, William Sewall’s, Island Falls home, in Aroostook County, Maine.
TR, late in his sophomore year at Harvard, ca 1878 May
His first visit to Island Falls, Maine was in September 1878
TRC 520.12-003, Houghton Library, Harvard University
Theodore would again visit Maine during the summer of 1880. He would stay with a friend at Schooner Head in Bar Harbor and explore what is now Acadia National Park.
Throughout his adult life, Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th President of the United States, expressed how much he treasured his visits to Maine as a young man and in particular, how he truly valued the friends he made in Island Falls, during those visits.
View in Acadia National Park.
PWM image
Throughout his adult life, Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th President of the United States, expressed how much he treasured his visits to Maine as a young man and in particular, how he truly valued the friends he made in Island Falls, during those visits.
“I owe a personal debt to Maine because of my association with certain staunch friends in Aroostook County; an association that helped and benefitted me throughout my life in more ways than one.” (Theodore Roosevelt, Maine My State, The Maine Writers Research Club, 1919, pg. 17, a letter dated, Sagamore Hill, March 20, 1918)
Theodore Roosevelt, William Windgate Sewall, and
Wilmot Dow ca March 1879 somewhere in the Island Falls area
TRC 520.12.-016 Houghton Library, Harvard University
February 28, 1879 - Island Falls - TR's second visit to Island Falls, Maine, with guides William Sewall, and Wilmot Dow - arrived at Mattawamkeag train station at 11 a.m. and took a sleigh to Island Falls with William Sewall.
William Windgate Sewall (with an ax) and Wilmot Dow (with a rifle)
at camp on Pratt Cove, Mattawamkeag Lake, Island Falls, Maine
the file list ca 1921, however, Wilmot died in 1891
TRC 560.12-053 Houghton Library, Harvard University
August 1879 - Island Falls - TR's third, and final trip, to Island Falls, Maine, with guides William Sewall, and Wilmot Dow - on August 26, TR struck out for Mt. Katahdin. He reached the peak on August 29.
image from a postcard, PWM
Chimney Pond on Mt. Katahdin, image from a postcard, PWM
August 1902 - As President - TR traveled via train, through Augusta, Waterville, and several other communities in ME, and on to NH.
On Wednesday, September 3, 1902, Open Car No. 29 of the Pittsfield
Electric Street Railway, struck President Roosevelt's open landau carriage,
and his New England tour came to a tragic end in Pittsfield, Massachusetts.
Secret Service agent William Craig was thrown directly in front of the trolley
and was killed instantly. Craig was the first Secret Service agent to have
died in the line of duty serving a president. President Roosevelt did
receive what was reported then as minor injuries. Later reports have him
bothered by a leg injury received in the accident, for much of his life.
Image from Berkshire Street Railway, 1972, by O. R. Cummings
Then on August 18, 1914, Theodore Roosevelt arrived in Lewiston, Maine by train and after an enthusiastic crowd attended his speech at a Progressive Party rally, TR boarded the Narcissus for Portland.
Lewiston Daily Sun, August 19, 1914 -
The last sentence in the opening paragraph mentions TR boarding the
special car Narcissus the day before.
Published by The Lewiston Daily Sun
8-19-1914
Roosevelt Enters
Published: August 19, 1914
8-19-1914
Lewiston, ME -
This entry follows an introduction by the Hon. Halbert P. Gardner:Roosevelt Enters
This was the signal for Col. Theodore Roosevelt to step forward from the rear of the platform and also the signal for a great demonstration that lasted for exactly 20 seconds. The great mass of cheering people stood, threw their hats in the air, clapped their hands, and shouted long and loud. Someone gave the call of the Bull Moose. This was noticed at once by Col. Roosevelt who said; "That's the real thing. I like to hear it!"
A second demonstration followed which lasted 10 seconds. Then Col. Roosevelt stepped to the front of the platform and said; "At the outset, I want to say that I am glad to be in the home of the Bull Moose. It did me good to hear an old friend."
This entry follows in the final two paragraphs in the section titled,
At the Empire Theatre.
"....he was hurried to the special car (interurban)of the P.G. & L. Interurban Line, which was in waiting in front of the car barn on Middle Street. The start for Portland was made at just 4:20 P.M.
The first stop of the Roosevelt special was made in Lower Gloucester where the Colonel greeted the people from the rear of the platform of the car. At Gray, a big crowd was waiting and demanded a speech. The Colonel was again compelled to address the gathering. Just before reaching West Falmouth the train was again stopped to permit a woman to present Mr. Roosevelt with a large bouquet and a little farther on the stop was made at the West Falmouth station. The party arrived at the Falmouth Hotel in Portland at 5:10 where another large crowd had collected."
Published: August 19, 1914
Copyright © The New York Times
ROOSEVELT GREETED BY CROWDS IN MAINE
PORTLAND, Me., Aug. 18, -
Waves the Farmhouse Bouquet.
Col. Roosevelt left Boston at 8:55 o’clock this morning and got to Lewiston at 2:30 o’clock. As soon as the train entered this State crowds began to appear at all of the little way stations and at several of the stops the Colonel went to the rear platform to shout a few remarks. Lewiston was alive with interest and on the streets and at the meeting, the Colonel was hailed repeatedly as “Our President in 1916.” The enthusiasm seemed to “get to” Col. Roosevelt and make a new man of him.
There was a big overflow meeting at Lewiston, but Col. Roosevelt only had time to say a few words to the crowd before he took a special trolley car for Portland. He was expected all along the route and was given many cheers. As the car slowed up for a curve near a farmhouse a pretty girl ran out and tossed a bouquet of flowers into the rear of the car. The Colonel jumped from his seat and ran to the platform. The last picture that the little family in front of the farmhouse saw was Col. Roosevelt, his face wreathed in smiles, waving the bouquet above his head. Halpert P. Gardner, the Progressive nominee for Governor, exclaimed to THE NEW YORK TIMES correspondent;
“They will talk about that at milking time for months to come. If the Colonel could make a tour of the State like this the Progressive Party would sweep both old organizations out of power.”
Click Here to read about an Award-Winning Maine Author Writing a Book about the Young Girl
Click Here to read about an Award-Winning Maine Author Writing a Book about the Young Girl
Image from, Maine's Fastest Electric Railroad, Portland-Lewiston
Interurban, 1967, O. R. Cummings
Colonel Roosevelt made another summer visit to Maine on August 31, 1916. As he did two years earlier, he again was a passenger on one of the Portland Lewiston Interurbans. This time traveling from Portland to Lewiston. The newspaper reports several places where "moving pictures were taken" and "movie men" were on the scene. Of particular interest is the report below that mentions a movie being taken of TR entering the interurban. How I would love to see that footage. One other anecdotal observation is, while in Gray, he calls out from the rear of the interurban, for the whereabouts of the young girl who gave him a bouquet of sweet peas two years earlier. That story is below.
8-31-1916
Special PLI Cars
Lewiston, ME -
Off to meet the Colonel. Promptly at 10 minutes of 2 Thursday afternoon, the reception committee, which went to Portland to meet Col. Roosevelt, marched out of Lisbon Street to Union Square, where they boarded the two special cars of the Portland-Lewiston Interurban road and went to Portland.
This will make the third visit that Col. Roosevelt has made to Lewiston. The first was in 1902 when he toured Maine, and the second was in 1914 when he spoke here on behalf of the progressive cause.
Published by Lewiston Daily Sun
9-1-1916
Portland, ME -
a passenger in while traveling to Lewiston
from Portland. Ibid
Girl with the Bouquet (Ibid)
When the car approached Gray it was called to the Colonel’s attention that two years ago when he visited Maine a little girl at the Gray station threw him a bouquet of sweet peas. The little girl whose name he did not learn, was in her mother’s arms. When the Colonel took the bouquet and threw a kiss at her, the little miss burst into tears. The Colonel remembered the incident and when the car pulled into the Gray station he was at the rear end. Waving his hat.
He asked: Where is the little girl who gave me the bouquet of sweet peas two years ago? Is she here? I would like to see her”. She evidently was not there, but, many others waved and cheered as the car moved slowly through the station.
Col. Roosevelt also stepped to the rear of the car and waved coming through New Gloucester and again as the car came through the suburbs of Auburn.
There was a large crowd in Union Square to meet the special car which reached this city at 5:15. The car proceeded as far as Park Street. Several salutes were fired as Col. Roosevelt and his party left the car and were again subjects for the movie men.
Theodore Roosevelt made one last public trip to Portland (ME) on March 28, 1918. He would, however, make his final trip to Maine later in 1918.
As detailed in Chip Bishop's book, Quentin & Flora: A Roosevelt and a Vanderbilt in Love during the Great War, Theodore, and his wife would travel to the community of Dark Harbor, in Islesboro, ME, in August of 1918, to grieve the loss of their beloved son, Quentin. Quentin was a pilot during World War I. He was mortally wounded in an aerial battle and his plane crashed in France.
TR himself would die six months later at Sagamore Hill, Oyster Bay, NY - in January 1919.
Theodore Roosevelt made one last public trip to Portland (ME) on March 28, 1918. He would, however, make his final trip to Maine later in 1918.
As detailed in Chip Bishop's book, Quentin & Flora: A Roosevelt and a Vanderbilt in Love during the Great War, Theodore, and his wife would travel to the community of Dark Harbor, in Islesboro, ME, in August of 1918, to grieve the loss of their beloved son, Quentin. Quentin was a pilot during World War I. He was mortally wounded in an aerial battle and his plane crashed in France.
TR himself would die six months later at Sagamore Hill, Oyster Bay, NY - in January 1919.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We continue the restoration work on the 1912, Narcissus, the only surviving high-speed, luxury interurban coach of the Portland-Lewiston Interurban.
Click Here: Narcissus Restoration-Related Posts
Being more than a century old, the stately, "Elegant Ride," Narcissus, is a gem. This shimmering precious stone of Maine transportation history is brilliantly resplendent as it emanates so many elements of history, including; time, places, people, and events, that it was coupled to, that when just a smattering of its seemingly innumerable stories are shared, the contents captivates, fascinates, then generates, interest to learn more 🙋. The majestic Narcissus is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
Please consider joining the epic journey to complete the Narcissus Project by making a donation today!
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The restoration of this majestic icon of Maine's electric railway history is but one in a series of captivating stories containing an abundance of incredible coalition of narratives.
Click Here: History-Related Posts - Narcissus and Portland-Lewiston Interurban
The Narcissus is featured in the national Gold Award-winning novel, Teddy Roosevelt, Millie, and the Elegant Ride. The "Elegant Ride" is the Narcissus. Theodore Roosevelt was a passenger on the Narcissus on August 18, 1914, between Lewiston and Portland, Maine, while campaigning for the Progressive Party candidates.
Click Here: Bookstores and Businesses promoting the Narcissus Project
Independent book publisher, Phil Morse, holding
the Gold Book Award Winner plaque for
the Middle Reader category for The Eric
Hoffer Book Award. Congratulations to
award-winning Maine author,
Jean M. Flahive
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