Ross W. Stahl during an oral history recording session at
Atria Senior Living in Kennebunk, ME on March 20, 2001.
On March 20, 2001, Seashore Trolley Museum volunteers, Edward (Ed) Dooks and Phil Morse visited
Ross W. Stahl, at his Atria residence in Kennebunk, Maine. The purpose of the visit was to record oral history recollections from Ross from when he was growing up in Kennebunk early in the 20th century. Here are portions of the transcript from the recording.
A resource for educators
Maine Historical Society has created companion lesson plans inspired by Teddy Roosevelt, Millie, and the Elegant Ride - These State-standard-based lesson plans are for classroom use in grades 6, 7, and 8. The lesson plans and companion vocabulary and reading activities are available as free downloads through the Seashore Trolley Museum's website at www.trolleymuseum.org/elegantride/ or Click Here.
The eight Social Studies/ELA units were also uploaded to the Maine Memory Network and are available with other statewide lesson plans K-12.
The audiobook is now available Click HERE to go to the Audible page. the eBook is available Here
This blog post was created specifically to support the new lesson plan titled:
* Then and Now: Life in Maine
Objectives:
* Students will practice the skills involved in analyzing primary sources.
* Students will be able to describe life on an early 20th century Maine family farm and how life has changed in Maine since the early 1900s.
* Students will be able to describe the differences between attending school in the early 20th century and attending school today.
This post is to provide supplemental information, images, and descriptions in support of research using the primary source from the collection of an oral history recording of Ross W. Stahl in 2001 when he was 89-years old.
Ruth Stahl was also in attendance.
Transcript segments from March 20, 2001 interview recorded at Atria Senior Living in Kennebunk, ME:
Ed Dook: Okay, Ross, if I could have your name.
Ross Stahl: Ross Warren Stahl.
Ed Dooks: And what year were you born?
Ross Stahl: I was born, December 2, 1912.
Ed Dooks: And you lived where, when you were a child growing up?
Ross Stahl: Well, I was born in Kennebunk on Grove Street...Grove Street.
00:01:11
My home presently is at 67 Portland Road, Kennebunk.
I moved there with my mother and father and a work team and a few possessions, in 1916.
00:01:25
Ed Dooks: What is a work team?
Ross Stahl: A farm wagon.
Ed Dooks: A farm wagon with a horse?
Ross Stahl: Yes.
Ed Dooks: Your moving van was a farm wagon with a horse.
Ross Stahl: Right.
Ed Dooks: Were all horses back then...mostly?
00:01:35
Ross Stahl: I'll say, very few cars.
Ed Dooks: Very few cars back then.
Ross Stahl: I'll answer it that way.
Ed Dooks: Your first experience with the trolley system...do you remember your first...
Ross Stahl: Well...I do...I was very young...I recall riding from Biddeford to the Town House [Kennebunkport] where the terminal was at the Town House in the streetcars...I was on a streetcar.
Kennebunkport, from Town House Junction circa 1907. In the
background to the left is the large brick ASLRwy carbarn/
offices. (now the footprint for McCabe's) The waiting station
in the center of the photo had a creamery. The building on
the right is the Town Hall that was later relocated.
The combination car on the right could carry express freight
and passengers. That section of the line could lead to
Kennebunk, Cape Porpoise, or Biddeford.
O. R. Cummings Collection
00:2:00
Ed Dooks: What kind of streetcar...do you recall?
Ross Stahl: Well, all I can remember...it had a big...one of them pot-bellied stoves...in the...that's what impressed me when I was small...yeah.
Ed Dooks: When you got to Town House, what do you remember about Town House?
From under the eave of the "new" passenger waiting-station
at Town House Junction, First Congregational Church is seen
on the left. The tracks that you see turning left are heading
up Log Cabin Road, where the tracks would turn right at
what is now the main entrance to Seashore Trolley Museum.
The tracks that turn to the right in front of the First
Congregational Church lead to the right-of-way to Cape
Porpoise and pass by the coal pocket seen on the right.
The mainline track to Cape Porpoise passed on the south
side of the coal pocket en route to Cape Porpoise.
O. R. Cummings Collection circa 1916
Ross Stahl: Well, I don't know whether we...it was the terminus of the streetcars...I don't know whether we had to change to come to Kennebunk or not, I can't recall that.
The new waiting station at Town House Junction
was opened in 1915. O. R. Cummings Collection
Ed Dooks: But do you remember the atmosphere there...uh...you know, was there bustling or lots of cars or...
Ross Stahl: No, I don't think I would recall lots of cars. I presume they were probably people there where the terminal was...where people interchanged for various routes on the street railway. But as for the ride to Kennebunk, I don't recall that. But I do recall the trolleys in Kennebunk. You know, going up and down the main street and uh...and they tell me that at Cape Porpoise...at the extremity of the...at the parking lot at Cape Porpoise there was a big pavilion there, that was owned by the street railway...for dancing and whatever.
Construction of the trestle and pier coal wharf to
Bickford Island in Cape Porpoise, of the
Sanford & Cape Porpoise Railway was completed
in the fall of 1899. It wasn't until the spring of 1900
that the hauling of coal commenced operations.
A portion of the casino is seen on the left.
PWM Postcard Collection
The approx. 100-feet by 50-feet casino on Bickford Island
in Cape Porpoise had its grand opening on July 20, 1900. It
was not rebuilt after it burned down late summer, 1915.
O. R. Cummings Collection
Trolley tracks still visible on Pier Road to Bickford Island.
Circa 1923. The hauling of coal from Cape Porpoise to
Sanford ended in 1913. In 1914, the Cape Porpoise coal
trestle was abandoned. The salvaged rails from the
trestle were installed on the road to access the Casino at
Bickford Island. Bus service to Cape Porpoise
took over for the trolley service in 1925.
Image - Kennebunkport Historical Society
00:03:10
And then coming down from Sanford, which we would probably call West Kennebunk area, there was a big pavilion there on the Mousam River. And that was owned by the Street Railway.
Map by Charles D. Heseltine of the
Sanford & Cape Porpoise Railway shows
the Old Falls Park just over the West
Kennebunk town line.
Map from the 2015 book by NEERHS
"The Illustrated Atlas of Maine's
Street & Electric Railways 1863-1946
00:03:27
.
Ross Stahl: Yes, I never attended any of them because I was too young. But I do remember the streetcars in Kennebunk and when they were hauling coal to the Sanford mills.
This locomotive serviced the highly successful Goodall Mills
in Sanford, bringing carloads of coal from Cape Porpoise.
No. 1 was the original locomotive for the Mousam River
Railroad. Built in 1892, it was a four-wheel, single-truck
weighing ten tons with only two, 30-hp Westinghouse
motors, but it could handle up to 45-tons relatively easily.
O. R. Cummings Collection
Ed Dooks: When they were hauling coal how many cars did they have on that train do you remember?
Ross Stahl: No, I would not.
Ed Dooks: Was there a lot or just one or two?
Ross Stahl: I would say, just a few.
Ed Dooks: Do you remember the coal pocket down at Cape Porpoise?
Ross Stahl: No I don't remember that. I remember the coal pocket at Kennebunkport but I don't think that was connected with the street railway. That was owned by Silas Perkins. Yeah, and the coal boats used to come in there and unload there. But I don't recall the coal pockets at Cape Porpoise.
The coal pocket on the right-of-way going to Cape Porpoise
was just east of the First Congregational Church at Town
House junction in Kennebunkport. There was separate coal
storage in Kennebunkport next to the river on Ocean Avenue.
Circa 1914 O. R. Cummings Collection
00:04:11
Ed Dooks: And you don't remember any boats coming into Cape Porpoise, then, with coal?
Ross Stahl: With coal, no.
Ed Dooks: What did your family mainly use trolleys for...transportation going to do what?
00:04:29
Ross Stahl: We used it because we had no other means of transportation but the horse and wagon.
Ed Dooks: So, what would be some of the typical reasons why you'd get on the trolley and go somewhere? Where would you be going?
Ross Stahl: Well, I primarily think I went with my mother shopping to Biddeford. Yeah, but, I can't recall where I got on and off in Biddeford or anything like that, but I do remember riding. I suppose it was parts what we know now as Arundel. Where the streetcar came through actually, it would be by where your present location is. Where you have your historic cars. [Trolley Museum entrance at Log Cabin Road]
An Atlantic Shore car on Adams Street with the Biddeford
City Hall on the right in this image. Buses took over trolley
service between Biddeford and Sanford in 1927.
O. R. Cummings Collection
00:05:09
Ed Dooks: Do you remember anything about that...what did you see..what was there to see at that point?
Ross Stahl: At the terminus at the Town House?
Ed Dooks: Going through Arundel where the Museum is now located.
Ross Stahl: No, no I just...track, that's all.
Ed Dooks: Just track and trees.
00:05:21
Ross Stahl: Yeah, but I think at the time at the Town House, they had a turntable. iI I remember correctly. Put the cars on to turn 'em. I know the railroad had a turntable...the trains used to leave at Kennebunk railroad station for Kennebunkport and they had a turntable for the engines down there. But that was the Boston and Maine Railroad of course.
Ed Dooks: Do you remember what they called that train?
Ross Stahl: No, I don't recall.
Ed Dooks: Let's go back to the Arundel area. Do you remember any crossings there?
Ross Stahl: No, I don't.
Ed Dooks: You don't remember any stops?
00:06:12 en
Ross Stahl: No, I don't. I just remember the uh, motorman running the car and the big stove and I can't...I suppose it...I can't recall...it didn't seem to me like it was a cold time of the year that I was riding, but I remember the facilities in the car. And of course, I remember the open-air cars that they used in the summertime, like from Biddeford to Old Orchard. I recall those, if that was the same railway, I presume it must have been?
Ed Dooks: That would have been, um, the Biddeford and Saco Railroad.
Ross Stahl: Biddeford-Saco, yeah, okay, I go along with that.
Ed Dooks: The trolley line that ran down through Arundel, that would have been the Atlantic Shore Line.
Ross Stahl: Atlantic Shore Line, right.
Ed Dooks: And later, York Utilities.
00:06:55
Ross Stahl: And later York, yeah, right, okay...I go along with that name...yeah.
Ed Dooks: So, going up to Old Orchard, could you describe a trip that you might have made?
Ross Stahl: I never rode them but I recall the men walking on the side of their cars, taking the tickets, and so forth like that. And the fares.
As Mr. Stahl mentioned the term "and so forth" as to tasks of
the motorman and the conductor on open trolley cars of the
Biddeford and Saco Railroad; here, on the roof of Car 31, are
Edward and Foster Leavitt making repairs to a broken trolley
pole rope. The open car, full of passengers on a return trip
from Old Orchard Beach. They are on tracks on Old Orchard
Road in Saco. Circa 1938. Car 31 operated
in the area from 1900 until July 5, 1939, before being
saved and brought to Kennebunkport, on July 15, 1939.
In 1900, Biddeford and Saco Railroad
open car No. 31 was built and is seen here operating
at its home, Seashore Trolley Museum in
Kennebunkport, Maine. This day in July,
2019, was commemorating the 80th
anniversary of Car 31 being saved and the
beginning of what would become
Seashore Trolley Museum.
Car 31 is listed in the National Register
of Historic Places. PWM
Ed Dooks: Do you remember how much?
Ross Stahl: No, no, I don't.
Ed Dooks: Do you remember any little stories that come to mind about trolleys?
00:07:28
Ross Stahl: Well, I used to know a man in Kennebunkport, the name of Alvin Stone, who was a motorman on the line, and that's the only person I ever knew that was connected with it.
Ed Dooks: Tell me about Alvin Stone.
Ross Stahl: Well, he was a large man. He was a motorman on the cars, you know, operating the cars. And I suppose my parents must have told me, or my mother must have told me, who he was because, you know, I had no knowledge of Mr. Stone at all at that time. But I knew that I was told, I presume, by my mother, who he was and that he was a motorman on the line. Big man, yes, and later on he ran, a, uh, a little store in the square at Kennebunkport. He sold periodicals, newspapers, and smokes, and stuff like that. Nice man.
Entering Dock Square, Kennebunkport, from Spring Street,
is No. 13 of the S&CP. No. 13 was the first trolley on
opening day to carry passengers to the B & M Railroad
station on Summer Street, Kennebunk, August 19, 1899.
Ed Dooks: Do you remember them coming into Dock Square and turning the trolley around?
00:08:25
Ross Stahl: No, I don't, no. Well, I remember one thing. I remember the line had a terminus on Summer Street right near where the railroad track crosses.
The B&MRR passenger station at Summer Street, Kennebunk
PWM Postcard Collection
Express motor and Freight cars No. 105 and No. 101 are
equipped with couplers so they can connect to railroad
boxcars and "flats" (trailers). These cars and the locomotives
would enter the Boston & Maine Railroad spurs in Springvale,
West Kennebunk, and Summer Street in Kennebunk,
to transport box cars and flats for businesses. This
photo is on Summer Street near the B & M bridge.
O. R. Cummings Collection
West Kennebunk B & M Railroad Station photo courtesy of
Kennebunkport Historical Society via Sharon Cummins
00:08:40
You could get off the train and just walk up a few steps and get on the trolleys if you wished to go to Sanford or whichever direction you were going. And that terminus was there up until...the house was built some few years ago there. It was a vacant building for a long while. It was for the street railway people to go inside and undercover. It was a nice little building.
It is believed that this S&CP waiting station on Summer Street
was built in 1902 on the northwesterly end of the bridge
passing over the B&MRR. Designed along the lines of a
typical steam railroad depot, it was designated as
the Kennebunk Station, complete with a lunch counter
and restroom facilities.
O. R. Cummings Collection
Ed Dooks: Did they have many of those little buildings along the tracks?
Ross Stahl: Not to my recollection, no.
Ed Dooks: So that was the only little shelter...
Ross Stahl: That's the one that impressed me. Where the tracks went up Summer Street like where the street railway came from Kennebunkport and I suppose, people going to Sanford and so forth.
Locomotive No. 102 is seen here on Summer Street in
Kennebunk pulling three B & M Railroad "shorty" flatcars.
In 1906, when built, No. 102's cab was originally the same
configuration as its peer locomotives, Nos. 100 and 101.
101's cab was removed and was attached to the cab of 102.
101 remained in its original configuration through its
retirement in 1949. It then came to Seashore Trolley
Museum and was utilized extensively for many years.
100's restoration was completed in 2009.
Atlantic Shore Line electric locomotive No. 100 operating
at the Museum in July 2019. ASL-100 is in the National
Register of Historic Places. PWM
00:09:20
Well, I remember when the street railway went under the U.S. Highway in Wells. [Cozy Corner] Where the turnpike is now there. They had a revetment there. They dug down deep and the streetcars were on a different level than the highway. I remember that. But that wasn't because I was riding in a car. It was later, I rode in an automobile to see that.
Looking south from what we know as Route One. The
Atlantic Shore Railway dipped under the Boston & Maine
RR bridge that is just north of Cozy Corner intersection at
Route 9 in Wells, leads to Kennebunk/Kennebunkport.
O. R. Cummings Collection
Looking north towards Kennebunk from the
Cozy Corner, Route 9 intersection in Wells.
O. R. Cummings Collection
My grandmother's brother, Howard True, was the owner of
the Cozy Corner Restaurant in Wells at Route 9 and
Route One intersection. Circa 1952
Photo courtesy of Allan Evelyn
Ed Dooks: You remember seeing that?
00:09:49
Ross Stahl: Yes.
Ed Dooks: How many years did the trolleys run...Do you remember...
Ross Stahl: I do not know. I couldn't tell you. I don't know what year they terminated their operation.
00:10:05
Ed Dooks: Do you remember the buses starting?
Ross Stahl: No, I couldn't tell you what the year would be on that.
Ed Dooks: I was just thinking...the atmosphere of the buses starting. Do you remember the buses coming in? The feeling you may have had um...the trolleys are now gone. Now the buses are now here and we now have to use buses
00:10:32
Ross Stahl: Well, of course, at that time, my recollection of buses they would be running between Boston and Portland. And I do remember those lines because I worked for the Boston and Maine Railroad for twenty-two years. And I worked on their bus division between Boston, Portland, and Bangor.
Ed Dooks: What did you do?
Ross Stahl: Operator.
Ed Dooks: Operator. So, you drove buses?
Ross Stahl: For 22 years and then later I worked two years for the Bangor and Aroostook Railroad. From Bangor to Fort Kent.
Ed Dooks: What did you do on the Bangor and Aroostook?
Ross Stahl: Operator for their bus line.
Ed Dooks: So, you drove buses for a career.
Ross Stahl: Well, at that time, yes. I was young. Then later, I went to World War II. I was in the Navy for four years, and after that, I worked for my son in the painting business. I had papers in the merchant marine and I worked on passenger ships to Europe and I worked during the Vietnam War running to Vietnam from the west coast. Implements of war.
Ed Dooks: That must have been an interesting career then?
Ross Stahl: Well, it was employment.
00:11:45
Ed Dooks: Let's go back to the trolleys. Do you remember how they collected the fares when you get on the trolley? Did you pay when you get on or pay when you get off?
Ross Stahl: That I can't tell you. No, I wish I could help you, but I can't.
Ed Dooks: Do you remember how the motorman drove the trolley? Do you remember what he did?
Ross Stahl: Well, he had the handles up there that give it the power I suppose. And then to have it brakes work; back and forth like that. I was young and I wasn't allowed up there to stand nearby him but I could observe from where I sat in the car...yeah.
00:12:17
Ed Dooks: Remember anything about while you were sitting there observing...do you remember anything that comes to mind that you saw?
Ross Stahl: No, no, just watching the man operate it, that's all. I don't recall whether we gave him or how we paid with tickets or cash. I can't give you an answer to that.
Ed Dooks: Do you remember the type of seats they had in the car...were they wooden seats, cane seats?
Ross Stahl: No, I think...no, no, I can't tell you that. You know...I know, there seem to be a lot of them...[chuckle]
Ed Dooks: That's an interesting thing about people that used the trolley daily...that they...it was just the thing they got on and they got off and they just don't recall. You know, that one thing I've found by doing these interviews...trolleys were part of their life and they don't really pay that much attention.
Ross Stahl: Well, see I was extremely young, and as I say, I never used it to commute because I never was working or anything in those days you know I was young. At the time I recollect riding from Biddeford, I presume I was in the early grades of grade school maybe, or something like that.
00:13:35
Phil Morse: Oftentimes trolleys have advertising up in...
Ross Stahl: I believe there was...overhead...I think I remember... of it...you know about it. It wasn't something that impressed me as a young person in those days. But I think there was overhead. And as I recall the only riding I ever did was in the daytime on the streetcars. You know whereas they would be lit up inside at night, I presume.
Ed Dooks: Do you remember...I know a lot of boys at that time used to hop the back of the trolley cars and ride on them.
Ross Stahl: No, no...I would have been instructed by my parents not to do anything like that and I wouldn't. I'd be very much afraid of that. I do recall them going up and down Main Street in Kennebunk, as I say, hauling coal or some commodity for the operation of the line. And also, I remember you know, periodically the streetcars, I don't know, frequently they ran to Kennebunk going one way or the other. I suppose they were going mostly to Sanford or Wells. The only two places they would be going I guess.
What is now Route One near the Kennebunk/Wells town line.
Looking south, with what is now the Water District building
on the right. O. R. Cummings Collection
00:15:01
Ed Dooks: The coal that was being pulled up to the mills. Was that pulled by a regular streetcar with passengers on it?
Ross Stahl: No, no, no, no...they had a freight engine I think. I presume. That was bituminous coal, of course.
a small open car and express motor on the outside track, three
coal cars on the inside track, and a schooner in the background.
Coal arrived at the trestle via barges and schooners.
Circa 1910 O. R. Cummings Collection 2009_2_42_095
Phil Morse: We see in some photographs of the Atlantic Shore Line in Kennebunk, that there was a terminus right on the corner of Water Street and Main Street.
Ross Stahl: Okay.
Phil Morse: Do you recall any activity...
Ross Stahl: No, I don't.
Phil Morse: It would have been across the street from where Keslin Shoe was.
Ross Stahl: Okay, yeah.
Phil Morse: Corner there...the trolleys would come down Storer Street...and Fletcher Street...and on occasion, a freight car might cross from Storer Street over to Water Street and then from 1907, I think, it was, continued the track and finished down what we now call Route One toward Wells. What we picture of a place where people would pay/buy their tickets and so forth.
Unmarked postcard Looking north on Main Street Kennebunk.
The small building on the right in the foreground is on the
corner of Main and Water Streets and is where
tickets were sold for the trolley. This stretch of trolley track on
Main extending from Fletcher Street south all the way to
York Beach was opened on July 20, 1907. This portion of the
line was discontinued on March 31, 1924. Track down Storer
Street to Main Street and the Main Street section from Fletcher
Street to Storer Street was completed on November 14, 1899.
The spur-track from Storer Street, crossing Main Street
and down Water Street, was completed in 1901. PWM
Atlantic Shore Line electric locomotive No. 100 in 1907,
one year after having arrived in Maine is seen here in the
Goodall Mill yard pulling a train of railroad boxcars. A similar
scene would take place to provide freight service to Water Street
businesses. The locomotive and the motor express freight cars
transported coal, and materials for mills and factories.
O. R. Cummings Collection
Ross Stahl: I don't recall that, but I recall coming down Storer Street to Main Street, that on the right-hand side of Water Street, there was a building there...was a fruit store there. And I think, a restaurant there, and uh, that was on the right-hand side, which now there's nothing there. That's the beginning of a little park there now. And of course, uh, on Water Street, Roger's Fiber, and Walton Trunk.
00:16:49
Ed Dooks: I need to change the tape...just a minute.
Phil Morse: Mr. Stahl was describing some of the businesses on Water Street.
Ed Dooks: [Change of tape] Where were we...he's going to take a picture for the newsletter.
00:17:45
Ross Stahl: One thing, where the Cumberland Farms is now, there was a monstrous building that paralleled the river as it's going towards the ocean there, and it was called the Rag Mill. And, uh, they collected rags...from all over the world apparently. If you brought them in, they weighed them and pay you for 'em. Uh, you know, would segregate them...with the wool...from other cloth...ground them up and made carpets or whatever. They didn't make the carpets here, but they collected the rags... and that was there for years. And on the Water Street of course the buildings that I told you about, Roger's Fiber where they made counters for shoes.
00:19:00
Phil Morse: In later years there was a diner there...wasn't there
Ross Stahl: Jones's diner....oh yes, right...that paralleled Route One...yeah, yeah, that was there. Mr. Jones, [Ernest L. Jones] he was a high sheriff for York County for a while and a nice man. He lived in Kennebunk. And he ran that diner for years until it closed I guess. Well, of course, he expired, and I think it was probably operated a while afterward by some of his family. He had a daughter. I think she ran it for a while.
Phil Morse: The other side of the river, in later years there was a laundry there, White Star Laundry.
Ross Stahl: On Water Street. Frank Rutter ran a laundry there. Yeah, he, uh, I forget, that, I presume, I don't know whether he had a technical name, just Kennebunk Laundry, that was...just about where the park is now, yeah. Large building there. Yeah, he had laundry for years.
00:20:05
Ed Dooks: Do you remember how Frank spelled his last name.
Ross Stahl: Rutter, R.U.T.T.E.R
Phil Morse: Then on the other side of Water Street there used to be an IGA there or A...
Ross Stahl: A & P...yeah A. on the corner...yes, uh, that building of course has been renovated many times now. Recently, it's been renovated by Mr. Bowley, and he, uh, has fixed it up very well, looks very nice. Though there were other buildings on Water Street, then there was, uh, a man by the name of Mr. Bragdon. An elderly man. A carpenter and he owned every one of the small houses on the left-hand side of Water Street. And they are all still there, I think, and they've been rejuvenated and they look very respectable now. It was, of course, an extremely low rent area, in my day, down there. And I knew Mr. Bragdon. And he had a daughter, Martha Bragdon. And she worked for Mr. Rutter in the laundry, and she occupied one of the houses there with her Dad.
00:21:10
Ed Dooks: How did Mr. Bragdon spell his name.
Ross Stahl: B.R.A.G.D.O.N., yeah. I can't think of his first name.
Phil Morse: Then on Main Street, there was a barber (shop) there for many, many years, right...
Ross Stahl: Yeah ...a barber...there was a fellow named William Russell, he was where the little real estate place there, Mr. Winston owned. That was...I think he was located in the brick building on the corner there...that's still there. I think he had a barbershop there and on the other side of the street, there was a man by the name of David Trembly, that had a barbershop there for many years. Then prior to Mr. Trembly, I think the man whose name was George Galluccia (sp?). I recall going there when I was very young.
00:22:20
Ed Dooks: Would you like to take a stab at how you spell Galluccia...
Ross Stahl: I cannot tell you...no. [chuckles]
Phil Morse: Then there was Fiske drugstore.
Ross Stahl: yeah up on the corner of the Ross Building...right...they tell me the Ross Building had two stories to it, then the third was put on later...and uh, that was the largest building in...on the Main Street...was brick...all brick...is still there. It's amazing it's stood all the years and that brook that runs under it is very famous...Scotsman's Brook (sp?) runs out under the building runs under where the new, uh, drug facility has been built where Bowdoin's Drug Store was, and, uh, that empties into the Mousam River.
Maine Street Kennebunk. From Main Street; the trolleys could
head south to Wells and on to York Beach, Kittery, South
Berwick, and Dover, NH; or head west from Main St.
to West Kennebunk, Alfred, Sanford, and Springvale; or
from Main St. turn east on Summer Street and on to Arundel,
Kennebunkport, Cape Porpoise, and Biddeford.
O. R. Cummings Collection
00:23:13
Ed Dooks: When all the people were working in these buildings got out (of work)...I'm going back to the trolley cars...era...uh..did a lot of people use the trolley cars going to and from work in these buildings?
Ross Stahl: I presume if they lived in outlining areas that they had to use the trolleys because there were very few cars. The only people to my knowledge, as I recollect, that had cars might be doctors or veterinarians or something like that...for their type of work. But the individuals, you know they were very few or very, very few.
My father, he worked for Rogers Fiber for 12 years. Not in the buildings on Water Street. If you continue over by where the electric power and light company is now. even beyond there, Rogers had a large factory there with a spur from the mainline railroad tracks coming to it. And, uh, they manufactured the...what they call a leatherboard that's used in the counters of...that go in shoes. They made their own product. And then...and it had to be exposed to the sun for a period of time and all types of weather and they...it uh...some kind of a coating they put on it. And then the counters...they manufactured counters in that factory too...and that factory later was discontinued and torn down and everything was ...went over the Water Street. And that, the uh...the fiberboard...they had exposed places where the fiberboard was exposed to the weather for periods of time on Water Street. And then they would take it to the factory which was across the street and cut it up into the right lengths. And then they molded it on molding machines. I presume the molding machines had some type of heat in it...that would bend the counters because they kept their shape. And Mr. Rogers...he had a factory in Cincinnati as well as this one here...yeah...but Eliot Rogers lived in Kennebunk and his...he had brothers that were involved in the business...called Rogers Brothers...with him. And uh...they uh...they had a...because I know one man that worked in Cincinnati for him for a long while. My father was a shipper at the plant on Water Street for 12 years. And that's about the story...and, and there was another company...and I think it was owned by Rogers too...went under another name called Walton Trunk. They made these canisters for hospitals and laundries and things...to put clothes in with casters on 'em and they could move around. They made a lot...they made that there too.
00:26:15
Ed Dooks: I'm not very clear on what a counter is...what is that...is that part of the shoe?
Ross Stahl: Yeah...yeah...it's the heel part here...every shoe has it...not these, these Japanese-makes like I'm wearing here...but a leather shoe...yeah.
Ed Dooks: So, like a little wedge thing that goes in the heel?
Ross Stahl: Yeah...it fit the contour of the heel, yes...
00:26:40
Phil Morse: So, the legacy for Rogers Company that's left on Water Street would be the pond is named after...
Ross Stahl: Yeah, yeah, well they had their pond there and uh...and I'm trying to remember...they had a bridge that came across...a sling bridge...they came across the stream there...that people from Brown Street used so they wouldn't have to walk all the way around...uh...
00:27:03
Phil Morse: What's a sling bridge?
Ross Stahl: Well, it went with cable...they had a cable...across, you know...and it was a hanging bridge. And the people used that to walk across
Ed Dooks: You couldn't drive any cars across...
Ross Stahl: No, no, no, no, no...just one person...single person could...oh, you could pass another one if they were coming your way....very narrow bridge.
Ed Dooks: Let's go to the wintertime. Do you remember how they plowed the streets in the wintertime?
Ross Stahl: No, they rolled it with big rollers with horses. Monstrous rollers. Probably have four horses or something as I recall it. Because I recall going up by my house where I lived there and there was, you know...
A team of horses pulling a snow roller. There is no
specific date or location noted in the description.
From the J. A. Waterman Negatives Collection at
the Osher Map Library, USM, Portland, Maine.
A team of horses pulling a snow roller. There is no
specific date or location noted in the description.
From the J. A. Waterman Negatives Collection at
the Osher Map Library, USM, Portland, Maine.
And of course, logging was the big business in the winter months because every farmer had workhorses. And they, they, they uh...cut logs...an abundance of lumber around here in those days. William Bartlett...you know where the...the river, the Kennebunk River crosses going toward Biddeford. Okay, well there were sawmills on both sides of the river and the one on this side...the Kennebunk side of the river, was owned by a man named William Bartlett.
This photo was taken from the Arundel side of the Kennebunk
River with William Bartlett's home and barn complex in the
far left background. The Portland Road/Route 1 bridge
over the Kennebunk River in the background upper right.
William Bartlett's mill on the far left next to the river
and the damn in the center of the postcard.
and the damn in the center of the postcard.
Circa pre-1925 probably. Postcard image courtesy of
Kennebunkport Historical Society via Sharon Cummins
He was a big operator. An impeccable...uh, amount of money...his credit was good and he sold grain, groceries...he had a sawmill and everything went by water power. And of course in those days, when the logs would come in, in the winter, be on sleds. Mr. Bartlett would go with his ruler and he'd scale the small end of every log on the back of that sled and he'd tell the man just how many board-feet he had.
00:28:40
You can go in the store and get credit or cash, whichever you want. Okay, take the logs up the side of the river...let them roll out the bank or onto the ice...in the spring they roll on the river. Which is a no, no today. You couldn't put a stick into the river today, you get shot.
Ed Dooks: So, they floated them all downriver?
Ross Stahl: Yeah, right to the mill, yeah. They sawed steady all the time.
Phil Morse: Now across the street from his mill...across Route 1... was a building over there...was it a hotel or uh...
Ross Stahl: Well just above, above where the crossing is...there was another mill up there. I think Mr. Bartlett owned it at one time, but he sold it to a man by the name of Thompson. And uh, he operated it for a long, long while too...sawed lumber. And also they cut a tremendous amount of ice on that river. In the winters. Up there, beautiful ice, clear ice, yeah.
00:29:42
Phil Morse: So, you, I don't recall either a large home or a hotel being on uh...
Ross Stahl: On this side of the river, Mr. Bartlett, right across from his store...is on the right-hand and the mill...he had a tremendous home with a barn. He probably owned ten or twelve teams of beautiful horses.
William Bartlett's Home and barn complex in Kennebunk
on the Kennebunk River on Portland Road (Route 1).
Postcard Circa 1928 Image courtesy of
Kennebunkport Historical Society via Sharon Cummins
across the "new" bridge to William Barlett's home and barn
complex in Kennebunk. Circa 1927 Photo courtesy of
Kennebunkport Historical Society via Sharon Cummins
And you see, the lumber that Mr. Bartlett sawed...if you...I don't want to take your time if you don't want to hear this stuff...no, I, I...when Mr. Bartlett...that lumber that he sawed...the boards came right off the saw...they didn't square-edge them or anything...and the bark was still on them. He took...he owned a lot of lands up back of his house...probably...up where that big nursing facility is now. Huntington Common....he owned all that land follow the river up there. All that lumber was taken up there and they stuck it for two years. They put stickings in between it and then by the time that wood was cured, then the Biddeford Box Company took his entire output. And his teams would haul the lumber from there to Biddeford. They make one trip per day. Because you can't run a workhorse. And it was old Route One which was very crooked in those days and they'd go early in the morning with as much lumber they could stack on that thing and the horses could haul it ...because downgrade to Biddeford. They had to be very careful. They had to chain one wheel and drag it because if it....the horses overran themselves...they break their legs.
00:31:06
Ed Dooks: How do you chain wheel to drag it?
Ross Stahl: With a big chain, put it to the body (of the wagon) and let that wheel drag, so it wouldn't turn...
Ed Dooks: Oh, I see...
Ross Stahl: Yeah...in the winter...had to be awful careful on the snow, when they were hauling it because they would uh...they had various things on the runners of the sleds that would dog-into the snow and hold it back as much as they could because it was very dangerous for horses.
Ed Dooks: When they dragged the wheels, wouldn't that flatten the wheel?
Ross Stahl: No, it was all iron on the wheels, you know, all big heavy iron on the big work wagons, you know...yeah...he had a lot of...that's where the word teamster came from...he had may wonderful teamsters....and he had the most beautiful brass harnesses and things yeah...they kept everything right up but...William Bartlett was a big operator. He lived to be very old. I knew him well.
Ed Dooks: So, he never shipped anything by the trolley freight cars that...
Ross Stahl: Not to my knowledge...no, no, I don't think so. He trucked all this stuff himself to Biddeford.
Ed Dooks: So, I know the early uh...York...not York...Atlantic Shore Line...they were...they incorporated what was called the Mousam River Railroad....we have one of the boxcars.
Ross Stahl: Is that so, I don't recall that...
Ed Dooks: And I was just wondering if any of those boxcars got loaded with products from...
Ross Stahl: Well, I wouldn't want to say no to you, because I wouldn't be telling you that...
Ed Dooks: You don't remember seeing them though?
00:32:40
Ross Stahl: No, I don't recall...William Bartlett ever moving any lumber to the railroad yards to be shipped out...no, everything that I recall...Bartlett's was moved by his own teams to Biddeford, to the box place. It was a big operation in those days because, uh...they employed a lot of people I understand. And, you know, using a tremendous amount of lumber.
00:33:06
The house I live in I own up here now, Ruth and I...ah, is over two-hundred years old and all the boards in the roof....that house is all..uh, just logs that were...they planed one side of 'em or sawed one side of 'em...they're all pegged with wood to hold them...you know...together...and its in excess of two-hundred years old...the house up there. Then we also have 30 acres of land out which borders on the river.
Ed Dooks: Sounds nice.
Ross Stahl: Yeah...
Ed Dooks: Can you think of anything else?
Phil Morse: One of the...at the entrance of the Trolley Museum...
Ross Stahl: Yeah...
Phil Morse: Um...that used to be a crossing...Harris Crossing.
Ross Stahl: Harris Crossing...oh yeah...I hear the whistle at night...the trains there now...I hear that man when he's going through with the big freight at night...I love to hear...
Phil Morse: And Harris's Crossing...one of the things that we read or have heard from folks is that there was a lot of lumber cut up that way and Harris's Crossing was one area where freight motor cars would bring like a flatbed trolley car and they would load lumber...
00:34:20
Ross Stahl: Yeah...I agree...they could have...in the old days those...uh...not only on the rivers...were sawmills, but there were portable mills. They went right into the lots with them in the winter...they always had to have a brook there for water...because there were a lot of portable mills operated in those days you know. they could take 'em in...work all winter in the woods and take them out when the lot was done. And, they're very, uh, successful with that type of mill. Because I've been to them in the woods and seen the operations, and so forth, like that. I never worked in one.
00:34:55
But, my father, when he was alive, had animals and of course, we used to be....always liked to get the fresh sawdust from the sawmills for bedding for the animals.
Phil Morse: Well, with Goff Brook right up by the Trolley Museum...where Harris Crossing is...one reason why they could...probably have a portable mill.
Ross Stahl: Oh yeah...yeah, there was...well, where that little playhouse is in Arundel (Arundel Playhouse)...that lady opened up over there now...I knew the man that owned that and he had a portable mill for years...because he used to bring it home and put it in the dooryard in the summertime...if he wasn't running it...you know...
Phil Morse: Adrienne Grant owns the playhouse now.
Ross Stahl: Okay, yeah, well, the man named Smith (Barbara Smith's husband) owned it when I was there...and he was a...he had operated sawmills...especially portable mill...well he owned them...he owned his own portable mill. And of course, they'd go right into the woods with their crew and set the mill up...and saw.
Ed Dooks: You said he brought the mill home and did what to it...brought it home to his driveway and did what?
Ross Stahl: Yeah, he brought the whole portable mill right home in...it had wheels and so forth...he could move it...um, with a lot of horses, of course, to pull it.
Ed Dooks: You seem to be talking mainly wintertime for logging...is that when they did logging?
Ross Stahl: Yeah, well, it was an awful lot done because when the farmers in summer were tending to their...their...most all of them had cattle....milk cows...or beef cattle or whatever it might be, and of course, in the summer, they had haying to do and the logical time was to work the lumber...logs into the mills in the winter. But no, I'll say they, they, they, hauled them on wheels in the summer too...the logs from the woods. Then later, trucks came along and they would be able to load onto the trucks.
00:36:53
Of course, they didn't have... in those days...it was...uh..the logs were all cut Norwegian Steam...you know...by hand...(laughter). There were no power saws...never heard of such a thing...crosscut saws... big crosscut saws...yeah, I've got some home now.
00:37:10
Ed Dooks: Do you remember a man by the name of Everett Greenleaf?
Ross Stahl: Yes, I do. Very well. I knew him, Everett Greenleaf...he lived on the Sea Road...on the corner of the Heath Road and Sea Road. He owned a lot of lands there. And there was no such thing in those days as automobile parts stores...like your family has (Phil's father). You go to Everett Greenleaf if you wanted a spark plug because he took all kinds of junk cars in, anything, wrecks, or anything...take them all apart...save the parts...put them on shelves, mark what they were...I know one man that worked for Everett Greenleaf...all he did was stand there, week in and week out...and clean old spark plugs. If you wanted a spark plug, you went to Everett Greenleaf and he'd have it. And he also had...they had uh...in those days...water-cooled gasoline engines. Everett had some of those around. You know, if you want to saw your own wood or somethings...you could lease one from him and bring it home.
00:38:11
And of course, William Bartlett, that I speak of, that's another thing he did ...he probably had six or eight teams with one-horse teams...hauling wood to Kennebunk. If you were burning wood...there wasn't no number 2 oil in those days...there was kerosene...for your light....but that...but...William Bartlett...had, he'd haul you slabs cut in any dimension you wanted...if you wanted mixed wood....slabs, and hardwood, you got it...uh...and anything like that...and those teams stay working steadily all the time...hauling, I don't know what a load of wood cost in those days...probably five bucks...four dollars...three...I don't know.
00:38:50
Ross Stahl: Nice fella, I knew him well. Yeah...I'd almost forgotten until you mentioned him...yeah...dear, dear, dear...lot of changes.
Ed Dooks: Well, that's what we're trying to do, capture a little of that past so that people will remember it...understand it, a whole new lifestyle.
Ross Stahl: Well, I wish I could help you more...
Ed Dooks: You've been a great help...
Ross Stahl: Thank you,
Phil Morse: Right along where your family farm is...your home now...just this stretch of what's now Route One...between your farm and downtown Kennebunk has seen a lot of changes...
Ross Stahl: Oh goodness, yes...hasn't it...
Phil Morse: How....what are the significant changes...over the years since you moved into your home, have you seen?
00:39:43
Ross Stahl: Well, uh, mostly that the farms along that street...the place where the little mall is down there now...was called Wonderbrook Farm and it was owned by Alva Smith...and as you leave Kennebunk, the first house on the left, beyond the cemetery gates, was owned by Bertell Smith and they were brothers. And they were big operators in respect to...uh...Bertell Smith on Water Street, he had a grain store. And he had an oil business. And, uh, he had a son, Lendall, and a daughter, Evelyn, I went to with...both expired now. Alva Smith...is where the shopping mall is there now. I guess Lloyd Robinson owns the...what's left of the house...made it into offices and so forth like that. That was Alva Smith.
00:40:41
And, the land adjoining my father's property or the property I own now...was owned by Alva Smith and it went almost to the railroad tracks. And he had a big...a big milk business. And had, uh, you know a dairyman handle his herd of cattle and so forth there. He was a very high-type...all the Smith brothers were high-type men. Top-notch. And uh, that little brook that...there...goes by the house...where the shopping mall is there now...goes right in back of it...like between that and one of the filling stations there was called Wonder Brook. Which they called Wonderbrook Farm. The other set of buildings across the street from there, which is now some man sells automobiles there. I forget his name, Morino or something like that. That was owned by a man named Harry Russel. He was ah... big into cattle. He had a lot of milk cows. And he was big in the log hauling business. He had three sons...two sons...and himself. That was it. And he three teams of beautiful horses. And they would milk fifty cows in the morning by hand and be out there by daylight to the woods hauling lumber to Barlett's...in the old days. He was a very nice man. And all that land up there that Lloyd Robinson developed, which was about one-hundred acres, was up there, that was in the farm.
00:41:18
And across from me, where the Keating boys are now, that was a hundred acres in that. That was owned by ah...first by a man named Sam Hall, who was a cattle dealer. Then another man came out of Minot, Maine, years ago. Sumner, Maine, I should say...and he ah, he came via Sheridan, Wyoming, Yeah, and he was a professional cowboy in Wyoming and he came in and bought that farm and he milked, uh, oh, fifty-seventy-five cows every day. But he had milking machines in those days. And his name was Paul Stevens (sp?). Very high-type man. And uh, now the Keatings own it and they sold all the land of course...pretty much all of it. They own a little left around the buildings, but, that, uh, the house a brick house, was the stagecoach, a stop for the stagecoach when they come through. A rest stop. It was the Hedge Farm years ago and somebody from England came over and they brought the first black sheep to America that was known around here. Because nobody ever had...
00:43:28 - END
We are still in need of funds for creating the interpretation programs that will tell this fascinating 100+-year-old story of the Narcissus. For information on donation options, scroll down this post and find the one that best fits your position. Fund 816 to help with the restoration and Fund 817 (PLI Education-Interpretation programs ) should be noted when making a donation.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Click Here for the post that has the short virtual 3-D video of the digital model of the Narcissus, with components added to the file from earlier this year (the gold leaf file had not been added yet).
Restoration work continues on the Narcissus. The Narcissus is more than 110 years old now and has so many incredible stories to share. The restoration of this majestic icon of Maine's electric railway history is but one of those incredible stories.
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.
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
Seashore Trolley Museum Promo Video
The paperback edition of Teddy Roosevelt, Millie, and the Elegant Ride can be purchased online through the Seashore Trolley Museum's store website. Books purchased through the Museum's website directly benefit the Museum and the Narcissus project.
Click Here to go to the Museum Store web page to order online
Click Here to go to the Amazon page to order the ebook or audiobook online
Paperback books are available at these local bookstores in Maine:
Center for Maine Crafts, West Gardiner Service Plaza
The Book Review, Falmouth
The Bookworm, Gorham
Letterpress Books, Portland
Maine Historical Society Store, Portland
Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad, Portland
Morph Gallery & Emporium, Kennebunk
New Gloucester Historical Society, New Gloucester
Nonesuch Books and More, South Portland
Seashore Trolley Museum, Kennebunkport
Sherman's Maine Coast Book Shops, All Locations
Thompson's Orchard, New Gloucester
Teddy Roosevelt, Millie, and the Elegant Ride
by Jean M. Flahive
Illustrations by Amy J. Gagnon
Listen to a 2-minute, 30-second, Retail Audio Sample of the Audiobook
Millie Thayer is a headstrong farmer's daughter who chases her dreams in a way you would expect a little girl nicknamed "Spitfire" would-running full tilt and with her eyes on the stars. Dreaming of leaving the farm life, working in the city, and fighting for women's right to vote, Millie imagines flying away on a magic carpet. One day, that flying carpet shows up in the form of an electric trolley that cuts across her farm. A fortune-teller predicts that Millie's path will cross that of someone famous. Suddenly, she finds herself caught up in events that shake the nation, Maine, and her family. Despairing that her dreams may be shattered, Millie learns, in an unexpected way, that dreams can be shared.
A resource for teachers
Companion curriculum State-standard-based units,
vocabulary, and reading activities for use in grades 3-8
are available online as downloadable resources through
Seashore Trolley Museum's website
www.trolleymuseum.org/elegantride/
Maine Historical Society has created eight companion lesson units in Social Studies and ELA that were inspired by Teddy Roosevelt, Millie, and the Elegant Ride - These State-standard-based lesson plans for use in grades 6, 7, and 8 are easily adapted for use in grades 3-5. Vocabulary and Reading activities for grades 3-8 along with the eight lesson plan units are available free and may be downloaded through Seashore Trolley Museum's website www.trolleymuseum.org/elegantride/
Go to the Teacher Resource Page in the pull-down for more details.
A 60-second intro to Teddy Roosevelt, Millie, and the Elegant Ride by author, Jean Flahive
Click Here to watch the video on YouTube
Award-winning author, Jean M. Flahive
Please Consider a Donation to the Narcissus Project to help us tell the incredible story of the Narcissus through the interpretation portion of the Narcissus Project.
Here is an example of how donations to the Narcissus Project now will help with the interpretation portion of the project. The interpretation programming will include exhibits, displays, and education programming. In 2019, through generous donations to the Narcissus Project, we were able to conserve, replicate, and have high resolutions digital image files made of the original, 1910, 28.5-foot long, surveyor map of the elevation and grade of the 30-mile private right-of-way of the Portland, Gray, and Lewiston Railroad (Portland-Lewiston Interurban) Click Here
Thank You!
the crowd gathered in Gray, Maine on August 18, 1914.
Image courtesy of Gray Historical Society
The Narcissus as the Sabattus Lake Diner in Sabattus, Maine,
circa 1940. Photo by John Coughlin in the Kevin Farrell
Collection at Seashore Trolley Museum
L. Henri Vallee (right) and family members in the
Narcissus, when it was Vallee's summer camp in
Sabattus, Maine circa 1958. Photo courtesy Daniel Vallee
Inside the Donald G. Curry Town House Restoration Shop, the Narcissus is in the midst of major work as we strive to complete its restoration. We are now planning the interpretation portion of the Narcissus Project. Donations to the Narcissus Project may be used in the future to help tell the incredible 100-plus-year-old story of the Narcissus. Your donation to the Narcissus is helping to make the dream of the project's success, a reality.
See below for Donation options -
It starts with YOU
Your Donation Matters
Make a Donation TODAY
Please Help the Narcissus.
Donation Options to Help the Narcissus Project:
The New England Electric Railway Historical Society
is the 501c3 organization that owns and operates the Seashore Trolley Museum in Kennebunkport, ME, and the National Streetcar
Museum in Lowell (MA).
The New England Electric Railway Historical Society registered with the IRS (EIN# 01-0244457) and was incorporated in Maine in 1941.
Check or Money Order ***** should be made payable to:
New England Electric Railway Historical Society
In the memo: for a donation to the Interpretation programming
please write: PLI Education Fund 817
For a donation to help with the restoration write: Narcissus Fund 816
Mail to: Seashore Trolley Museum
P. O. Box A
Kennebunkport, ME 04046
Credit Card ***** donations can be one-time donations or you
may choose to have a specific amount charged to your card
automatically on a monthly basis. Please contact the Museum bookkeeper, via email at finance@trolleymuseum.org or by phone, at 207-967-2800 ext. 3.
Online Donations - may be made by using a Credit Card:
Click Here to make an online donation through the Museum's website - When at the Donation page: Fill in donor info, etc., when at "To which fund are you donating? Scroll down to "Other" and type in: 816 Narcissus, then continue filling in the required information.
Click Here for PayPal - to make an online donation: you can use email: finance@trolleymuseum.org and in the message box write:
For "Narcissus Fund 816" - if supporting the restoration
For "PLI Education Fund 817" - if supporting Interpretation programs
Donation of Securities ***** We also accept donations of
securities. You can contact the Museum bookkeeper, via email at finance@trolleymuseum.org or by phone, at 207-967-2800 ext. 3,
for brokerage account information for accepting donated securities.
BONUS ***** If you work for a company/corporation that will
"match" an employee's donation to an approved 501c3 non-profit
educational organization, please be sure to complete the necessary paperwork with your employer so that your donation is matched :)
Questions? ***** Please contact Narcissus project sponsor:
Phil Morse, narcissus@gmail.org or call 207-985-9723 - cell.
Thank You :)
Thank You for our Current Funding Partners
* 20th Century Electric Railway Foundation - 2020/2018 - Major Gift, 2017/2014 Matching Grants
* Renaissance Charitable Foundation (LPCT) by Fiduciary Trust Charitable Giving Fund
* Renaissance Charitable Foundation (LPCT) by Fiduciary Trust Charitable Giving Fund
* Mass Bay RRE - 2018 Railroad Preservation Grant
* Thornton Academy (Saco, ME) - Staff & Alumni - Matching Grant Challenge 2014
* New England Electric Railway Historical Society (Kennebunkport, ME) - Member Donations
* Amherst Railway Society - 2015 Heritage Grant
* National Railway Historical Society - 2016 & 2015 Heritage Preservation Grants
* Enterprise Holding Foundation - 2015 Community Grant
* Theodore Roosevelt Association - Member Donations
* John Libby Family Association and Member Donations
* The Conley Family - In Memory of Scott Libbey 2018/2017/2016/2015
* The W. S. Libbey Family - Awalt, Conley, Graf, Holman, Libbey, McAvoy, McLaughlin, Meldrum, O'Halloran, Salto, - 2018/2017
* The Hughes Family 2017/2016/2010
* New Gloucester Historical Society and Member Donations
* Gray Historical Society and Member Donations
* Gray Public Library Association - Pat Barter Speaker Series
* Scarborough Historical Society - PRR/PLI
* LogMein - Matching Employee Donation
* IBM - Matching Employee/Retiree Donations
* Fidelity Charitable Grant - Matching Employee Donations
* Richard E. Erwin Grant - 2017/2016
The Narcissus, with interior back-lit, stained glass windows is majestic.
Make a donation today to help restore the interior of this Maine gem.
Help Theodore Roosevelt's Maine Ride get back on track! Once restored,
you will be able to ride in luxury on this National Register Treasure at
Seashore Trolley Museum in Kennebunkport, Maine.
PWM photo
Please Consider Making a Donation to the project of the National Register of Historic Places member, Narcissus. We are currently raising funds to advance the restoration and to tell the incredible story of this Maine gem.
Various News stories during the summer of 2015 about the
Narcissus and its connection to Theodore Roosevelt. TR
was a passenger on the Narcissus on August 18, 1914.
Patricia Pierce Erikson photo
The Narcissus - July 31, 2015. Make a donation today.
Help Theodore Roosevelt's Maine Ride get back on track!
Once restored, you will be able to ride in luxury on this
National Historic Treasure at
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