Rosemary Davis: My name is Rosemary E. Davis, and I was born on March 6, 1924.
I was born on Pool Road, Biddeford, that’s just beyond where the Westbrook Skating Rink
used to be.
Phil Morse: So, you had some experience riding in trolley cars?
Rosemary Davis: Oh, yes. We had to walk a mile to town and then we’d take the trolley
car to Old Orchard and ride around the loop - up around...up Elm Street and around Five
Points and down Alfred Street...and get off at Pool Street and walk home.
Rosemary Davis: Well, if we were going to Old Orchard we would get on the trolley car.
Rosemary Davis: Oh, the merry-go-round, the pier, everything in Old Orchard.
Phil Morse Well, for some folks, of course, they hear Old Orchard, but they don’t know
what was at Old Orchard, so maybe you can just tell a story… I mean to walk a mile to
catch a trolley to go to Old Orchard?
Rosemary: Oh, we walked a mile to do anything that was uptown! Just to go shopping
or the grocery store, or anything like that.
[1:54]
Phil Morse: So, for you to spend, probably from Biddeford to Old Orchard, a nickel.
How much time would you spend in Old Orchard?
Rosemary Davis: We’d have an hour or so before the trolley car came back, and then
we’d get on and ride back home again.
[2:12]
on the merry-go-round - not the roller coaster though. I never liked the roller coaster.
Rosemary Davis: Well, the horses went up and down, up and down. Oh yeah, that’s right,
I forgot, they used to put the little rings and have the rings come down, and if you caught
one, then you could ride free the next time.
[3:30]
Rosemary Davis: They had open ones and closed ones.
Rosemary Davis: Well, I used to walk a mile to go to school.. up to the Washington Street School and I used to go home at lunchtime and back again! We had an hour and a half for lunch, and I used to walk home and back again at lunchtime.
[4:49]
Rosemary Davis: Sigh, I can’t remember…
[5:01]
Rosemary Davis: Oh, my sisters and I used to go. I had six sisters, and three or four of us would go at a time together. We would go down there and go on the different things. Not too many things because we didn’t have that much money to spend always, but you could go on the merry-go-round for a nickel then.
[5:36]
Rosemary Davis: Oh, we’d walk out on the pier and get an ice cream cone.
Ed Dooks: Did you ever go swimming?
Rosemary Davis: I didn’t, no. If we wanted to go swimming, we went to Fortunes Rocks, down our way.
Fortunes Rocks Beach.
Rosemary Davis: Oh no. No, that was almost 10 miles down to Fortunes Rocks.
Ed Dooks: How did you get there?
Rosemary Davis: Well, we had a car. We’d get down there once in a while.
[6:09]
Phil Morse: You had an uncle (who) was an operator?
Rosemary Davis: Yes, and he used to take us…
[6:26]
Rosemary Davis: My uncle’s name was Franklin Spofford. He has a granddaughter (who) works here too.
Ed Dooks: How would you spell his last name?
Rosemary Davis: S P O F F O R D
[6:44]
Rosemary Davis: He ran the trolley cars between Biddeford, Saco, and Old Orchard, and if he’d see us uptown he’d say “Come on, get on” and we’d get on and he’d put his hand over the thing. So, we used to get on and he’d ride us around and let us off at our street again. So, we had a good ride for nothing! Perhaps I shouldn’t tell that story.
[7:23]
Rosemary Davis: Not now.
[7:26]
Rosemary Davis: Usually we were on Main Street in Biddeford when he’d see us, and he’d go down through Saco and Old Orchard and then come back the Old Orchard Road and on to Route One and then go Route One up to Five Points and back around Alfred Street and then leave us off at Pool Street and we’d go home.
Rosemary Davis: Oh, a good half-hour anyway, or longer.
[8:13]
Ed Dooks: What did he have to do… As you went with him on this trip, what would he be doing with the car, or what would you observe him doing with the car, interacting with passengers, and so forth?
Rosemary Davis: I don’t remember…
Rosemary Davis: All the way around, yes. Of course, they were on (the) tracks. Those cars were on (the) tracks. Trolley tracks.
[8:52]
Rosemary Davis: No. I think he’d go to Old Orchard, and it seems to me, they went over and they came back up the Old Orchard Road onto Route One.
[9:13]
Phil Morse: At the end of the tracks in Old Orchard, right by the railroad tracks, isn’t that where it would stop? The trolley would stop right by the railroad tracks.
Rosemary Davis: Yes, I think they did.
[9:24]
Rosemary Davis: Seems like somehow or other the thing did turn around, but I don’t remember how.
[9:40]
Rosemary Davis: No, there was a machine that you put your money into when you got on.
[9:54]
Rosemary Davis: He sometimes had the open ones, and sometimes he was on the closed ones.
[10:02]
Rosemary Davis: I don’t know. I liked the open one better myself.
Ed Dooks: Why?
Rosemary Davis: Oh, I don’t know... it was just kind of breezy and you didn’t feel closed in at all. I liked those.
meeting point for Biddeford-Old Orchard trips. Circa 1935
[10:15]
Ed Dooks: When would you ride them?
Rosemary Davis: In the summertime.
[10:20]
Phil Morse: Did you ever go out to Old Orchard for the fireworks, when they had fireworks out there? Go out by trolley and watch the fireworks, and then come home by a trolley?
Rosemary Davis: No, we didn’t need to because our house on Pool Street was almost in a straight line with Old Orchard and we could watch the fireworks from our upstairs windows.
[10:44]
Ed Dooks: Apparently everybody in Saco did that!
Rosemary Davis: We lived in Biddeford. We could see them probably better than they did when they were down in Old Orchard. It was just a short way. See, we lived on the river, the Saco River, and it was just down this way and Old Orchard was right there. We weren’t too far from Old Orchard but if you were going to go there, you had to go uptown and around and down to get across the bridge.
[11:13]
Phil Morse: Did you ever visit any family members by a trolley? Walk into town and catch a trolley to go visit any aunts...or uncles, or grandparents?
Rosemary Davis: No.
[11:20]
Phil Morse: Did you ever have any family come to visit you from out of town or out of state that came by a trolley?
Rosemary Davis: No. My relatives, most of them, lived in Goodwin’s Mills. The trolley didn’t go there.
[11:34]
Ed Dooks: Did you ever use the trolley to go down to, say, like York Beach or another…
Rosemary Davis: No.
Ed Dooks: So, you just stayed around the Biddeford and Saco area?
Rosemary Davis: And Old Orchard…
[11:46]
Phil Morse: You might come around down Alfred Street and then, well actually down Elm Street, and then come down Main Street, right by City Hall. The Atlantic Shoreline used to come...the trolley tracks used to come...in right by the City Hall and met up with the Biddeford-Saco. Did you ever see a streetcar by City Hall that wasn’t on the Biddeford-Saco line but came in by the side of City Hall?
Rosemary Davis: I don’t remember that. Maybe that was before my time.
[12:14]
Phil Morse: It might very well have been. I just thought perhaps...
Ed Dooks: What kind of traffic would the trolley cars encounter on the streets then? Was there a lot of cars?
Rosemary Davis: Horse and buggy. [Chuckle] Oh, there were some horse(s) and buggies, and there were automobiles then too. Some people came to town with their horse and buggy then.
[12:35]
Ed Dooks: Did they get in the way of the trolley cars or...?
Rosemary Davis: No, not that I know of.
Ed Dooks: So, if you were riding along… did you ride the opens out to Old Orchard?
Rosemary Davis: I did sometimes.
Ed Dooks: Let’s say, let’s imagine. Let’s step back and we’re riding in an open trolley car to Old Orchard. What would be some of the things you’d see along the way?
Rosemary Davis: That was a long time ago.
Ed Dooks: Do you remember those? Take your time.
[13:06]
Phil Morse: Well, if you came around the corner from Main Street, Saco by the big white church that burned down last year.
Rosemary Davis: You’d go down Ferry, down that road.
Phil Morse: Down Beech Street, you’d have to go under the railroad.
Rosemary Davis: Under the railroad bridge, yeah. And then, I don’t remember exactly which way we went. But then they’d come back, up the Old Orchard Road and when they’d get to Beech Street in Saco, they’d come straight Elm Street to Biddeford and around the Five Points and back down. Then we’d usually get out at Pool Street when they came back down Alfred Street. Is that clear as mud?
[13:57]
Ed Dooks: He understands it better than I do because I don’t live around here. I think I know what you’re talking about though.
Phil Morse: Did you ever encounter, when you were on the car going under the railroad bridge on Beech Street, on Ferry Road, any problems with automobiles or that the trolley would have to slow right down to go under the bridge or anything? If there was a lot of rain, any big puddles that you’d have to go through?
Rosemary Davis: No, I don’t remember that too much.
[14:21]
Phil Morse: When you would come back from Old Orchard, did you ever notice when the car might stop halfway picking up people that might have picked blueberries at halfway, that might have had buckets of blueberries?
O. R. Cummings Collection
Rosemary Davis: I wasn’t… I didn’t pay attention I guess.
[14:39]
Phil Morse: I am saying things that might trigger a thought, a memory, or something… and a lightbulb goes off, and you say “Oh yeah, you know what, I remember the time when.” So that’s why I toss little things out to see if it triggers a memory like your uncle picking you up and giving you a free favor... you and your sisters.
Rosemary Davis: I shouldn’t probably tell that story.
[15:00]
Ed Dooks: That’s a good one. That happened a lot in those days. That’s kind of the thing we’re looking for. It’s people’s experiences and it’s interesting that a lot of the people we’ve talked to just used the trolley cars and never really thought about it. They were just there.
Rosemary Davis: Well, for us it wasn’t that they were just there. We had to walk a mile to get up to town to take the trolley cars.
[15:39]
Phil Morse: Do you have any other anecdotes or any particular stories or thoughts about the trolley cars that you’d like to share?
Rosemary Davis: I wasn’t very old when they had those trolley cars. I mean, I rode them. I remember riding on them and my uncle motioning for us to get on and things like that but I don’t remember other things too special about it.
[16:04]
Phil Morse: Did you ever notice if they had any whistles or bells?
Rosemary Davis: I don’t remember that either.
[16:10]
Phil Morse: Going to Old Orchard, after they went under the bridge, on Ferry Road. Of course, the car barn was off to the left-hand side. You go under the bridge, up the hill a little bit, and around the corner, and the car barn is on the left-hand side.
Rosemary Davis: Yup
Phil Morse: Oftentimes we see photographs of lots of trolleys and barns in kind of rough shape. (Did you) ever see any activity at the car barns when trolleys were being moved around or cars being pulled out?
Rosemary Davis: Not that I remember. I guess I’m not very…
[16:41]
Ed Dooks: You’re doing great! You gave us that nice little story about your uncle picking you up. You used to do that for pleasure. Those are things...that are very useful. It gives a flavor of what it was like to live in those times and ride the trolley.
Rosemary Davis: I guess we were kind of … we used to stand in front of the Ligget’s store… no, it wasn’t Ligget’s.
[17:05]
Phil Morse: The pharmacy?
Rosemary Davis: Yes, it used to be on Main Street. We used to stand there just hoping he’d come along and pick us up. And he quite often did if the car wasn’t too full. If the car had a lot of people on it, he wouldn’t. But if he didn’t have many people, then he’d pick us up and give us a ride around.
Ed Dooks: That’s nice.
Rosemary Davis: We liked it!
