A single page, within the 88-pages of
the incredible Portland-Lewiston Interurban
(PLI) Employees Scrapbook. The Scrapbook
includes contents from the four reunions held
in Gray, Maine at the New Begin Hall
in 1938, '39, 40, and '41.
The PLI Employees Reunion Scrapbook was made by
Charles Heseltine. He worked with Oscar Adkins, leader
of the PLI Reunion Committee. Charles was thanked accordingly.
Heseltine gave the Scrapbook to his friend and electric railway
history colleague, O. R. Cummings. O. R. Cummings, is the
well-known and prolific publisher of dozens of books on the
histories of various electric railway companies. O. R. passed
the Scrapbook on to Seashore Trolley Museum's Library.
As you looked at the above photo of the PLI Employees' Reunion Scrapbook, you may have noticed that the photo of the open scrapbook was each labeled at the bottom with the word; BEFORE
That is because, on November 11, 2022, I was able to pick up the newly conserved Scrapbook and the memory stick full of its professionally digitized contents!
This is one of several posts that will include materials and related stories connected to the contents of the PLI employees' reunion scrapbook. This post includes materials related to the preparation and opening of the electric railroad from 1911 to 1914.
Below is the video taken on April 8, 2014. If needed, you may Click Here to access the YouTube video
in a video, I took using my phone.
Great Thanks to the staff at Northeast Document Conservation Center (NEDCC) in Andover, MA for the amazing work they did in cleaning, repairing, and photographing the contents during the conservation process.
Shortly, I will be putting together and releasing a blog post that will describe the work and steps in the conservation and digitizing process. Today's post will be one of several that will highlight how items such as the PLI Reunion Scrapbook, family diaries/journals, and newspaper clippings that are held by family members, historical societies, and museums, can be utilized to bring local history to life through the personal descriptions and recollections of activities/events that were noted in the various ephemera. The contents of those various items that relate to the PLI will be useful for us to learn more about the history and the people involved in the building and operation of the "Finest and Fastest Electric Railroad in All-New England."
A newspaper clipping taped into the
PLI Reunion Scrapbook (seen on the page
in the first photo above) The hand-written
description next to the clipping reads;
Lewiston Journal, July 2, 1909.
The above clipping is actually on the front page of the
Lewiston Saturday Journal edition dated July 3, 1909.
This newspaper is available online through Google News Search.
Click Here - July 3, 1909, Lewiston Saturday Journal - Through Google News Search - The online edition of the article on the Portland, Gray, and Lewiston Railroad Company meeting is on the front page. The link takes you to the July 2nd edition of the Lewiston Evening Journal...which also includes the July 3rd edition of the Lewiston Saturday Journal. You will need to scroll through all the pages of the 2nd and onto the front page of the 3rd.
Screenshot of the online article in the
July 3, 1909 issue of the Lewiston Saturday Journal.
Click Here to view the post on deed research of the properties acquired for building the 30-mile private right-of-way for the Portland, Gray, and Lewiston Railroad.
Click Here to view the post on the conservation of the original 1910 surveyors' map (28.5 feet long) of the 30-mile-long right-of-way between Auburn and Portland.
Click Here to view the post on the recent comparison of where the original 30-mile right-of-way was with what remnants of the Portland-Lewiston Interurban exist today.
Diary entries
The PLI Scrapbook has hundreds of items attached to its 88 pages; newspaper clippings, poetry, schedules, memorial materials, cards, photos, etc. Many names of former PLI employees, their addresses, and phone numbers, along with names of local community residents are included. As information from the scrapbook is used to further research the PLI activities in the various communities the high-speed electric railroad operated, local historical societies and community members have become interested in locating PLI-related materials they may have within their collections.
Personal diaries and journals were created by many local community residents during the years the PLI was being constructed or while it operated in those communities. As these local accountings are uncovered, they add interesting personal stories to the history of the PLI.
Nancy Wilson Latham and Kathy Allen MacDonald grew up in West Cumberland and have deep family roots in the community. They worked together in reading through family diaries and found some very interesting entries involving connections to the electric railway.
The 1912 Diary of Henry Wilson (Henry Wilson had the farm on Mill Road in West Cumberland that Nancy Wilson Latham lived in as she was growing up during her youth. Henry's 1912 diary has several entries concerning activities relating to the Portland, Gray, and Lewiston Railroad (shortly after the public operations began, the name was changed to the Portland-Lewiston Interurban).
* July 23, 1912 - Today the poles were set in place through the fields of Wilson Farm for the electric road.
* September 5, 1912 - Sam Fergerson came here and hired the shop (this was a small building on the Wilson Farm). The shop was cleared out over the next few days and the railroad men put their tables into the shop and put their cookhouse into the dooryard. Then the stable was made ready and the stable cellar for the railroad horses.
* September 10, 1912 - Charles Cummings and another fellow came here this afternoon and slept in my room.
* September 12, 1912 - Laying of track through the Wilson Farm fields commenced.
* September 18, 1912 - Took them to the junction. The electric locomotive came up through our field and stayed overnight.
They worked on the line until October 17 (1912) and the railroad men went away with all the horses.
Photos of construction and other early days of
the electric road on one of the 88 pages in the reunion
scrapbook of the former employees of the
Portland-Lewiston Interurban (1938. '39, '40, & '41).
A photo from the above page in the scrapbook with Harry
Ferguson c 1913. Harry Ferguson photo
The "messengers" trolley wire mentioned in the image above
is for the phone system that the electric road uses. We have
one of the "cell" phones that are identical to the ones used in
the PLI vehicles. Harry Ferguson photo
Spiking the rail to the ties as mentioned in Henry Wilson's
diary entries above. Harry Ferguson photo
The electric locomotive that was mentioned in Henry Wilson's
diary entries is shown above. Harry Ferguson photo
Harry Ferguson is seated 4th in the front row on the left.
This is a group photo from the 1941 reunion. This was the
last reunion of the former PLI employees.
1913 Diary of Henry Wilson -
* April 22 & 23, 1913 - W. Scott Libbey stayed and got dinner.
is considered by some to be the most valuable
Stanley Steamer in the world. It is among the
collections at Seal Cove Auto Museum on Mount
Desert Island.
Various entries of Henry hauling lots of boards for use by the electric roadmen. And lots of entries about hauling water for the steam shovel used at the Morrison Hill gravel pit. A man named Ashley (unsure if that is his first or last name(?) and his wife. Henry hauled ice for them. Henry hauled (probably meaning he used his horse-drawn wagon) Ashley on Monday evenings to the station to get the money box.
* December 1, 1913, seems to be the last day of work on the rail.
* December 14, 1913 - Henry went out and looked over the railroad company things.
The steam shovel in the above photo taken at
Morrison Hill in West Cumberland is the one mentioned
in Henry Wilson's diary entries above.
Dated October 18, 1913, an entry in the diary
of New Gloucester resident Andrew C. Chandler
Image courtesy of Tom Blake, the curator
at the New Gloucester Historical Society
On Sunday, May 17, 1914, just six weeks before the official public opening of the electric railroad, W. Scott Libbey died. This would cause the restructuring of Libbey's businesses later that year and lead to the name of the electric railroad being changed from the Portland, Gray, and Lewiston Railroad to the Portland-Lewiston Interurban Railroad.
Click Here - May 18, 1914, Lewiston Evening Journal - Through Google News Search - The online edition of the article on the death of W. Scott Libbey is on the front page.
Front page article in the Lewiston Evening Journal -
May 18, 1914.
Click Here to view the Libbey family biography
of W. Scott Libbey.
Ibid
Ibid
Ibid
Ibid
Ibid
Ibid
Ibid
Ibid
Ibid
Ibid
Ibid
Ibid
Ibid
Click Here to view more background information about W. Scott Libbey, including materials from the Biographical section of History of Maine.
May 18, 1914 entry of the death of
W. Scott Libbey who had stayed with
Henry Wilson at his farm in West
Cumberland for two
days/nights in April 1913.
Also, on July 2 and July 3, 1914, entries
in the diary of New Gloucester resident
Andrew C. Chandler
Image courtesy of Tom Blake, the curator
Page in the PLI Employees' Scrapbook
The hand-written note above this image reads Lewiston
Journal July 1, 1914
Click Here - July 1, 1914, Lewiston Evening Journal - Through Google News Search - The online edition of the article on the opening of Portland, Gray, and Lewiston Railroad is on page 12.
Ibid
Ibid
Ibid
Ibid
Click Here - July 3, 1914, Lewiston Daily Sun - Through Google News Search - The online edition of the article on the Portland, Gray, and Lewiston Railroad opening is on page 12. The link takes you to the July 2nd edition of the Lewiston Daily Sun...which also includes the July 3rd edition of the Lewiston Daily Sun. You will need to scroll through all the pages of the 2nd and onto July 3rd to page 12.
July 3, 1914, Lewiston Daily Sun
article on the opening day of the
Electric Railroad.
Passenger tickets from the first day of public operation of
the Portland, Gray, and Lewiston Railroad on July 2, 1914.
Click Here to view the post that summarizes the opening of the Portland, Gray, and Lewiston Railroad
1914 Diary of Henry Wilson -
* July 2, 1914 - The Electric road began to carry passengers and collect fares. Willis came out on the 8 am car.
* July 8, 1914 - Went to Portland on the Gladiolus car at 9:12 and came out on the car that gets to school house at 12:48.
* July 16, 1914 - The railroad team went away from here to Lewiston.
* October 28, 1914 - Carried a switch point down to West Falmouth for the R.R. Co. in pm.
* November 11, 1914 - George Davis called and paid for hauling the switch point to West Falmouth. A man called here for the R. R. Co. and looked over the things the cook needed.
* November 12, 1914 - A railroad man called and gave cook supplies that Co. left
* December 17, 1914 - Willis and I burnt the brush that the railroad men put over onto our land.
George Davis is mentioned in Henry Wilson's diary entry
above. George is seated 2nd in the front row on the right.
This is a group photo from the 1941 reunion. This was the
last reunion of the former PLI employees.
Two other former PLi employees who attended the 1941 reunion in Gray at the New Begin Hall were Forest Greenwood and Joseph Levigne. Forest Greenwood is standing near the middle, between two fellas wearing white shirts and ties. Joseph Levigne is seated second from the left. There are four reunions specifically cataloged in the 88-page PLI Employee Scrapbook; June 29, 1938, June 29, 1939,
June 30, 1940, and June 28, 1941. All four of the reunions were held in Gray, ME at the Newbegin Hall. It is noted in newspaper articles of the times, that combined, the total of former PLI employees and their
family members that attended each of the reunions well exceeded 100 in attendance. The PLI operated a very short distance behind the Newbegin Hall seen behind the group in this image. Forest Greenwood donated several items to the Gray Historical Society that were related to his employment at the PLI. Forest also donated a few PLI-related items that belonged to his friend and fellow PLI employee, Joseph Levigne. Click here to open the post about the items donated to the Gray Historical Society. The image of the former PLI employees attending the 1941 reunion is from the PLI employees' Scrapbook in the O.R. Cummings Collection at the Library of Seashore Trolley Museum.
Page in the PLI Employees' Scrapbook
Newspaper clipping from November 27, 1914, Lewiston
Evening Journal with the testimony of the experience
of Mrs. French being a passenger during the early
months of the operation of the electric railroad.
Click Here - November 27, 1914, Lewiston Evening Journal - Through Google News Search - The online edition of the article has a Mrs. French from Portland, while making her opening remarks on parliamentary law, at the Central Maine Hospital, referred to her ride to Lewiston on one of the Portland, Gray, and Lewiston Railroad interurbans. The story is on page 7, in the far left column, under the title "Of Local Interest." The link takes you to the November 25th edition of the Lewiston Evening Journal...which also includes the November 26th and 27th editions of the Lewiston Evening Journal. You will need to scroll through all the pages of the 25th, and 26th, and then onto November 27th to page 7.
Ibid
Local residents, along the electric railroad in 1914, that did not live in Lewiston and or in Portland or one of the limited number of stops in between, were not happy that they did not have easier access to riding the high-speed luxury electric railroad interurbans. Complaints won over and in 1915, several more stops were added to the line. There would be a "local" schedule added to the "limited" schedule.
Beginning in the late spring of 1915, there were several
local stops added to the schedule. Two larger double-truck
cars, No. 40 and 42 were added to the fleet to be the
main sources of local passenger service. These two cars were
not interurban and were not assigned names.
A 2018 photo of the 1915 Portland-Lewiston waiting station
from Morrison Hill in West Cumberland has been
at Seashore Trolley Museum in Kennebunkport, Maine,
for more than 30 years. PWM photo
Click Here for a short history of the waiting station.
The last passenger car added to the PLI fleet was No 22,
Maine, in 1920. The large interurban was named Maine
to commemorate Maine's Bicentennial in 1920.
Photo from G. F. Cunningham within the
O. R. Cummings Collection
Click Here to view the post on the seven high-seed luxury interurbans of the PLI and their fate following the end of operations in 1933.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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!
Click Here: Donation Options
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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