Main Street From the Belfry of the Stewart Library Building, 1899 – 2015
Of all the pictures I have taken and looked at in the past twenty-five years, this is my favorite. It must have been taken from the belfry of the Stewart Library Building around 1899. The large, two-story building in the foreground on Main Street is the Ireland Brothers Grist Mill. It burned in 1904. The Corinna House is just beyond it.
Find the Methodist Church in the upper center. What used to be Pearson’s Store (now Traditions) is on the far right. The railroad station is the small dark building to the left. More than any picture I’ve seen, this one conveys what Main Street was like one hundred and twenty years ago.
About twenty years later, around 1908, things had changed. The Ireland Brother’s Mill was gone, having burned down twice. The Odd Fellow’s Hall, completed in 1907, sat by the river.
I wish I could have a ride in the sleigh or carriage there through this winter scene. In front of the horse a square fence can be seen. That is the front yard of a house that many years later belonged to my grandfather, Herbert Dow Sr.. Until I was about 10 years old my family lived in an attached apartment, around the corner on the Newport Road. I spent lots of time in that yard watching the activity on Main Street.
Ken
Now we jump ahead 100 years to 1999. I took this picture from the belfry of the Stewart Library Building after seeing the first picture above and realizing that the EPA cleanup of the Eastland Woolen Mill site would change everything. By this time the woolen mill had occupied the entire north side of the street for many years. The Odd Fellow’s Hall was moved to the south side of the street in 1948 to make room for a mill expansion.
To make this picture I had to climb up through the tower to the SLB belfry. Maneuvering up two different old wooden ladders and through a tight trap door was a bit harrowing. I am not comfortable with heights so just standing in the belfry was unnerving. Nevertheless, I made the trip a number of times over the years. But, I do not recommend it. My advice is, do not do it. I will not do it again.
Ken
A fire in the 1970’s demolished “The Block”, a large building of stores and second floor apartments that was in that open space visible at the further end of the south side of the street.
Much changed in a century. After many years of dynamic economic activity and the employment of close to 1,000 people within a square mile of this street, Corinna was near the end of a long economic decline.
The Superfund Cleanup brought many changes, wiping out everything in the Main Street area, clearing the way for the removal of soil contaminated by the mill. After moving the stream bed (the East Branch of the Sebasticook River) to the east, the digging began. A year later there was a huge hole about 40 feet deep to the north (left) of the street. Between that and the digging in the old stream bed, about 100,000 cubic yards of contaminated soil was removed, treated and returned, or disposed of.
Scroll back up to the picture and see if you can find the Odd Fellow’s Hall. It’s there, one side of it visible in the upper right edge of the picture. The EPA moved the building to its second location. Once it was declared historic, federal funds could not be used to demolish it.
Moving ahead 14 years we can see that the cleanup is almost finished. At least the holes are filled and grass has grown. The path of the road through town was altered to accommodate the new bridge over the stream. All remnants of the buildings on Main Street are gone.
A new street goes off to the north (left) behind the large tree. Actually 100 years ago a street existed in the same area. The Emerson Bandstand now occupies the west side of the stream and an excellent veteran’s memorial sits to the east of the stream.
What survived from the first photo in 1899? – The Traditions buildings, the Methodist Church, and the Stewart Library Building as the position from which all the photographs were taken.
What are your thoughts about the changes Corinna has seen?
How do you think the town will change over the next 50 years?
What do you remember about the town as it used to be?
Please share your comments below.