“…the fire started on December 2, 1918, which destroyed the buildings on the waterfront, swept away the fish wharves, the cold storage plant, a restaurant and several small buildings. J. L. Stanley and Sons were heavy losers in this fire.” - “Traditions and Records of Southwest Harbor and Somesville, Mount Desert Island, Maine” by Mrs. Seth S. Thornton, 1938, p. 186-7.
Description: “…the fire started on December 2, 1918, which destroyed the buildings on the waterfront, swept away the fish wharves, the cold storage plant, a restaurant and several small buildings. J. L. Stanley and Sons were heavy losers in this fire.” - “Traditions and Records of Southwest Harbor and Somesville, Mount Desert Island, Maine” by Mrs. Seth S. Thornton, 1938, p. 186-7.
The Carroll family celebrated the Fourth of July every year with a picnic at their old family home, The Mountain House, on Carroll hill in Southwest Harbor.
Description: The Carroll family celebrated the Fourth of July every year with a picnic at their old family home, The Mountain House, on Carroll hill in Southwest Harbor.
The July 2015 Show at the Southwest Harbor Public Library presented a visual stroll down Main Street and Clark Point Road composed of photographs from the Digital Archive - historical photographs contrasted with new images of the same places as they are today. The 100 photographs combine to tell part of the history of the town. Each building or location in the show is illustrated by at least one historic photograph and the closest possible replica of the same location in 2015. The town has changed in 127 years.
Description: The July 2015 Show at the Southwest Harbor Public Library presented a visual stroll down Main Street and Clark Point Road composed of photographs from the Digital Archive - historical photographs contrasted with new images of the same places as they are today. The 100 photographs combine to tell part of the history of the town. Each building or location in the show is illustrated by at least one historic photograph and the closest possible replica of the same location in 2015. The town has changed in 127 years. [show more]
Main Street in Southwest Harbor was devastated by fire on March 27, 1922. Newspaper accounts of the fire reported estimated losses of $150,000 and that the Southwest Harbor Volunteer Fire Company, “did remarkable work, considering the limited equipment with which they had to work.” Bar Harbor and Northeast Harbor firemen also responded, but the roads were considerably different from today and it took the Bar Harbor department, “four hours over difficult spring roads.” Apparently their “combination truck…was making some 40 miles an hour near Burns’ Corner when it was stuck in a bad hole in the muddy road” and “between Somesville and Southwest they were mired time after time and horses that were sent to assist them…had to drag the big steamer” [weighing almost six tons] out of the holes in the road. In spite of these delays the truck arrived finally…in about three hours, too late to do any good. “Had the roads been in anything like fair condition it is the unanimous opinion that the truck from Bar Harbor would have been able to save the Odd Fellows building.”
Description: Main Street in Southwest Harbor was devastated by fire on March 27, 1922. Newspaper accounts of the fire reported estimated losses of $150,000 and that the Southwest Harbor Volunteer Fire Company, “did remarkable work, considering the limited equipment with which they had to work.” Bar Harbor and Northeast Harbor firemen also responded, but the roads were considerably different from today and it took the Bar Harbor department, “four hours over difficult spring roads.” Apparently their “combination truck…was making some 40 miles an hour near Burns’ Corner when it was stuck in a bad hole in the muddy road” and “between Somesville and Southwest they were mired time after time and horses that were sent to assist them…had to drag the big steamer” [weighing almost six tons] out of the holes in the road. In spite of these delays the truck arrived finally…in about three hours, too late to do any good. “Had the roads been in anything like fair condition it is the unanimous opinion that the truck from Bar Harbor would have been able to save the Odd Fellows building.” [show more]
The story of how the image on a postage stamp and a Southwest Harbor Boat Builder led archivists to research the history of the Landing at Plymouth Rock.
Description: The story of how the image on a postage stamp and a Southwest Harbor Boat Builder led archivists to research the history of the Landing at Plymouth Rock.
Photographer Henry L. Rand and his cousin Julius Ross Wakefield traveled to Europe together in the summer and fall of 1896. Henry, as usual, documented the trip with a map and 87 photographs, found principally in Volume 10 of the Henry L. Rand Collection. The photographs are numbered in their titles in the order in which they appear in Rand's album. Henry drew the Continental Route of the trip, as evidenced by his distinctive handwriting, and then photographed the map and pasted it into Volume 10 as his number 1143. He probably copied the map from a printed one and added the longitude and latitude lines that can faintly be seen in the photograph. Henry and Julius took the steamship Kaiser Wilhelm II to Naples, Italy and then proceeded by water to Genoa. From there they went to Milan and took a side trip to Verona and Venice, returning to Milan. From Milan they went to Lake Como, Italy staying at the Grand Hotel Bellagio and on to Lake Lugano at the border between Italy and Switzerland, to Brieg by way of Simplon and over the Rhone Glacier to Lake Lucerne, Switzerland. They parted at Lucerne as can be seen from Henry’s tiny arrows and initials on the route from there. Julius went to Zurich, Lake Constance, and to Munich, Nuremberg and Frankfort, Germany to meet Henry in the old city of Mainz, Germany. Henry went from Lucerne to Basel, Switzerland and up the Rhine River to Heidelberg to meet Julius in Mainz. They continued up the Rhine together to Cologne. Julius headed through Belgium toward Paris from Cologne, meeting Henry over the border in France. Henry went from Cologne to Amsterdam, Holland to Haarlem and Katwyn on the North Sea and then down to the Hague by way of Leyden. He then went inland to Rotterdam and Brussels on his way to their rendezvous in France where they both continued to Paris. Henry at least then visited and photographed Salisbury, England before returning home. Henry Lathrop Rand arrived in New York aboard "Columbia" on August 21, 1896 from Southampton, England.
Description: Photographer Henry L. Rand and his cousin Julius Ross Wakefield traveled to Europe together in the summer and fall of 1896. Henry, as usual, documented the trip with a map and 87 photographs, found principally in Volume 10 of the Henry L. Rand Collection. The photographs are numbered in their titles in the order in which they appear in Rand's album. Henry drew the Continental Route of the trip, as evidenced by his distinctive handwriting, and then photographed the map and pasted it into Volume 10 as his number 1143. He probably copied the map from a printed one and added the longitude and latitude lines that can faintly be seen in the photograph. Henry and Julius took the steamship Kaiser Wilhelm II to Naples, Italy and then proceeded by water to Genoa. From there they went to Milan and took a side trip to Verona and Venice, returning to Milan. From Milan they went to Lake Como, Italy staying at the Grand Hotel Bellagio and on to Lake Lugano at the border between Italy and Switzerland, to Brieg by way of Simplon and over the Rhone Glacier to Lake Lucerne, Switzerland. They parted at Lucerne as can be seen from Henry’s tiny arrows and initials on the route from there. Julius went to Zurich, Lake Constance, and to Munich, Nuremberg and Frankfort, Germany to meet Henry in the old city of Mainz, Germany. Henry went from Lucerne to Basel, Switzerland and up the Rhine River to Heidelberg to meet Julius in Mainz. They continued up the Rhine together to Cologne. Julius headed through Belgium toward Paris from Cologne, meeting Henry over the border in France. Henry went from Cologne to Amsterdam, Holland to Haarlem and Katwyn on the North Sea and then down to the Hague by way of Leyden. He then went inland to Rotterdam and Brussels on his way to their rendezvous in France where they both continued to Paris. Henry at least then visited and photographed Salisbury, England before returning home. Henry Lathrop Rand arrived in New York aboard "Columbia" on August 21, 1896 from Southampton, England. [show more]
The Army-Navy "E" Award was presented to a company during World War II for excellence in production of war equipment. The award was also known as the Army-Navy Production Award. The award consisted of a pennant for the plant and emblems for all employees in the plant at the time the award was made. The pennant was triangular swallowtail with a white border, with a capital E within a yellow wreath of oak and laurel leaves on a vertical divided blue and red background. ARMY is on the red background and NAVY on the blue background. Usually an Army officer and a Navy officer would be present at a ceremony conducted before the plant’s employees. The Army-Navy "E" Award program was terminated after the war ended. To read Benjamin Hinckley’s account of the award ceremony see "The Hinckley Story "by Benjamin B. Hinckley, Jr., published by Pilot Press, Dedham, Massachusetts, 1997, p. 35.
Description: The Army-Navy "E" Award was presented to a company during World War II for excellence in production of war equipment. The award was also known as the Army-Navy Production Award. The award consisted of a pennant for the plant and emblems for all employees in the plant at the time the award was made. The pennant was triangular swallowtail with a white border, with a capital E within a yellow wreath of oak and laurel leaves on a vertical divided blue and red background. ARMY is on the red background and NAVY on the blue background. Usually an Army officer and a Navy officer would be present at a ceremony conducted before the plant’s employees. The Army-Navy "E" Award program was terminated after the war ended. To read Benjamin Hinckley’s account of the award ceremony see "The Hinckley Story "by Benjamin B. Hinckley, Jr., published by Pilot Press, Dedham, Massachusetts, 1997, p. 35. [show more]