MARY BEAN

Mary Bean was a factory worker in the Saco mills. Her story is being exhibited at the Saco Museum. They have collected a lot of artifacts from the mill, and also photos and newspaper articles regarding the mill and especially Mary Bean. Upon walking into the museum, there is a display of the recently published book about Mary Bean, which I purchased out or curiousity. The exhibit is set up in the back of the museum in a circular fashion. At the very entrance is a photo of Mary Bean and the beginning of her story. The exhibit continues with pieces of cloth made at the mill, and an example of the small trunk that Mary Bean would have owned. Another interesting aspect of the exhibit is the letters that have been collected that were written by girls working in the factory. Many of them would write home to loved ones and send gifts and money. It is interesting that these girls made enough money to purchase leisure items as well as send money home. The exhibit states that Mary Bean herself had two trunks that were filled with many dresses which is unsual for a woman of the time.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
Mary Bean was born in 1850 in Massachusetts, and her real name was Berengera Caswell. She had a sister who also worked in the mills with her. They first began working in the mills in Lowell, Massachusetts where Mary met William Long. he was another factory worker and they fell in love. Unfortuantely, William left to work in the mills in New Hampshire, leaving Berengera all alone. A few weeks after he left she found out that she was pregnant. A single pregnant woman was socially unacceptable during this time, and Berengera knew that, so she went looking for William. She found out that he had now been working at the mills in Saco, Maine and came to Saco to find him. When she did he was just as unsure of the situation as he was.
William and Berengena decided that they could not afford or handle a child and that she should get an abortion, which was also very unnacceptable at this time. William's boss at the mill told him about a doctor in Saco who would perform the surgery. He had seen cases like this many times before. They enlisted the services of Dr. James Smith, who was willing to give the abortion but did not want to know her real name, so he called her Mary Bean. The medical practices of the time were unregulated and not very advanced. Because of this Mary had a septic infection after the abortion and died seven days later. Dr. Smith did not want it to get out that he had performed and illegal abortion, so he tied her body to a wooden board and threw her in the Saco River. When the ice melted three months later, they found the body in the river in close proximity to the doctor's house. This prompted a long trial and Dr. Smith was the main suspect. The news of this trial was spread all over New England. Ultimately, Dr. Smith was charged with murder.
The Story of Mary Bean is a prominent one in Saco history becuase it shows the struggles of mill women of the time. It also exemplifies the dangerous medical practices and the social constructions that limited women's rights and expectations. The fact that this story was so widely publicized also gave everyday people a look into some of the things that were happening in the mills.

Sarah Fairfield Hamilton

On Saturday, April 12, I visited the Sarah Fairfield Hamilton house on Main Street in Saco. The top two photos of this post are of the actual mansion on Main Street. From the photo, you can see that it is a three story mansion, which also has a carriage house that has been attached. The house has a small porch in the front and also one on the side. There are many windows in this mansion which makes it unique from the other mansion on Main Street. Today the mansion is named Thornton Hall, but when Sarah's husband bought the house, it was called the Leland Mansion.
Unfortuantely I was not able to go inside the mansion because it has been renovated into apartments. But from the outside we can get and idea of the scale of the house. It is one of the largest on Main Street and certainly one of the oldest. From reading the information on the walking tour of Main Street I found that this house and Sarah were very interconnected with the factory life and rights of women who worked on Factory Island. She recently has been brought back to life through the presentation of her portrait to the Saco City Hall auditorium. She is one the only women to have her portrait displayed at City Hall.

Historical Background:
Sarah Fairfield Hamilton was the granddaugher of Thomas Thornton, who founded Thornton Academy. She was born in 1831, and died in 1909. Her father was a congressman and she lived a very privileged life. She was educated at Thornton Academy and was a student there when in burned down in 1848, one year after her father died. Sarah's father was away from home a lot during her childhood serving as congressman and eventually a senator. This probably contributed to her independence. After her father died she had to help her mother take care of her six younger siblings.
Sarah went on to create the Saco chapter of the Women's Education and Industrial Union. Through this union, Sarah was able to create the first kindergarten in Saco, and later a childcare service for mill workers' children. Many of the talks and debates about the union and its actions took place in the Leland Mansion parlor, which is where Sarah moved to when she married her husband. Her husband was Benjamin Hamilton, who was the supervisor of the Sunday school where she taught. Originally the Hamilton's onlly purchased half of the Leland Mansion, which they lived in their entire lives.
On one of Sarah travels to Boston she ran into Abbey Diaz, who was a famous speaker about womens rights, and invited her to speak in Saco. The lecture was a huge success, which took place at City Hall, and really got the women's suffrage movement going in Saco. Sarah went on to speak herself on women's issues. A lot of the social programs that we have in place in Saco today started with Sarah's initial union. Unforunately, Sarah died before she was able to vote, but she did pave the way for future generations to be educated and be treated fairly in all areas of social life.
As a woman and an activist Sarah is very important to Saco history. The education system and the child care system would not be what they are without her influence. Women in Saco may not have realized their potential as equals without her guidance. Overall Sarah provided a service for women that no one else was giving. She gave them strength and confidence and eventual rights.

York Manufacturing Company

These two phot0s are of the personal home of the manager of the York Manufacturing Company. The House is very large with two floors and many windows. The two windows at the top of the house are similar to those on the old Dyer Library building. This house was not built by the same architect, but it is a similar style. The house has been kept original, and is established as a hisotirc building by the town of Saco.

Today the house is a private residence, so I was unable to go inside, but just from the outside one can see noticeable traits of the time. For example, the use of columns, which created an upscale look, and also the use of windows which allowed the house to be much brighter. I am sure that the door in the photo is not the original but the rest of the house seems to be original.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND:

York Manafacturing Company owned the Saco mills, and created one of the largest factory centers in the world. The house was built for the first mill agent who was to live outside of the mill. His name was Franklin Nourse. He was from an old New England family, and was brought in to run the mills in Saco. More important than him may be his daughter, Edith Nourse Rogers, who went on to serve 35 years in Congress.
Horace Waldwin was the designer of the house, and from the photo above we can see the detail that he put into it from the columns and the upper windows. Wadlin designed many of the buildings in Saco. He was the cousin of Cornelious Sweetser, who was a prominent Saco resident as mentioned earlier. It was a unique move for the company to have this man live off of the mill property.
This building has been chosen as a historical site by the town because of its ties to the mills and also because it was one of the buildings designed by Wadlin. This house represents a time in Saco when business was booming and many of the residents were wealthy and could live in houses like these. Almost every house on Maine Street is this size or bigger. Saco is trying to preserve its history of a booming city during the early 20th century.

308 Main St.

This brick building is located in the center of Main St. It is relatively small compared to the buildings around it,but the architecture of this building is very detailed. The first photo is of the three windows that are centered on the front of the building. They are outlined in stone and have been there since the building was built. The third and fourth photos are from inside the building. The windows upstairs have little stairs so you can walk up into them and sit. I believe they were designed this way because the upstairs was the children's reading room of the original library.

The last picture is a view from the outside of that same window. The staircase inside is pretty narrow and all hardwood. The railings have nice detail and continue with the dark wood that is the theme of the building. When you enter the building is very dark and then the back of the building where the reading room and the stacks would have been is very bright and lets in a lot of light. The extensive detailing covers both the inside and the outside of the building and it is the original work of the building.

Historical Background:

This building was orinigally built as the Dyer Library in 1893. The building was originally designed as a big open space that was divided by a wooden arch which is still there today. Now it seperates the entrance from the large dance studio in the back. The entrance was the original reading room and the stacks were located in the back half of the room. There was also a conference room and then the librarians office. Cornelious Sweetser, who was a wealthy well known philanthropist in the Saco Biddeford area, left the library a 10,000 dollar maintenance fund. The support for the actual building of the library came from the estate of Mrs. John C. Bradbury. The colonial style library was designed by Horace Waldin from Reading, Massachusettes. He also desgined six other buildings in Saco. This building housed the library until 1955 when the children of F. C. Deering donated his mansion on Main Street to the library. It then became the district courthouse, followed by York Health Services and then the police station. The new police station was recently built right off of Main St., and now the house has been turned into a dance studio. In the 103 years of the buildings history it has served as as public building. While the dance studio is not public service it has kept the integrity of the building by not changing it structurally. The bookshelves upstairs are still in place as well as the original wooden arch and stair case. When comparing a photo from 1914 the building looks identical even down to the entryway. This building has represented public serivce in Saco for over a hundred years. It is a focal point of Main Street and also of Saco's history. It is also an example of the great architecture that was being built in Saco which had become a bustling city during its mill years.

Factory Island

Welcome to Factory Island! This island of brick that seperates Saco and Biddeford along the Saco River represents the industrial past of Saco. From the photos above we can see the vast amount of brick that covers Saco Island. The falls runs between Biddeford and Saco and provided a great source of energy for the mills. Recently there has been a major rivalry between Saco and Biddeford over who actually owns Saco Island. They have been re-reading the original land grants to see who actually is entitled to Saco Island. I think this issue is being raised because Saco is making a renewed effort to convert the abandoned mills into useful buildings that can house stores and condos. Part of the mill on the Biddeford side is still functioning today.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND:

The first mill to be built here was a sawmill built in 1653. In 1811 the Saco Iron Works was also run from Saco Island. Iron was the main focus of Factory Island until 1826 when the largest cotton mill in the United States was built on Saco Island. The cotton mill was seven stories high and employed hundreds of people. In 1830 there was a disastrous fire in the mill and the company had to reorganize into the York Manufacturing Company. By the turn of the century the York Manufacturing Company had eight mills running on Factory Island. The creation of the Biddeford mills made Saco-Biddeford one of the largest mill districts in the country, employing upwards of 9,000 people. The Mills were closed in 1958. Many of the employees were farmer's daughters who had come to the mills to make extra money. As we can see from Mary Bean's experience, many of the women who came here made decent money and could send it back home or use it to buy things, such as magazines and clothes.

Today the mills are full of offices, residences and also the Saco campus of USM. Factory Island represents an industrial past the made Saco and Biddeford into the towns they are today. People came to work in the mills and therefore developed communities around them. Saco would not be the town it is or have the people that it does without the millwork that was provided here. Many of the people in Saco today can still rememeber when the mills were still running and their parents used to work there. It is intersting to think of Saco a noisy mill town when today it is a very quiet spot with and aging population and is really only busy in the summer when the tourists come to town.

Dyer Library

This is the Dyer Library located in Saco, Maine. The library has two levels as well as an attic. It is an all brick building as shown above and has many rooms within. It used to be the private residence of the Deering family. Today the library is composed of the original building which houses most of the books as well as the Maine reading room and many documents of Saco history.

The room that used to be the Deering parlor is now a reading room and still has the original piano. There is a ghost story about the piano that is told during the Pumpkinfest in Saco. Supposedly one the servants for the Deering family used to love to play the piano. One day she was angry over something that had happened and ran out of the house. No one ever saw her again, but when the librarians work late at night and they are the only ones in the house they can hear someone play the piano, and when they come down to look there is no one in the house but them. The carriage house which has no history of being haunted is now connected to the main house and is used as the children's reading room.

The Deering family is one of the most well known families in the Portland Area. J.G Deering, who was the original Deering, was a banker, lumberman and local merchant. He lived from 1816 to 1892 and built the Deering Mansion in 1870. His grandson Joseph Godfrey Deering followed in the families footsteps in banking and the lumber business. He was also very active in the community serving on many boards inclduing the Dyer Library Board. He was the one who donated the Deering Mansion to the Dyer Libary. He also made donations of land to create the Ferry Beach state park and the first donation for the Great Saco Health Preserve. The house itself is an Italianate mansion that was composed completely of brick from a brickyard that Mr. Deering purchased in order to proivde the supplies for the house. The original building had an observatory tower added to it in the 1930's while it was still owned by the Deering family. When the mansion was donated to the library in 1955 the observatory was moved to Thornton Hall where it still stands today.
The Deering family was one of the wealthiest and most influencial families in Saco. There contributions through banking and lumber help to make Saco into a city and not just a town. The gifts that they Deering family has donated over the years have made it possible to preserve the history and the environment of Saco.

Scarborough War Memorials

These three memorials are located at Dunstan Corner in Scarborough. The first memorial recognizes the men and women who fought in WWII and the Korean conflict. on this particular monument it says "to the sons and daughters of Scarborough who answered the call of their country." This is the only monument to include women in its rememberance, and it is the only one that recognizes a conflict and not just a war. The eagle on the top of the memorial is holding olive branches which are a sign of peace. This particular monument also says that it was put up by the people of Scarborough and not the town of Scarborough. The second is a rememberance for the men who fought during the Great War during 1917 and 1918. There are stars next to the men who died in service with a total of 5. The stone monument looks similar to a large gravestone and it was put up by the town of Scarborough. There is a total of 87 names on this stone and some of them are very prominent names in Maine, such as Hannaford, Higgins, and Merril.


The Second monument is in recognition of the Revolution, the Civil War, the War of 1812, the Mexican War, and the Spanish American War. It is the largest monument of the three. It looks to have been constructed in three or four pieces. It says on the front of the monument, "Scarboro to her sons who fought for the union." It is interesting that Scarborugh is referred to as female and also they used the orinignal spelling of Scarboro. The monument is topped with a union soldier who is looking to the east. I think that having him pointed toward the ocean shows how important the ocean was and is to the town of Scarborough. It is also where the town would be attacked from. The monument also has four symbols on it one of an anchor, one of the United States flag as a shield, and one of an eagle holding a star. I was unable to decode the symbols but they certainly represent the connection to the ocean and the comittment to the country.



From the three monuments above we can tell that the one with the union soldier is the oldest because it uses the original spelling of the word Scarboro. It also interesting that while I was visiting these memorials there was not another person who stopped to look at them. they are located right next to the gas station. If I were pulling up to get gas I would walk over out of curiosity to see what they were but no one did. I wonder if it is because they were all locals and already knew about the monuments. I drive by these everyday on my way to work so I will be watching this summer to see if anyone stops to recognize the fabulous memorials.