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Historical Items

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Item 9537

Letter from Clark Stanley to C.C. Woolcot about bobbins, 1829

Contributed by: Maine Historical Society Date: 1829-03-22 Location: Waterville; Somersworth Media: Ink on paper

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Item 36054

Textile bobbin stripping machine, Biddeford, ca. 1960

Contributed by: Biddeford Historical Society Date: circa 1960 Location: Biddeford Media: Photographic print

Item 31776

Old Toll Bridge, Bangor, 1907

Contributed by: Bangor Public Library Date: 1907 Location: Bangor Media: Offset Print postcard

Online Exhibits

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Exhibit

Spinning room, Haskell Silk Company, Westbrook, 1907

Silk Manufacturing in Westbrook

Cultivation of silkworms and manufacture of silk thread was touted as a new agricultural boon for Maine in the early 19th century. However, only small-scale silk production followed. In 1874, the Haskell Silk Co. of Westbrook changed that, importing raw silk, and producing silk machine twist threat, then fabrics, until its demise in 1930.

Exhibit

Pepperell Manufacturing fire insurance map, 1929

Biddeford, Saco and the Textile Industry

The largest textile factory in the country reached seven stories up on the banks of the Saco River in 1825, ushering in more than a century of making cloth in Biddeford and Saco. Along with the industry came larger populations and commercial, retail, social, and cultural growth.

Exhibit

Port of Portland's Custom House and Collectors of Customs

The collector of Portland was the key to federal patronage in Maine, though other ports and towns had collectors. Through the 19th century, the revenue was the major source of Federal Government income. As in Colonial times, the person appointed to head the custom House in Casco Bay was almost always a leading community figure, or a well-connected political personage.