Maine Memory Network
Maine's Online Museum

Title: York Factories, Saco, 1830

Contributed by: Dyer Library Archives / Saco Museum

Date: 1830

Location: Saco

Media: Engraving; ink on paper

Title: Factories on Saco Island, ca. 1960

Contributed by: Dyer Library Archives / Saco Museum

Date: circa 1960

Location: Saco

Media: black and white photograph

Title: Sears-Roebuck Shoe Factories #3, Springvale

Contributed by: Sanford Historical Committee

Date: 1912

Location: Springvale

Media: Photograph

Address: 561 Commercial Street, Portland

Owner in 1924: Ayer Houston Corp.

Use: Factory

Address: 34-38 Brown Street, Portland

Owner in 1924: Schlotterbeck & Foss Company

Use: Factory

Address: 153 Fore Street, Portland

Owner in 1924: Thomas Laughlin Company

Use: Factory

Laboring in Maine

Workers in Maine have labored in factories, on farms, in the woods, on the water, among other locales. Many of Maine's occupations have been determined by the state's climate and geographical features.

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.

Early Fish Canneries in Brooklin

By the 1900s, numerous fish canneries began operating in Center Harbor, located within the Brooklin community. For over thirty years, these plants were an important factor in the community.