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Bangor Hydro Electric News: June 1929, Volume 2, No.7 -- Managers Issue
Bangor Hydro Electric Company
Provides extensive biographical information about Lincoln A. Gardner, Ralph A. Fernald, Albert E. Grose, William R. Wray, Leonard A. Austin, Roscoe H. Smith, Vernon E. Cushing, Leroy G. Vose, and Julius W. McDonald, managers at Bangor Hydro Electric offices across the state.
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Bangor Hydro Electric News: March 1929, Volume 2, No.4 -- Director's Issue
Bangor Hydro Electric Company
Provides extensive biographical information about the Board of Directors of the company. The board members are Albert E. Bass, Harry A. Chapman, A. Langdon Freese, Harry W. Libbey, Garrett D. Speirs, and J. Norman Towle.
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Bangor Hydro Electric News: April 1929, Volume 2, No.5: Eastern Manufacturing Company Issue
Bangor Hydro-Electric Company
"Your editors are pleased to dedicate this April number of the Bangor Hydro-Electric Company News to the Eastern Manufacturing Company.
This industry located at Lincoln and South Brewer, is of great importance in the continued prosperity of the communities that we serve and therefore of equal importance to our company as the Electric Service Company serving these communities.
The continued prosperity and success of our large industrial customers is a matter of vital interest to the Company and therefore, as an organization, w'e hope for the continued success of our large industrial customers.
Mr. Graham, President of the Bangor Hydro-Electric Company, holds a similar position in the Eastern Manufacturing Company and with the establishment of this closer connection between these two companies we are assured that the friendship and cooperation that has existed in the past will continue in the future."
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Bangor Hydro Electric News: April 1928, Volume 1, No.5
Bangor Hydro Electric Company
Provides an extensive description of the Park Street Substation for the Bangor Hydro Electric Company. At the time, the substation controlled all the lighting power and railway service in the cities of Bangor and Brewer and the towns of Hampden, Orrington, Newburg, Dixmont, Hermon, Levant, Etna, Carmel, Kenduskeag, Glenburn, Corinth, and Charleston. These services were to be in the near future extended to Garland, Exeter, and Bradford. The substation was also the headquarters for the Line Crew of the Bangor district, the Meter Department, and the Electrician's Crew.
Also includes profiles of employees Arthur L. Davis and Charles H. Johnson, a legendary figure in the history of the company.
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Bangor Hydro Electric News: December 1928, Volume 2, No.1
Bangor Hydro Electric Company
Features a photograph and short article about the installation of cement ties for the street railway system on College Avenue in Orono, a picture of and story about the dam at Gilman Falls, and an extensive article about long-time employee, Elmer C. Cole.
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Bangor Hydro Electric News: July 1928, Volume 1, No.8
Bangor Hydro Electric Company
Profiles salesmen for Bangor Hydro Electric Company in offices from Millinocket to Eastport. Honors long-time employees George W. Austin and Allen P. Royal.
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Bangor Hydro Electric News: June 1928, Volume 1, No.7 -- Railway Issue
Bangor Hydro Electric Company
Covers the history of the street railway business in Bangor, Maine and surrounding areas, from 1893 to 1928, as it transitioned from the Bangor Street Railway to being operated by Bangor Hydro-Electric Company. Profiles employees Edson E. Comins, Assistant Superintendent of Transportation in the Bangor office, and Mortimer D. Wentworth, a 30-year veteran trolley car operator.
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Bangor Hydro Electric News: March 1928, Volume 1, No.4 -- Veazie Station Issue
Bangor Hydro Electric Company
Introduction:
The story of the Veazie Plant is almost the history of the whole development of hydro-electric plants in this country, for it is said to be the third to be put in commercial operation.
Many years ago the vicinity of the present Veazie Plant was noted for its salmon fishing, the pool at the foot of the rapids which existed before the first dam was constructed being alive with the gamey fish during the season.
Some of the old fishing rights which had been granted to the original settlers were still in existence when the present dam was constructed and proved a source of much trouble to our lawyers, too, in obtaining a perfect title to the necessary water rights.
The exact date of the first development of the rapids at what is now called Veazie is not known, but a portion of the old timber dam which was displaced by the present dam was said to he over eighty years old.
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Bangor Hydro Electric News: November 1928, Volume 1, No.12 -- General Office Personnel Issue
Bangor Hydro Electric Company
Provides biographical and work history profiles for over two dozen employees of the Bangor Hydro Electric Company. Also includes photographs and a lengthy description of a canoe trip along the East Machias River by employees of the company.
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Bangor Hydro Electric News: October 1928, Volume 1, No.11
Bangor Hydro Electric Company
Details the efforts of the engineering and construction departments of the Bangor Hydro Electric Company in improving the Veazie dam to accommodate the increasing demand for hydroelectric power. Also includes a profile of W.E. Bagley, a freight agent and sub-station operator for the company, who had worked for the company for 26 years.
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Brief History of the Corporations Now or Formerly Controlled by Bangor Railway and Electric Company
Erastus C. Ryder
A letter written January 24, 1924, by E.C. (Erastus) Ryder, lawyer at Ryder & Simpson, 6 State Street, Bangor, Maine, to Edward M. Graham, President of Bangor Railway and Electric Company. Cites the Private and Special Laws of the Maine State Legislature which incorporated and authorized activities of companies controlled by Bangor Railway and Electric Company.
Includes information about the Bangor Railway & Electric Company; Bangor Electric Light and Power Company; Bangor Railway and Electric Company; Penobscot Water and Power Company; Brewer Water Company; Bangor, Orono, and Old Town Railway Company; Bangor, Hampden, and Winterport Railway Company; Bangor and Northern Railroad Company; Bar Harbor and Union River Power Company; Ellsworth Electric Illuminating Company; Bar Harbor Electric Light Company; Bodwell Water Power Company; and Lincoln Light and Power Company,
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Bangor Railway & Electric Company Deeds (1889-1918)
Bangor Hydro & Electric Company
A collection of deeds and blueprints for the Bangor Railway & Electric Company in the Bangor area circa 1889 to 1918. Provides a one-of-a-kind look into lands abutting or becoming part of the railway or electrical aspects of the company.
References of pages and volumes pertain to the Penobscot Registry of Deeds.
Book is presented as is. We are not clear why -- while the pages are numbered 1 to 189 -- the book is not in chronological order. It is part of a large collection of Bangor Hydro Electric Company (Bangor Railway & Electric Company became Bangor Hydro) housed at Bangor Public Library which we continue to archive.
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Bangor Railway and Electric Company Union Spying in October to December 1912
Bangor Railway & Electric Company
These documents, found among the collection donated to the Bangor Public Library by Bangor Hydro-Electric Company, consist of reports from a Bangor Railway & Electric Company (BREC) employee who served as a spy, or "spotter" as described in these pages, who reported to the company the activities of motormen and conductors of the railway who hoped to form a union.
The "spotter" is identified only as R.B.R. Looking at the 1912 Bangor City Directory, a likely candidate to be R.B.R. is Robert B. Robinson, a patrolman. Police in the early part of the 20th century were known to be union busters. The 1914 Bangor City Directory also lists Robinson as a patrolman. Page 3 of this document confirms that R.B.R. was hired by the company only after presenting suspicion of a union forming within the company. [Further research into this will be made and changes to this description will be made as needed].
R.B.R. reveals the names of many, many men who worked at BREC during 1912, as confirmed by the 1912 city directory. Hereafter is list of these men with a brief explanation of the role each played at BREC and in the union.
J.P.C. (not fully identified and unable to confirm via the city directory): listed as Assistant Superintendent for BREC
Maurice E. McCormack: Assistant Superintendent of BREC; hired R.B.R. into the company, fully knowing why R.B.R. was being employed
Howard Corning: Treasurer of BREC; also knew the purpose of the hiring of R.B.R.
Walter D. Merrow: BREC conductor and union organizer
John McGreal: BREC motorman and union president; fired by company, but remained a key figure in the union forming efforts
Fred A. Merrill: BREC conductor and union organizer
G. Ivan Smith: BREC conductor and union organizer; identified by R.B.R. as instigator of union
John H. Reardon: A union organizing specialist from Worcester, Massachusetts who counseled the men; worked with Amalgamated Association of Street and Electric Railway Employees
LaForest T. Hinton: BREC motorman and union member
Ralph L. Whiting: BREC motorman and union member
Charles S. Bullock: BREC conductor and union member
Louis E. Grant: BREC conductor and union member
Nicholas Driscoll: BREC conductor and union member
Clifford Jellison: BREC conductor and union member
Charles H. Johnson: BREC superintendent; not known to be part of union
Fred S. Emery: BREC motorman: not known to be part of union
Thomas F. Allen: a state detective who investigated the union organizing at the behest of BREC President John R. Graham
John P. Griffin: BREC motorman and union organizer
Carl C. Nason: BREC motorman and union organizer
Christian Billie: BREC inspector; known to be anti-union
Fred B. Avery: BREC mechanic and union vice president
Nathaniel F. Lambert: BREC conductor and union member
Michael Kelley: BREC motorman and union member
John Fred Boyce: BREC motorman and union member
Henry Crowe: BREC motorman; known to be anti-union
David F. Rice: BREC conductor and union member
Willis L. Conners: BREC conductor and union member
Fred S. Feltch: BREC motorman
Leroy M. Boulter: BREC motorman and union member
James Frank Armitage: BREC conductor and union member; fired by company
Gerald E. Richardson: BREC conductor and union member
Elbridge Atherton: BREC conductor
George P. Lawrence: BREC motorman and union member
William F. Silliman: presumed to be lawyer who represented company President John R. Graham in negotiations with John Reardon
Ambrose Eisnor: BREC motorman and union member
William E. Kelley: BREC conductor and union member
J. Thomas Fillier: BREC motorman and union member
William A. Severance: BREC motorman; not a union member
Many other men are mentioned throughout R.B.R.'s reports, but their first names could not be determined. A man named DeWitt was of particular amusement to R.B.R., as he thought DeWitt a fool and said so in multiple reports.
This is truly a one-of-a-kind slice of Bangor 1912. It details the safety concerns and pay demands of the conductors and motormen behind their union forming. It also explains at length the steps taken by BREC employees to defraud the company out of fares, fares they pocketed for themselves. Numerous locales like restaurants are referenced. We hope you enjoy.
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Timeline of Bangor Hydro Electric Company Activities from 1887 to 1890
Bangor Hydro Electric Company and Bangor Daily Commercial
Samples from the timeline
May 10, 1887: The Electric Light Company are stringing a wire to the residence of Dr. Nealley on Harlow Street. It will be used to run the first electric motor installed in this City.
March 11, 1889: The Bangor Electric Light & Power Company now talk quite seriously of removing their entire plant to Veazie early this Spring, and there to run by water power in the future.
All content originally appeared in the Bangor Daily Commercial. Compiler of this timeline is not identified. Item was found in the collected papers of Edward M. Graham, former President of Bangor Hydro Electric Company. Edward's father, John, also served as president of the company.
Bangor Hydro-Electric News was a monthly publication of Bangor Hydro Electric Company, which began in 1928 and ran to at least 1940. BH-E News should be of particular interest to those who have relatives who worked for Bangor Hydro during this time period, as many photographs are included in each issue and company personnel are named throughout these monthly reports. BH-E News covers not only the internal history of the Bangor office, but also regularly includes updates from offices in Harrington, Eastport, Ellsworth, Milford, Old Town, Lincoln, Machias, Bar Harbor, and elsewhere Bangor Hydro had offices. Individual issues of BH-E News often focus on projects of the company, offering photographs which reveal the history of electricity and railway systems in Bangor and in rural and seaside communities of Maine. [We intend to include all issues we own -- we do knowingly lack some issues as of April 2018].
Also found here are other papers relating to the Bangor Street Railway, also known as the Bangor Railway and Electric Company, which merged with Bangor Hydro Electric Company in 1924.
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