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Development Credit Corporation of Maine: Annual Report 1959

Development Credit Corporation of Maine

"Some ten years ago certain bankers and business men of Maine conceived the idea of some organization which would help to fill the gap which existed in our financial structure and assist in part, at least, those concerns which were unable to satisfy their financial requirements through ordinary bank credit or the capital market.

As a result of their deliberations, study and planning, the Development Credit Corporation of Maine was formed, financed largely by member banking institutions, backed up by capital advanced by Maine businesses. This corporation was formed along the lines of the free enterprise system with no state or governmental guaranties of any kind, with bankers and businessmen assuming the full risks of loss and with no special tax advantages.

Today we have ten years of experience behind us. The Corporation has made seventy- four loans totaling $2,186,282.78. The amount of loans paid out in full has amounted to $978,727.95, and partial payments were $236,982.80, with losses of $48,015.10.

At the time the Credit Corporation was formed, there was considerable skepticism in the minds of many who feared that losses resulting from our loans of such a risk nature would soon dissipate its available funds. This skepticism has proved to be unfounded. Losses over the ten-year period have amounted to 2.2% of total loans made, or two-tenths of one percent per year. Considering the risk nature of our loans, we feel that this is quite a satisfactory ratio. In fact, if it had been less, we would not have been doing the job which we had undertaken."

Includes photographs of buildings assisted by this program, including Sylvania Electric Products in Waldoboro, Maine; Hillcrest Poultry Company in Lewiston, Maine; Edwards Company in Pittsfield, Maine; Maine Paper Tube Corporation in South Gardiner, Maine; Viner Bros. Inc. in Bangor, Maine; Commonwealth Shoe & Leather Company in Gardiner, Maine; Bonnar-Vawter in Rockland, Maine; and Bangor Shoe Manufacturing Company in Bangor, Maine.
Development Resources of the Penobscot Region

Maine Department of Economic Development

Introduction

"The Penobscot Region is one of Maine's fastest developing areas. It is a prosperous region with valuable timber resources, with excellent water and power resources and with a commanding position for distributive and marketing functions in northern and eastern Maine and adjacent areas of Canada. Its modern transportation facilities -- super-highway, air, rail, and ocean -- serve an expanding industrial economy. Its key city, Bangor, is third largest in the state and its colorful history as lumber capital of the nation is reflected in today's energetic and progressive citizens.

It is a region with abundant space for growth and a willingness to assist new as well as existing industry. We welcome your inquiry into more specific details about this area.

Detailed information on individual communities within the reg ion, on industrial sites keyed to specific industries, or on aspects of potential development will be sent on request."
This is the MIBA: Maine Industrial Building Authority

Maine Industrial Building Authority

A pamphlet from the late 1950s (exact date not specified) detailing the the Maine Industrial Building Authority (MIBA). MIBA was created to "encourage the making of mortgage loans for the purpose of furthering industrial expansion in the state."
Maine Invites You: 25th Edition [1959]

Maine Publicity Bureau

This twenty-fifth edition of MAINE INVITES YOU is designed to help you plan for that glorious vacation which only the great Pine Tree State can offer.

Between the covers of this booklet an endless variety of information has been arranged for the sole purpose of introducing you to Maine's limitless VACATIONLAND possibilities.

By word and picture we hope to convey some idea of the way Nature has showered her greatest blessings on Maine -- silent, mysterious forests, the beauty of lakes and hills, the music of streams, the sweep of great rivers, the majesty of a rock-bound coast and sea-girt isles.

That's why it's such a pleasure to send you this copy of MAINE INVITES YOU -- to assist you in planning for maximum enjoyment during your visit to Maine.

A county index map on the opposite page and a complete index of advertisers at the back of the book will help you to locate the place that may interest you. Handy inquiry cards also are included for your convenience in requesting more specific information or reservations from advertisers.

We'll appreciate your mentioning MAINE INVITES YOU when corresponding or conversing with those who have participated in making this book possible. This Bureau is at your service at all times to help you plan for the happiest vacation possible.
Bangor Water District [1958]: New Upland Pond System

Bangor Maine Water District

This map shows the location of a water tanks, pipe lines, and more for a new water supply system for Bangor, Maine, circa 1958. The map is not easily legible without zooming in very closely.
Maine Invites You: 24th Edition [1958]

Maine Publicity Bureau

This twenty-fourth edition edition of Maine Invites You is designed to help you plan for that glorious vacation which only the great Pine Tree State can offer.

Between the covers of this booklet an endless variety of information has been arranged for the sole purpose of introducing you to Maine's limitless VACATIONLAND possibilities.

By word and picture we hope to convey some idea of the way Nature has showered her greatest blessings on Maine-silent, mysterious forests, the beauty of lakes and hills, the music of streams, the sweep of great rivers, the majesty of a rock-bound coast and sea-girt isles.

Bernard M. Johnstone, State of Maine Publicity Bureau, Executive Manager
New England Electric Railway Historical Society/Seashore Electric Railway: Special Report -- Boston Collection

New England Electric Railway Historical Society

In recent years , this Society has undertaken to gather a collection of electric railway equipment to illustrate the many developments that marked the rise and decline of this fabulous but short-lived industry. As a part of this program, we have acquired a group of cars from Boston's Metropolitan Transit Authority representing an almost complete sequence of car types from a single large system. We had several Boston cars, and when it became clear that most of the remaining old equipment on the MTA would soon be retired, we undertook to preserve seven more cars, which, with those we already had, would form a living record of local streetcar evolution.
Seashore Electric Railway Pamplets

Seashore Electric Railway

The Seashore Electric Railway got its start in 1939 when a dozen men brought an open summer trolley car from nearby Saco. Now it owns 45 cars from 23 railway systems in 14 states and England. These cars represent the entire development of street and interurban railway transportation from the horse car to the dawn of streamlining. They include a former horse car dating back to the 1870's, an all-aluminum interurban car capable of speeds up to 85 miles per hour, the last passenger trolley and the last electric locomotive to operate in the state of Maine, a double-deck tram car from England, a car carrying the famous destination sign Desire, a car peculiar to Los Angeles -- but known to movie-goers the world over and a sequence of a dozen cars from Boston.
Connecting Maine with the Nation: 40th Anniversary of Cole's Express

Cole's Express

Albert J. Cole began work in the transportation industry at the early age of eight when, as a "bound out" boy, he was employed in a livery stable in Enfield, Maine.

He worked at this job for 10 years and then became station agent for the Maine Central Railroad in the same town. He resigned from this job to become a pioneer in Maine highway transportation.

With nothing but a wagon, a pair of horses, initiative, hope and unbounded determination to make a dream become a reality, he founded the company which today bears his name.

From that day until his death in 1955, Albert J. Cole's life was dedicated to the betterment of Maine and the expansion of highway transportation within the state's boundaries.

Under his wise guidance and through his demonstrated initiative, Cole's Express has grown from this meager start to become the largest intrastate trucking company in Maine, operating 135 vehicles principally within the state's boundaries.

We who now operate Cole's Express are grateful for his untiring work and wise counsel and are dedicated to continue serving Maine with the very best in motor transportation.
Atlantic Shore Line Railway: its predecessors and its successors

Osmond Richard Cummings

Introduction

The 1949 SALE of the 3-mile electric freight line between Sanford and Springvale, Maine, to the Sanford & Eastern Railroad by the York Utilities Company, and subsequent changeover to Diesel motive power, all but brings to an end the colorful history of the second largest of the Pine Tree State's four major electric railway systems -- the Atlantic Shore Line Railway -- known in its heyday as the "Sea View Route." The Sanford-Springvale line was the last remaining segment under trolley wire.

At its height, this extensive 90-mile network of cross-country trolley lines, operating largely over private right-of-way, extended from Kittery to Biddeford, serving York, York Beach, Ogunquit, Wells, Kennebunk, Kennebunkport and Cape Porpoise; it branched inland from Kennebunk to Sanford and Springvale, and connected both Kittery and York with Eliot and South Berwick (Maine) and Dover (New Hampshire), as well as operating the ferry service across the Piscataqua River between Kittery, Maine, and Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
Portland Railroad: Part I, historical development and operations

Osmond Richard Cummings

Introduction

When the last trolley car rolled through the streets of Portland, Maine, in May of 1941, it marked the end of more than three-quarters of a century of local public transit by rail in that important New England seaport. It was in 1863 that the Pine Tree State's first horsecar line began operation there -- to form the nucleus for what eventually became that state's second largest electric railway system -- the Portland Railroad Company.

This extensive network of urban and suburban lines, at its height, had 100 miles of track and owned about 200 passengers cars. From the center of Portland, its routes radiated in all directions into the surrounding countryside, to connect the city with the neighboring communities of South Portland, Cape Elizabeth, Westbrook, South Windham, Gorham, Falmouth, Cumberland and Scarboro; extending southward to Old Orchard Beach and Saco, and running northward to conf'lect with the Lewiston, Augusta & Waterville Street Railway at Yarmouth.
Maine Forest Facts (1957 Edition)

Maine Committee of American Forest Products Industries

Maine's development started with the first harvest of its timber resource when the Popham two colonists built a ship there in 1607. The economy of the state has been largely built on its forests ever since. The most heavily forested state in the nation, Maine still is important in the forest economy of the United States after 300 years of timber cropping. It is the country's leading producer of white pine lumber and among the leaders in output of pulpwood.
Directory of Streets and Information for Bangor and Vicinity Maine (Including Brewer, Ellsworth, Hampden, Old Town, Orono, & Veazie)

Penobscot News Agency and Interstate Publishing Company

A pocket-sized guide listing street locations in Bangor and the surrounding area circa 1957. Includes brief listing of facts for several towns, as well as the University of Maine in Orono.

Perhaps the best passages are these:

"Residents of Eastern Maine's two largest cities gathered at the new Bangor-Brewer bridge on November 11, 1954 and dedicated the $2 1/2 million span.

The day marked one of the most significant steps of progress Eastern Maine has seen in many, many years. Shooting over 1406 feet across the Penobscot River the span is easing the travel in and out of the area. Existing industry in the state are benefiting by the bridge, and tourists are finding travel is much easier with the span. The businessman driving home during the rush hours finds that he is wasting less time waiting for creeping traffic to move.

When the Old Bon Ton Ferries were operating many years ago, it seemed that one of the captains remarked that someday a bridge would be built across the river on the same path that his boat took. Today the new bridge follows that path and motorists are paying a little more than a ferry fare to cross the river - - three cents.

It took almost a year and a half, a cost of about $2 1/2 million, tons and tons of cement, steel and other materials and unestimated man hours to complete the dream that had been buzzing around in the minds of many progressive leaders in the two benefited cities."
Public parks in Maine

State of Maine, State Park Commission

State and National Parks are designed to conserve the natural and historic objects and the wildlife therein and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations .
Eastern Maine Basketball Tournament: Class L -- February 28, March 1 & 2, 1957

Unknown

Program for the 1957 Class L Eastern Maine Basketball Tournament, showing team photos, team rosters, and advertisments for Bangor businesses. Teams in the tournament were Old Town, Fairfield, Bangor, Waterville, Stearns, Houlton, Gardiner, and Caribou.
Heaving a line: old cap's tall tales of land and sea

William Brown

Book Description

Down along the Maine coast, tales are spun of the days when men were sailors and great adventures lay at every port.

Now, sitting by the fire, Old Cap retells some of his mightiest and funniest adventures. Very tall tales they are indeed. We suspect the old sea dog's imagination is bigger than truth can tell.

He takes you into lands and seas where anything can happen at any time -- a real "Alice in Wonderland" for grownups.

The night the howling nor'easter smashed the Lizzie M.; taking to the woods as a lumberjack; catching fish with a pitchfork; Gramp's noisy corpse; the porker in the chimney -- all provide Old Cap with some of his merriest tales.

You'll chuckle at how Old Cap outsmarted a man-eating shark in a swimming race -- and at the rooster applying artificial respiration to his brood of Rhode Island Reds.

You'll meet some real characters who were raised on salted codfish and boiled potatoes. They are Salty, who engineered a tail-pulling contest between a biting mustang and a kicking mule; Hardtack, a ferocious footballer; Gramp, who took his auto-driving test as he would a sloop in a high wind.

All these short short-stories take you right into the wharf-side bunker with its pot-bellied stove. So pull up a rocking chair, light your pipe and come along as Old Cap takes you over land and sea into some of the most nonsensical adventures a man ever dreamed of.
Portland-Lewiston Interurban: a history of the finest electric interurban railway to run in the State of Maine

Osmond Richard Cummings

Introduction

This is the story of New England's finest interurban -- the Portland-Lewiston Interurban -- which connected Maine's two largest cities from 1914 to 1933.

A high speed road operating almost entirely over private right-of-way, it provided the best in passenger and freight transportation for nearly 20 years and was abandoned only when steadily increasing highway competition made continued operation financially impossible.

Its 30-mile single track line was of substantial construction -- as well buit as many steam railroads -- and its rolling stock was outshopped by two of the country's leading carbuilders, Laconia and Wason. Modern methods of power distribution were employed and operations were conducted in a careful and efficient manner.

Both limited and local service were offered, with cars leaving each terminus every hour during the day. Speed, comfort and safety was the slogan of the Portland-Lewiston Interurban and it is notable that only one accident of any consequence ever took place on the road.

Although the Portland-Lewiston Interurban has been gone for more than two decades, it is still well and fondly remembered in the area it served.
The Biddeford and Saco Railroad

Osmond Richard Cummings

Opening Paragraphs

Small but important among the electric railways of Maine during the golden era of the trolley car was the Biddeford and Saco Railroad which motorized its seven mile system in 1939 after a half century of rail service in the twin cities of Biddeford and Saco and to the neighboring summer resort, Old Orchard Beach.

A busy and prosperous little road for many years, the Biddeford and Saco was a key segment in the continuous electric railway route from the New Hampshire state line to the heart of Central Maine, serving as the connecting link between the Atlantic Shore Railway and the Portland Railroad Company in addition to providing terminal trackage for the latter at Saco and Old Orchard Beach. As a matter of fact, for a time the Biddeford and Saco was controlled by the Portland system through stock ownership by Portland Railroad officials.

The Biddeford and Saco operated the last open cars in the Pine Tree State and was the last street railway in New England to run opens in regular scheduled service. It is one of the oldest New England transit properties still operating under its original corporate title but its greatest distinction lies in the fact that it continues to maintain the basic five cent fare-the same fare with which it began operation in 1888! In recent years, the B&S has been given nationwide publicity over this unusual state of affairs -- unusual in that there are very few bus lines in this country where a nickel retains its old-time dignity as the price of a ride .
Maine for winter vacations

Maine Publicity Bureau

Each year a greater number of people are discovering opportunities for relaxation and enjoyment in the winter season. Whether this takes the form of skiing and winter sports or simply a restful stay at one of the many fine hotels, motels, inns or sporting camps that remain open year-round, Maine invites you to spend your "Winter Holiday" in the Pine Tree State this year.

The State of Maine, with 33,040 square miles of all grades of forested terrain -- majestic Pine and Spruce in a blanket of white -- is a veritable "Christmas Tree land" from December into April.

The ever changing artistry of Nature, bathing the countryside in a cloak of winter white is a challenge to artists and photographers and a delight to the vacation-traveller.

A fresh fall of snow clinging to the endless forests of evergreen, glistening like trillions of priceless jewels in the warming sun; a grey-blue sea along 2,500 miles of jutted coastline, smoking skyward on a frosty morning; the exhilaration of a winter walk along the stillness of a country lane and the thrill of gliding over any one of 2,500 crystal-clear ice locked lakes and ponds, on a moonlight night-these are some of the rewards waiting the winter vacationist in Maine this year.

The public roadway system containing 3,000 miles of U. S. and State Highways, 106 miles of Turnpike, and 22,000 miles of secondary and "feeder" roads are kept open, well plowed and sanded, regardless of weather.

Although not generally regarded as a "mountain State", Maine has several spectacular mountain ranges containing 20 peaks over 4,000', 300 well over 3,000', and innumerable lesser mountains and hills.
Bangor, Maine: Fact Folder 1956

Robert H. Patten

An informational packet compiled by Robert H. Patten of the Industrial Development Department of Bangor, Maine, touting the advantages of Bangor for industries looking to develop in the Bangor area.
Dedication of the Bangor Auditorium, October 1, 1955

Bangor Auditorium Dedication Committee

A handout detailing the program of events for the opening of the Bangor Auditorium, October 1, 1955. Four pictures and statistics of the new building are included. The Bangor Auditorium was demolished in June 2013, making way for the Cross Insurance Center at the same location on Buck and Main Street in Bangor, Maine.
What to See and Do In and Around Bangor

Bangor Chamber of Commerce

A listing of recreational and tourist activities in Bangor and the greater Bangor area circa 1955. Features several photographs, including an aerial photograph of Bangor.
Toward a Solution of Bangor's Traffic Problem

Bangor City Planning Department

Argues that the basic pattern of highways in Bangor was established 150 years ago, more than a hundred years before the automobile came into popular use. As the layout of streets suggests, all routes were intended to bring traffic into the center of the city.

The development of an adequate highway network in and around Bangor has manifestly lagged far behind the needs of the present-day automobile users. In fact little, if anything, has been done, outside of designating a rotary and a few one-way streets, to correct the basic inadequacies of the system. Unless one can predict that the use of the automobile will soon be on the decline, he must conclude that bold measures in highway improvement for this entire area are the order of the day -- in the interests of day-to-day driving convenience for the inhabitants, and future economic development for the area.

Presents prospective changes to the highways and streets on Bangor in diagrams for 1955, 1960, 1970, and 1980. Several of these changes did not happen as projected. For example, what would become I-95 was projected to be outside the city of Bangor, not running through it.
The Inside Story of the Bangor Daily News

Bangor Daily News

Take a background of Whig conservatism and combine it with the impetuous "be first at any cost" philosophy of a brash young newcomer to the field, and you have a picture of Maine's largest daily newspaper, The Bangor Daily News.

There was nothing in the docile and precise beginning of the Bangor Daily Whig on July 1, 1834 that gave any hint it was destined some day to become the greatest newspaper in its state and attract national journalistic attention.
Maine Turnpike story

Reginald C. Barrows

A Message from the Editor

"This souvenir edition of the Maine Trail commemorating the official opening of the Maine Turnpike is the result of the combined efforts of individuals.

Each page of this edition has been given the most careful study for its relative importance in our attempt to portray the significance of this extension to the State of Maine.

Yet with the most, considerate screening and constant revisions, we are humbly aware that pictorially and descriptively, we can only scratch the surface presenting highlights of this greatest road building job in the history of our State."

Reginald C. Barrows, 1955