Guilford, Maine

FRENCH & ELLIOTT COMPANY

Kelsey Callins and Katie Scott
8th Grade Students, Piscataquis Community Middle School
Images by: Guilford Historical Society

The French and Elliott Company is a building that has been changed many times throughout the years. The M&J Hudson store was constructed in 1879. Later on another wing was added. This wing was for the post office added in 1893. Eventually, a third wing was added as the Odd Fellows Hall. It was added shortly before the building burned down in 1902. After the building burned down, construction began. The dedication of the brick building was held in 1904.

In 1912 this location became the North Guilford School House. It was taught by Gladys (Foss) Davis. In 1916 the Masonic hall and the Odd Fellows Hall replaced the old school house. All of the past buildings in this location were further known as the French and Elliott Company. Later the left wing of the building was known as the office of the Walter Blake Insurance Company.

The Walter Blake Insurance Company building was changed to Cornier’s Market, then Worthen’s Market, and is currently Rite Aid. This building has been known as Rite Aid since 2000. The building that was there before was razed to make way for the new store. The Rite Aid store is still located at 3 Hudson Avenue in Guilford.

Guilford Bed and Breakfast

Jenna Chapman And Danica Jordan

Guilford, Maine. It’s not where you’ll find a Starbucks and the hustle and bustle of the city, or where you’ll find outhouses outside of every small shack. Instead you will find lots of small businesses, including the Guilford Bed and Breakfast.

The Guilford Bed and Breakfast is located on the corner of Elm Street and Prospect Street. It was built between 1890 and the early 1900s. It was built by David Campbell for his daughter, Louise, and her husband, Ernest Genther, as a wedding present. It was made of wood and horsehair plaster, with copper plating around the outside. The basement was made of bedrock and the pillars on the front porch are Douglas fir, imported from Washington State and Oregon.

Some of the people who owned the bed and breakfast after the Genthers are Micajah J. Hudson, the Hilton Family, the Drake Family, the Cummings Family, John and Pat Selicious, Lynn and Harry Anderson, and photographer Steve Maines. It is currently owned and operated by Isobel and Harland Young.

It used to be a home, but now it’s a fancy bed and breakfast, with six beautiful guest rooms. Each room has its own specific name: the Rose Room, the Cottage Room, the Hudson Room, the Cummings Suite, the Garden Room, and the Highland Room--all ranging in price from $105-$135.

The bed and breakfast sits where part of an apple orchard used to be. The orchard ran up the ill in the middle of Guilford, and four of the remaining apple trees still sit in the backyard.

The current owners of the Guilford Bed and Breakfast (Isobel and Harland) have made many renovations including a screened-in porch that has plexiglass panels that are put up in the winter. One guest, who used to live in the house, came back for a stay and wound up taking a shower in what used to be their closet!

Overall this bed and breakfast is full of warm hospitality in each relaxing room.

Bangor and Aroostook Railroad

• Text By: Spencer Martell and Paul Martin
• Eight Grade Students at Piscataquis Community Middle School
• Images from the Guilford Historical Society

The Bangor and Piscataquis Railroad

The Bangor and Piscataquis Railroad Company was constructed on June 24, 1868. It ran through many towns including: Guilford, Dover, Alton, Pea Cove, South Lagrange, Lagrange, Boyd Lake, Milo, Sebec, Abbot, and Blanchard. It was made out of steel tracks, timber ties, railroad spikes, and railroad ties. The railroad was used for both passenger and freight trains. Before it was built the railroad lines were either woods, towns, or fields.

On December 14, 1869, the railroad had just reached Dover-Foxcroft. On December 21, 1871, the first train had gone through Guilford. The railroad company began hauling potatoes in heated boxcars. Potatoes had given them a bigger profit when the times were getting hard. By 1879 over $25,000 worth of potatoes had come through Guilford.

The railroad had many people working for it. There have also been many different railroad agents for the Bangor and Piscataquis Railroad Company. The agent’s job is to get information on incoming trains. They have to know where they are, what company they are, where they are going, and what they are carrying. Some agents were Henry Douglass, Frank W. Keniston, Aubry G. Purdy, and Daniel G. Currie.

On October 18, 1879, the first casualty occurred at Low’s Bridge. Since there was no siding, cars that had to be loaded were left on the track and had to be pushed to the nearest siding. The siding on railroad tracks is a bit of track on the side of the road. It is used for boxcars that are waiting to be loaded. Engineer Green was driving a north bound train when he struck the cars waiting to be picked up. Green was caught in the debris. The locomotive and the cars had crashed and slid to the bank of the river. It took three hours to free Green. He was then taken to a nearby barn and died three days later.

In 1891 the Bangor and Aroostook Railroad bought the Bangor and Piscataquis Railroad. They did this to connect the Bangor and Piscataquis Railroad and the Bangor and Katahdin Iron Works Railway. They hauled pulp and paper, petroleum, mill products, and chemicals. In 1962 the railroad running through Guilford was torn up.

In Guilford today part of the railroad is now the Guilford Memorial River Walk. The part of the railroad that ran along Water Street was removed when the road was widened. Other parts of the railroad have been covered up by houses and buildings, and some are used as snowmobile trails. Tennis courts, a park, and a basketball court have also covered the old railroads.

(Wikipedia, 2010), (Celebrating 175 Years of Growth)

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