If you have ever had the pleasure of waiting to turn left onto Harlow from State, you've likely laid eyes on Bangor's art-deco old telephone building. In the shadow of that building is now some form of call center where Banks Auto Supply used to be.
I don't know a whole lot about Banks Auto Supply, other than that's where "Al" Benner (of Al Benner's Mobile Home fame) got his start. And that it was likely owned by Earl C Banks who may have come into ownership after his tour as a Private in WWII, but other sources have it recorded as being founded by Earl and George Banks in the mid 1930s. (If anyone wants to set me straight, I encourage you to do so in the comments, this isn't my day job and I'd love to learn.)
The photo below was taken in the mid 1930's. I have no names, but the location is more recognizable if you note the steeple in the background as belonging to John Bapst. The roof of the building to the right has changed, but the window spacing is still the same.
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Banks Auto Supply relocated from its Park St location (pictured above) to 281 Main St in the late 1940s and remained in operation on Main St until 1975 when the City of Bangor acquired the parcel by eminent domain for its fire station to the tune of $150,000 -- which adjusted for inflation in 2014 would come to $663,289.96.
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| From the Bangor Daily News, 10/2/70 |
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