Train Station | Old Town

In the early 1800s America's railroad system was at its infancy. 1829 was the first time a (passenger) railroad had ever turned a profit, or had freight/passenger stations available to the public -- and that was the Baltimore & Ohio. Six years later, the Bangor and Piscataquis Rail Company had run its very first train from Bangor to Old Town, and the succeeding company -- Veazie Railroad, would move to become one of the first successful railroad companies in the nation.

Let's put this in a little bit of perspective: Hudson, Pittsburgh, NYC and parts of Ohio were some of the cities to be connected by rail before Old Town and Bangor; which is no surprise, those cities and those areas represented the backbone of American industry at the time. The City of Old Town claims that this Bangor to Old Town line was the second railroad in the country.

It's worth noting that a great number of rail travel innovations that we may take for granted today developed some time after rail service in the Old Town area.  "Knuckle" style couplers and vacuum brakes were nowhere to be seen. When Old Town was on the map (in terms of rail), rail travel didn't look anything like it does today.

Closing "The Troll Cave" Case | Kenduskeag i95 overpass, Bangor

Bangor Explorer's Guild

There are a great many places within the city of Bangor that give that provide a nice backdrop against which things that go 'bump' in the night may go 'bump.'  One of which is a hollow highway overpass.

Considering the city's role in the Cold War with its bombers, fighters, nuclear weapons stores and missile base it would stand to reason that tales of hidden rooms, top secret pipelines, passageways and subterranean bunkers would easily tickle the imaginations of anyone who may catch wind of them. Cue the (unfortunately now defunct) Bangor Explorer's Guild. They had documented a particular bridge based on a tip received in the early 1990s: "someone told one of our agents that interstate bridges were hollow inside so the military could hide tanks, weapons, and emergancy (sic) supplies inside secret rooms."

While the Kenduskeag valley overpass is indeed hollow, the purpose was unrelated to Civil Defense. The notion of military/CD use is a symptom of an inter-generational game of telephone -- the Bangor Explorer's Guild for all their chutzpah never had access to an invaluable research tool for this sort of thing: Facebook. Or rather, Facebook users. There's a fantastic group (for locals) dedicated to memories of those who grew up in the area.  I'd asked and had this misconception cleared up in rather short order: The design of this bridge isn't for storage, it's so that air may act as an insulator that would prevent the bridge from freezing before the rest of the highway.

Its purpose may seem somewhat mundane considering whispers of preparation for the doomsday that never came, the bridge isn't without its own *bumps* in the night. Several graves had to be moved for the construction of this bridge in the nearby cemetery, and in 1980 two teenagers had a fatal (and horrific) accident which involved a Corvette flying off of the bridge at 100+ mph, through the trees into the cemetery with the largest recoverable component being the engine block. 

Apparently it was also quite the part location during the 1960s and 1970s until Bangor's homeless problem caused the site to become too dangerous. It is effectively off limits today.

Note: If I have quoted you/used your story and you'd like to be credited please contact me using the links at the top of this page. Also I don't normally make a habit of blogging about things I find on Facebook, this is intended as a third party follow-up to the Bangor Explorers Guild entry on this structure.

East Side Dump | Bangor

WikiMapia.org describes Bangor's Essex St hill as a popular sledding location that used to be an old ski area. Given how steep, how close to residential areas and wetlands it is, its history as a ski area makes perfect sense. Did you know that it also used to be the site of Bangor's municipal dump?  This area used to be a open-burning dump for the first half of the 20th century. It has been referred to as The East Side Dump.

BANGOR CITY DUMP FORMER SITE 74187 WATCHMAKER ST BANGOR  A LARGE FIELD AT THE END OF WATCHMAKER ST WHICH LEADS DOWN TO A LARGE WETLANDS.  THIS IS STILL AN OPEN FIELD TO THE RIGHT AND AT THE END OF WATCHMAKER STREET. THIS WAS AN OPEN BURNING DUMP UNTIL THE MID-1960'S WHEN IT WAS CLOSED AND THE KITTREDGE STREET DUMP WAS OPENED. THERE IS A LARGE WETLANDS AT THE BASE OF THIS FIELD. THIS SITE IS EASILY WITHIN VIEW OF I-95 SOUTH. INFORMATION ON THIS SITE WAS SUPPLIED BY THE CEO OF THE CITY OF BANGOR IN 2008 PRE-1976 44.82438 -68.76602

 Maine DEP

The purpose of this post isn't to muckrake, as this area was a landfill back when we had leaded gasoline and cigarettes were practically a health and beauty item. It's really just an interesting 'huh' sort of factoid.

The East Side Dump was one of Bangor's first municipal dumps, having arisen out of concerns related to the spread of tuberculosis in the early part of the 20th century and many private dumps dotting the city. (Remembering Bangor, Wayne Reilly, Page 114-116.)

One Room Schoolhouse | Grand Falls

This schoolhouse was used from the 19th century to mid 20th. It has been preserved by the Grand Falls historical society is and is popular with geocachers, other than that I know little. Photos donated form the mid 80s by an anonymous source.