Rumford, ME - a very unique paper mill town

[Thundertubs]

Rumford is a paper mill town of 6,000 (used to be larger) on the Adroscoggin River in Oxford County, Maine, about 35 miles upriver from Lewiston, and in the foothills of the White Mountains.

This was actually the last stop coming home on my recent trip, but I was so fascinated by the place that I had to post it ahead of everything else. I was just driving through on Route 2, not expecting anything, but this town made me get out of the car and fire off 75 photos. A delightful travel surprise.

Rumford ("RUMPfid", in local parlance) grew up around a large mill for the Oxford Paper Company built by Canadian industrialist Hugh Chisholm in the late 18th Century. Driving into town, the strong smell of pulp hung in the air (not a nice smell, for those who have not experienced it. It is "the smell of jobs" nonetheless...)

It appeared to be a typical paper mill town, but an impressively built one with a very surprising twist...

Waldo Street




I originally thought this drag of Waldo Street was the downtown. Seems about right for a town of 6,000.
































Cumberland Street






This housing on Route 2/Hancock Street was what made me pull over to check the place out


Looks like company housing














Single family homes on Somerset, up the hill from Route 2




Maine Ave


So what's this?




Upon researching when I got home later that afternoon, I learned that Strathglass Park was built by Chisholm to house workers


Chisholm, the millionaire industrialist, visited company housing around the US and UK and determined that he wanted to avoid creating the company housing slums he saw in Manchester, NH and Lowell, MA.




Chisolm hired architect Cass Gilbert (MN, AR, WV statehouses, Woolworth Building, US Supreme Court) to design 51 duplexes as well as six apartment buildings (the ones seen earlier on Route 2)



Gilbert designed seven different variations, with subtle differences between each unit. The goal as to create a garden suburb of the highest quality and to be the most elegant company housing in the nation. Chisolm intended to avoid the unrest and violent strikes that occurred in the early company town of Pullman, Illinois.




The neighborhood was completed in 1902 and the units went on sale for $3,400 - $3,900


The name Strathglass Park comes from Strathglass Carry, the Scottish homeland of Chisolm's ancestors. The streets: Urquhart, Lichness, Erchles, Clachan, all come from Chisolm's favorite Scottish towns.




It is an interesting place to reflect on the importance industry used to hold in our society




Five million bricks were made in nearby Bethel and transported 17 miles by ox cart. Granite came from New Hampshire.




In 2005 Strathglass Park was put on the list of Maine's most endangered historical sites. The park had fallen into disrepair and was plagued by absentee landlords. The units now sell for about $35,000. The paper mill, now owned by New Page, is facing an uncertain future.






Driving out of town, thoroughly impressed and pleased with stumbling upon such a neat place, I stopped again to take some photos of the river






But what's this?


Geez, I was about to leave and I hadn't even been downtown! I thought the strip on Waldo street was downtown!




The stretch of Congress Street downtown was more cheerful than Waldo Street.


Hotel Harris




Rumford has an unusual layout around a bend in the river which made downtown easy to miss while heading through on Route 2.






The mill that started it all












What's a small northeastern town without the eponymous House of Pizza?




One last departing shot


Thanks to the website Historic Rumford for the info on Strathglass Park.

An excellent 6:30 video can be seen here

[Pavlov's Dog]

Really interesting town. Seems like it must have been somewhat substantial at some point to merit so many buildings of quality.

Thanks for sharing.

[Evergrey]

another amazing thread, 'Tubs. I really love these Maine cities.. so much character and urban texture... stuff that is often missing in much larger places in other, sunnier parts of the country. What a treasure!

[boden]

I drove through Rumford, Peru and Mexico last summer. Interesting area for sure. The area has definitely seen better days.
Thanks for the post.

[Top Of The Park]

nice

[Andy6]

Well done, Thundertubs. Wouldn't have expected a trip to small-town Maine to draw you back into the neglected history of benevolent industrialism spanning three countries. Were the workers or their children elevated by the lovely garden suburb Chisholm created for them, one wonders.

[CapitalCity]

Another excellent tour. Neat looking town!

[TinChelseaNYC]

Another A+! And Cass Gilbert designed that housing? Pretty impressive legacy!

[dugdogmaster]

I love all the old red brick A beautiful old town

[theWatusi]

gritty goodness

[ItsConanOBrien]

I knew there was a mill there, but that's about it. I bet it's not as depressing on a sunny day. Nice tour!

[denveraztec]

Love those old structures, they love their red bricks here!

[xzmattzx]

Rumford looks pretty nice. I like seeing these old factory towns. I also like seeing little factory housing neighborhoods, like Strathglass Park.

I didn't realize that Rumford had such a "large" population. I have heard of it, but it never seemed like it was important at all; it seemed like the place with maybe a thousand people or something.

[Seely32]

Excellent tour I have been to this town as a child, it brings back memories of touring northern new england as a child.

[kcexpress69]

I don't know how I skipped over this thread!! This place is pretty cool. To be honest with you, it doesn't even seem like a small town. The layout of the neighborhoods and the many apartment buildings almost made it look like this was a thread of some midtown in a larger city!! Great thread!!

[MonctonRad]

My mother was born in Rumford ME. Good to see these pictures. I like the topography of the area but I agree with you, the town is kinda stinky (thanks to the pulp mill you can smell it about ten miles away).

Glad you enjoyed your trip to the Maritimes (including the bustling city of Moncton NB, population 126,000).

[My49packard]

Rumford and the town across the river Mexico Maine, is where me and my Family grew up. I left home to go into the Army in 1966 and never moved back. I have only been back there maybe 3 times since. Your pictures bring back many memories of my youth, my crazy youth days. As young as we were, we had no fear of death. In saying that I want to tell your readers of one crazy thing we use to do just for the fun of it.
You have a picture of the Memorial Bridge going in the downtown area of Congress Street. That downtown area was, and still is called “Overtown”. We use to cross the river but not on the bridge or water and rocks below, we use to crawl up underneath the belly of the bridge and cross over by hanging on with our hands and swinging from one level to the next. If we fell onto the rocks and into the river it would have meant a sure horrifying death, but if we didn’t do it we were called chicken. How smart is that eh? LOL. Well I am writing this story so I did not fall but I sure feel pretty stupid now for things I did as a child. Hind is surely 20/20.

My Family has worked in the mill for as many generations as the mill has been built there. My relatives still work the mill. It’s the main source of money in that region and you can make a lot there.
In the old days the smoke stacks spewed out sulfur ash which went all over the communities and it also ruined the finished on the cars as well as polluting the Androscoggin river. The river is cleaned up now.
I can also tell you and there is a very high rate of deaths from cancer in this very picturesque town, most say it was due to the Mill. The Mill has cleaned up the problem with scrubbers in the smoke stacks, ( Not sure what that is ).
I remember a lot of the old wooden apartment buildings on Waldo street. My Dad lived in a few of them and I had many Friends that lived there as well.
I was a budding musician back then playing the Beatles music and got my start playing the St. Rocco Hall there as well as the VFW and the Eagles and The Snowshoe club there.

I am saddened by the decaying old brick buildings. They were where the wealthy people use to live and really took care of those homes. What a shame to see that part of history dieing. If I had the millions it would take, I would take on buying and rebuilding these bueatiful old brick homes. I pray that someone comes along one day and dose just that.
I have millions of memories, some good ad many pleasant ones. Thank you for bringing these memories back to my Junior senior in training brain. I really appreciate these pictures a lot.
Dave Packard

[My49packard]

Rumford and the town across the river, Mexico is where my family and I grew up. I left home to go into the army in 1966 and never moved back. I have only been back there 3 or 4 times since. Your pictures bring back many memories of my youth, my crazy youth days. As young as we were, we had no fear of death. In saying that I want to tell your readers of one crazy thing we use to do just for the fun of it.
You have a picture of the Memorial Bridge going in the downtown area of Congress Street. That downtown area was, and still is called “Overtown”. We use to cross the river but not on the bridge or water and rocks below. We used to crawl up underneath the belly of the bridge and cross over by hanging on with our hands and swinging from one level to the next. If we fell onto the rocks and into the river it would have meant a horrifying death, but if we didn’t do it we were called chicken. How smart is that? LOL. Well I am writing this story so I did not fall but I sure feel pretty stupid now for things I did as a child. Hindsight is surely 20/20.
My family has worked in the mill for as many generations as the mill has been there. Some of my relatives still work in the mill. It’s the main source of money in that region and you can make a lot there.
In the old days the smoke stacks spewed out sulfur ash which went all over the communities and it also ruined the finishes on the cars as well as polluting the Androscoggin river. The river is cleaned up now.
I can also tell you that there has been a very high rate of death from cancer in this very picturesque town, most say it was due to the Mill. The Mill has cleaned up the problem with scrubbers in the smoke stacks, ( Not sure what that is ).
I remember a lot of the old wooden apartment buildings on Waldo street. My Dad lived in a few of them and I had many friends that lived there as well.
I was a budding musician back then, playing the Beatles music and got my start playing the St. Rocco Hall there as well as the VFW and the Eagles and The Snowshoe club there.
I have millions of memories, some good and many pleasant ones. Thank you for bringing these memories back to my Junior Senior in Training brain. I really appreciate these pictures a great deal.
Dave Packard

[Sherman Cahal]

Love these old company towns!

[Ex-Ithacan]

Thanks to My49 for bringing this thread back to life.

Wonderful tour, and a surprising little gem. Don't ya just love it when you stumble across a treat like this Tt?

Thanks for the tour.