The Maine State Building is a historic building on Preservation Way, part of the Poland Springs resort complex in

South Poland, Maine Poland is a New England town, town in Androscoggin County, Maine, Androscoggin County, Maine, United States. The population was 5,906 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Set among rolling hills and numerous lakes, the town is home to ...

. It was built in 1893 at the Columbian Exposition in Chicago. Designed by

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

Charles Sumner Frost Charles Sumner Frost (May 31, 1856 – December 11, 1931) was an American architect. He is best known as the architect of Navy Pier and for designing over 100 buildings for the Chicago and North Western Railway. Biography Born in Lewiston, Main ...

, a

Lewiston, Maine Lewiston (; ) is the List of municipalities in Maine, second most populous city in the U.S. state of Maine, with the city's population at 37,121 as of the 2020 United States census. The city lies halfway between Augusta, Maine, Augusta, the sta ...

native and

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of modern technology and sc ...

graduate, the building was constructed of

granite Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly coo ...

with a

slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous, metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade, regional metamorphism. It is the finest-grained foliated metamorphic ro ...

roof. All the materials were from Maine and crafted by craftsmen and companies from Maine. At the fair, the building was filled with displays about the State of Maine. The granite that composed the building came from ten different quarries throughout the state and the slate on the roof comes from the Monson Slate Company of

Monson, Maine Monson is a town in Piscataquis County, Maine, United States. The population was 609 at the 2020 census. The town is located on Route 15 which is a significant route north into the well known Moosehead Lake Region, to which Monson can be cons ...

The Ricker Family bought the building for $30,000. Arrangements were made for the dismantling of the building and shipping by freight train back to Maine, which was to take 16 freight cars. The Rickers sent a crew of 19 men to Chicago, led by Forest Walker of Poland, the resort's head carpenter and civil engineer to take the building down, carefully marking each section. The building was taken apart under the personal supervision of Hiram W. Ricker, loaded on a special train of sixteen cars and transported to Maine, at a cost of over three thousand dollars. It was to become the crowning feature of the opening of the season of 1895. The cornerstone was laid on August 14, 1894, and the Maine State Building was dedicated on July 1, 1895, as part of the celebration marking the Ricker's settling in Poland.Maine State Building Centennial, 1895-1995.

After its move to

Poland Spring Poland Spring is a brand of bottled water produced in Poland, Maine. It is named after the natural spring in the town of Poland, Maine that it was originally drawn from. It was a subsidiary of the private equity firm, BlueTriton Brands, formerly ...

, the first floor was dedicated to a

library A library is a collection of Book, books, and possibly other Document, materials and Media (communication), media, that is accessible for use by its members and members of allied institutions. Libraries provide physical (hard copies) or electron ...

and reading room. The second floor had bedrooms for overnight guests. The third floor was an

Art Gallery An art gallery is a room or a building in which visual art is displayed. In Western cultures from the mid-15th century, a gallery was any long, narrow covered passage along a wall, first used in the sense of a place for art in the 1590s. The long ...

where

American art Visual art of the United States or American art is visual art made in the United States or by U.S. artists. Before colonization, there were many flourishing traditions of Native American art, and where the Spanish colonized Spanish Colonial arc ...

was shown. Today, the Maine State Building is under the supervision of the Poland Spring Preservation Society, an organization dedicated to the restoration and preservation of the Maine State Building and All Soul's Chapel in Poland. The Society operates the Nettie Ricker Art Gallery in the Maine State Building, with changing exhibits of local and regional art. Along with the Norway Building in Norway, The Dutch House in Massachusetts, and the

Palace of Fine Arts The Palace of Fine Arts is a monumental structure located in the Marina District of San Francisco, California, originally built for the 1915 Panama–Pacific International Exposition to exhibit works of art. Completely rebuilt from 1964 to 197 ...

(now the Museum of Science and Industry) and World Congress Auxiliary Building (now the Art Institute of Chicago) in Chicago, the Maine State Building is one of the few remaining buildings from the 1893 World's Fair.

References

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External links

Poland Spring Preservation Society
{{Authority control Buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in Maine Art museums and galleries in Maine Museums in Androscoggin County, Maine History museums in Maine World's Columbian Exposition Charles Sumner Frost buildings National Register of Historic Places in Androscoggin County, Maine Historic district contributing properties in Maine World's fair architecture in the United States Relocated buildings and structures in the United States

See also

References

External links