Memorial Bridge Belfast Maine

Memorial Bridge Belfast Maine

"Memorial Bridge Belfast Maine" Memorial Bridge "Waldo County Memorial Bridge, [built in] 1921, looking to the east side." --Earle Shettleworth, 2011 The new, concrete, Memorial Bridge, Maine's largest memorial to the veterans of World War 1 was completed in 1921. The $400,000.00 bridge was dedicated in October before the largest crowd in Belfast history by Governor Percival Baxter. Talk had begun in 1920 concerning construction of an auto bridge to cross the Passagassawakeag River. This bridge would replace the old wooden bridge in place at the time. Initially the location being discussed for construction of the bridge was at the foot of Main. It was concluded that construction of a bridge at that location would be too costly due to the lengthy span required. It was decided to locate the bridge between the sardine and fertilizer plants. On June 5, 1920 the existing bridge collapsed under the weight of a 4 ton truck loaded with film. Construction began on the new bridge 3 days later with arrival of 40 men and 10 railroad cars full of equipment. The bridge remained in service until the construction of a Route 1 bypass and the new Veteran's Memorial Bridge which was dedicated on September 3, 1963. In the foreground to the right of the bridge, one can see the sardine plant. Originally, "sardines" a different fish, were a luxury item improted from Russia. In the late 19th century, juvenile herring caught in weirs in the Lubec are were being canned and called "sardines". They caught on and by 1910, the Lubec Sardine Company had built four plants in Eastport and Lubec. As supplies of the herring became scarce in the area, the owners (Messrs Pike and Peacock) looked to expand in the Penobscot Bay area. To this end they built the plant in Belfast and began canning in August of 1911. This view (looking south toward town) shows that building during its construction at the corner of Front Street and Pierce Street. On the left of the bridge one can glimpse part of the Coe-Mortimer Fertilizer Plant.The Coe-Mortimer Fertilizer plant was built on the Belfast waterfront north of the lower bridge in 1909. By January of 1910 barges were bringing raw phosphate and limestone rock in through the draw of the lower bridge. Six railroad cars a day left Belfast with bags, and later locally-made barrels, filled with fertilizer. In 1914, Coe-Mortimer employed 110. Morris Slugg was the plant superintendant when they switched from barrels to bags in the 1920s. Coe-Mortimer halted operations during the depression. The plant was torn down in 1938 and parts shipped to the company's plant in Searsport. Jim Mendelson and Ben Higer bought the property in 1946, established Maplewod Poultry and began processing chickens. This seemed to be an ideal place for it with the railroad, cheap labor and the bay available to dump feathers, blood and viscera cheeply. Later, the facility was acquired by the Starrett's Penobscot Frozen Foods to process potatos and today operates as Penobscot - McCrum.