Main Street, Belfast, Me 9

Main Street, Belfast, Me 9

"Main Street, Belfast, Me 9" Belfast, Maine, Main Street "Looking down upper Main Street with the City National Bank of Belfast at the left." --Earle Shettleworth, 2011 In 1909, City National Bank which had recently been reorganized from Belfast National Bank (located in the flat iron building across Main Street), purchases the A. D. Chase store at the corner of Main and Church Street, razes it, and builds a new bank which includes the old bank's massive concrete & steel vault with William Swan as president and Clement Wescott as head cashier. In 1933, City National Bank liquidates and reorganizes as First National Bank with Harold Stone as its president. It continued to be the last locally owned bank until it merged with Depositor's Trust of Augusta in 1960. To the right of the bank is City Drug. Dr. Augustus Kilgore, a local physician and partner of long term mayor, Edgar Hanson at Dana's Sarsaparilla, had offices on the floor above. One can see advertising for Helmar* Egyptian cigarettes. *Helmar cigarettes were part of the Turkish and Egyptian cigarette movement of the early 1900s. First produced in 1902 by the Egyptian Ideal Cigarette and Tobacco Works, Helmar was originally named Ramleh. In 1907 when the brand was taken up by S. Anargyros, a subsidiary of The American Tobacco Company, the name was changed in order to avoid confusion with Ramly, a similar cigarette produced by the smaller Mentor Co. in Boston. The name was changed to Helmar, which is simply Ramleh spelled backwards. Unlike most straight-Turkish tobacco cigarettes, Helmar experienced a long life on the market until it was finally discontinued in the mid-1960s. This dates the photograph to post 1907. To the right of City Drug is W. M. Thayer's clock and watch shop. To its right is Carle & Jones (2 store fronts) purveyors of books, stationery & paper hangings, cloaks, crockery & glass, dry & fancy goods, fishing tackle & sporting goods, ladies furnishings, phonographs & records, sewing machines, watches, jewelry & silver ware, furniture, carpets, paper hangings, silverware and souvenir post cards. Following Carle & Jones is Chase & Doak (possibly a barber shop: striped pole on the left).