From collection Eastern Illustrating & Publishing Company Collection
Steamboat Wharf, Sargentville Me. 15.
Steamboat Wharf, Sargentville Me. The Steamboat Wharf, the building at left center with its surrounding dock and pier, was a section of the Sargentville Wharf, all shown in the image. Although it was used for other purposes, such as shipping of wood, it was primarily the docking point for the steamboats that provided passenger, freight and mail service. It was built in 1887 by the Sargentville Steamboat Wharf Company, which operated it until was sold to the Eastern Steamship Lines in 1905. By 1910 two boats stopped at Sargentville each day. Steamboat service was discontinued in the late 1930s. Although the image shows a quiet time, the 1920s and '30s were busy years, with steamboats and yachts in the water and many cars parked on the pier. During the early 1900s, many summer residents, largely from the Philadelphia area, arrived in Sargentville by steamboat. Old timers tell of innkeepers going down to meet the boats, some competing to be first in line for guests. The long building is the extended coal wharf, used for receiving and storing coal, and later converted to a clam bait processing facility. For a brief period there was clam canning during the winter and blueberry canning during the summer on the wharf. Other operations in the Steamboat Wharf building included a sail loft, yacht supply, and the Anchor Tea Room. Only the coal wharf building, without its extension, has survived. It is now the summer residence of a Sargent descendant.
