From collection Eastern Illustrating & Publishing Company Collection
The Maple Inn Dining Room + Filling Station 853 Main Street So. Portland ME 705
View of a roadside restaurant and filling station. The Eastern photographer has stoppped to record what would become a ubiquitous sight along New England's state roads: the roadside eatery, cabins, and gas stop. This category of establishment, which helped set in motion the commercialization of state roads between towns, was a response to the increase in Americans using automobiles to get around, and especially to take vacations. The Maple Inn Dining Room in South Portland stood on Route 1, right on the way for folks from Connecticut or Boston heading up the Maine coast, and needing a meal, overnight lodging, rest room, gas, or all four. Signs-- lots of them-- also cropped up to capture the attention of the motorist speeding by at 30 or 40 mph. Typically, early on, the proprietor would scatter them all over the property, advertising, singly and in groups, sometimes in duplicate, "Rooms and Cabins/ Fried Clams/ Hamburg Sandwiches/ Hot Dogs/ Home Cooking/ Chicken Dinner/ Ice Cream/ Deering Ice Cream/ Cigarettes/ Cold Drinks/ Tonic/ Lunches/ Tobacco/ Good Food/ Rest Room". The suggestion "Try Our Breakfast" appears above the entrance. A Bell Telephone logo sign hangs off the building. The front yard of the building is gravel-paved and fitted with four Esso gas pumps. Above them are hanging signs, reading "Gasoline/ Valvoline Motor Oils". A set of rails runs along the roadway in front, probably part of a suburban railway system linking the area to Portland.
