From collection Eastern Illustrating & Publishing Company Collection
Starch Factory, New Sweden Station, ME 13.
A view of the starch factory in New Sweden Maine taken from across the train tracks. A man wearing a jacket and tie stands near a rubbish pile in front of the factory. The starch factory, one of many in Aroostook County where potatoes were processed for making starch, is a long, single-story frame shingled block with an elevated ell. A ramp, presumably for loading potaoes and other items and off loading packed starch, extends from a large open door in the ell onto the ground. The location of the plant beside the railroad facilitated shipment of the starch via the Bangor & Aroostook Railroad to Boston and New York. The huge potato crop and large number of starch factories in Aroostook County supplied much of the country with the collar-stiffening product during the early 20th century.
