University of Maine - Prism Yearbook (Orono, ME)

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Students at I MO think of the town of Orono as being a quiet, small town. Drinkers bring some action to the sleepy village during weekend nights, filling the streets and park- ing spaces. But only the occasional rustling of leaves blown by miniature tornadoes disturbs the casual tranquility of a warm sunny spring Sunday Orono has not always been this way According to Wil- liam Wild Bill Campbell, who has lived in Orono since 1913, Orono used to be almost a bustling metropolis. Campbell, 74. was here when Orono had three train sta- tions. and two paper mills Yuh. Three Central Maine Railroad Stations. One just across on the other end of the bridge. Webster station The Orono station here. And Basin Mills. Yuh. See, Basin Mills was, that was the name of the town. 'Cause there was two or three big mills there, they named the town after the mills. The Walker Lumber Company employed 300 help. The Orono Paper company, Orono Paper and Pulp, employed 800. running three shifts. And this International mill over here employed 170 IP. it used to be the International mill, right across the bridge here. The Orono paper mill had three machines in there. They put out 28 tons a day. 4

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With all those men working in the mills, there had to he something for them to do in their spare time. And there was something to do. “There was several barrooms right here in Orono. Sold hard liquor. There was one right on this end of the bridge, called Sharkey Violette's and there was Bill Fisher's And then there was the Hole-in-the-wall, over there near the head wall of the water company, near the mill. Well. I don't know what the owner’s real name was. but they used to call him 'Tuffy' King. I don't know why. Maybe he was a fighter or something. See what I mean? In them days they didn’t have no police to speak of. And traffic jams were unheard of. Yuh. There was just one cop here in Orono for six years that I knew about And he was on 24 hours a day. He was subject to a call anytime, on a bicycle. Well, tin- cops years ago in these little towns used to ride bicycles Well, there wasn’t any cars. In 1915. there was only four cars here in town One family had two cars. They were millionaires. I don't know how many mil- lion. but they had money. They had two cars and chauf- feurs and everything. Their cars were Pierce Arrows. They had headlights on 'em a foot long The absence of cars meant the lack of some conveniences. This town had milk wagons. Hand wagons, with five-foot wheels on 'em. And a man would push it around the streets and go house-to-house. He didn't have no horse on it or nothing. He'd spend all day just peddling milk. He was quite a big man. but it had them big wheels, you know. laving was cheaper then. You could buy skim milk for five cents a gallon, when I was a kid Regular milk — about three cents a quart. In 1912 and 1913. they did pay 15 cents an hour, but they were working a 10-hour day. You could live, because sugar was two cents a pound. In them days they didn't have no hot dogs Hot dogs never come out until about 1918. Streetcars were a normal sight in Orono Streetcars ran from lower Hampden to Old Town. Yuh. Overhead trolley. There's tracks right there on the road right now from here to Old Town And they ran all the way to Charleston, where the air base is. It's 26 miles from here in Orono. by streetcar You could go out there for a quarter, re- turn trip. Some of them were all open, with no roof at all. On a rainy day. you d have to have an umbrella. They ran in the winter- time. too.”