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TEMPORARY CLOSURE UPDATE SUMMER 2021
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Harmon Museum remains temporarily closed to the public for in-person visits. The health and safety of our visitors, volunteers and staff is our top priority. We anticipate reopening next year for the Summer 2022 season. In the meantime, museum staff and volunteers are available by appointment only for in-person research visits. For the latest news and updates, check back here or visit the Old Orchard Beach Historical Society's Facebook page.
HISTORY OF THE MUSEUM BUILDING: Harmon Museum in Old Orchard Beach, Maine has become a major tourist attraction in Maine, due to the generosity of W. Warren Harmon and his wife Grace. As philanthropic residents of the town, they were charter members of the Old Orchard Beah Historical Society which met in homes of local residents after its founding in 1954. Realizing that storing items of historical significance to the town in residences was not in the best interest of these items, in 1974 the Harmons generously willed their home at 4 Portland Avenue to the Town of Old Orchard Beach, with the understanding that the Town fathers would allow the Historical Society the privilege of using the residence as a museum of town history, while the Town would maintain the building and the grounds.
EXHIBITS: Now, the story of the people, places, things, and events of Old Orchard Beach is told in many ways: major exhibits focusing on the town’s glorious past; horse, motorcycle, and automobile racing; early aviation (including a beach landing visit by Charles Lindbergh in 1927; famous summer visitors such as comedian Fred Allen, a turn-of-the century whistle stop visit by Theodore Roosevelt; destructive fires of 1907, 1948, 1969, and 1972; the police and fire department; schools, sports, recreation; and, of course, the world-famous seven-miles-long beach.
Local Properties Then & Now
(Left) "Springhurst," the 1896 estate built by John C. Miles, Esq., originally covered 22-acres extending from Portland Avenue, behind what is today the location of the Post Office, back to the railroad tracks on East Grand Avenue. The estate's land and gardens furnished spring water and fresh vegetables to summer cottagers and many of the areas grand hotels. See what it looks like today.
A Curious Case of Two Ebenezers
Adapted by Stanley J. Quinlan (for the Old Orchard Beach Historical Society)
Adapted by Stanley J. Quinlan (for the Old Orchard Beach Historical Society)
My name is Ebenezer C. Staples, not to be confused with that other Ebenezer fella - you know, the one nobody likes, especially around Christmas time. On the other hand, I must confess that I do enjoy seeing my last name in big red letters up on the sign at those big-box business supplies stores.
Most folks know me as the guy who built the Old Orchard Beach Inn (originally known as the Staples Inn) back in 1837, but that's not why I'm here. The real reason is to tell folks about my 1875 dust-up with still another Ebenezer, one who went by the last name of Seavey.
Now, this Seavey fella and I didn't like each other a whole lot, especially after we battled over a parcel of God's green Earth in the heart of what you folks know as "Old Orchard Beach," but what we called "Saco" or "Pepperellborough" way back when . . . (Read full article)
Lucky Lindy Goes to Old Orchard
By Stanley J. Quinlan (for the Old Orchard Beach Historical Society)
By Stanley J. Quinlan (for the Old Orchard Beach Historical Society)
You probably know me as the first person to fly across the Atlantic Ocean alone. You may know me as "the Lone Eagle." And, of course, you might know me as "Lucky Lindy." The story I'm about to tell you pertains to the "Lucky Lindy" nickname. You might say that if I had my druthers, I'd rather be "Lucky" than good.
The story starts out well. It begins on Tuesday, July 20, 1927. I started the Spirit of St. Louis on a cross-country flying tour from Mitchell Field on Long Island, New York, to publicize the Daniel Guggenheim Fund for the Promotion of Aeronautics. This tour was to take about two-hundred sixty hours of flight time, covering about 22,000 miles of America. (Read full article)
ABOVE: Charles Lindbergh lands on Old Orchard Beach on July 26, 1927 as part of his celebratory flight around the country after his historic transatlantic flight. Harry Jones, operator of an airport and flying service in Old Orchard from 1919-1933, is pointing something out to Lindbergh. On the right is reporter Philip Payne of the New York Daily Mirror, and on the left is a local police officer.
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