Main Street in Southwest Harbor was devastated by fire on March 27, 1922. Newspaper accounts of the fire reported estimated losses of $150,000 and that the Southwest Harbor Volunteer Fire Company, “did remarkable work, considering the limited equipment with which they had to work.” Bar Harbor and Northeast Harbor firemen also responded, but the roads were considerably different from today and it took the Bar Harbor department, “four hours over difficult spring roads.” Apparently their “combination truck…was making some 40 miles an hour near Burns’ Corner when it was stuck in a bad hole in the muddy road” and “between Somesville and Southwest they were mired time after time and horses that were sent to assist them…had to drag the big steamer” [weighing almost six tons] out of the holes in the road. In spite of these delays the truck arrived finally…in about three hours, too late to do any good. “Had the roads been in anything like fair condition it is the unanimous opinion that the truck from Bar Harbor would have been able to save the Odd Fellows building.”
Description: Main Street in Southwest Harbor was devastated by fire on March 27, 1922. Newspaper accounts of the fire reported estimated losses of $150,000 and that the Southwest Harbor Volunteer Fire Company, “did remarkable work, considering the limited equipment with which they had to work.” Bar Harbor and Northeast Harbor firemen also responded, but the roads were considerably different from today and it took the Bar Harbor department, “four hours over difficult spring roads.” Apparently their “combination truck…was making some 40 miles an hour near Burns’ Corner when it was stuck in a bad hole in the muddy road” and “between Somesville and Southwest they were mired time after time and horses that were sent to assist them…had to drag the big steamer” [weighing almost six tons] out of the holes in the road. In spite of these delays the truck arrived finally…in about three hours, too late to do any good. “Had the roads been in anything like fair condition it is the unanimous opinion that the truck from Bar Harbor would have been able to save the Odd Fellows building.” [show more]
“Returning now to the village comer and going toward the wharf at Clark Point—the building owned and occupied by the Jackson Market was originally A. L. [Arthur A.] Gilley's barber shop ; a small building which forms but a fraction of the present structure. It has been owned by several who have made changes and additions and greatly increased its size.” - “Traditions and Records of Southwest Harbor and Somesville, Mount Desert Island, Maine” by Mrs. Seth S. Thornton, p. 156 - 1938 Arthur Alonzo Gilley inherited this barber shop property in 1922 from his mother, Julia I. (Moore) Gilley Marson. Arthur was practicing as a barber in Bath, Maine in 1920 and in 1930.
Description: “Returning now to the village comer and going toward the wharf at Clark Point—the building owned and occupied by the Jackson Market was originally A. L. [Arthur A.] Gilley's barber shop ; a small building which forms but a fraction of the present structure. It has been owned by several who have made changes and additions and greatly increased its size.” - “Traditions and Records of Southwest Harbor and Somesville, Mount Desert Island, Maine” by Mrs. Seth S. Thornton, p. 156 - 1938 Arthur Alonzo Gilley inherited this barber shop property in 1922 from his mother, Julia I. (Moore) Gilley Marson. Arthur was practicing as a barber in Bath, Maine in 1920 and in 1930. [show more]