J.C. Ralph Studio on Main Street Looking South, Southwest Harbor

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J.C. Ralph Studio on Main Street Looking South, Southwest Harbor

The First Masonic Hall, now 353 Main Street, Southwest Harbor - at the corner of Clark Point Road, - The Hall, built c. 1877 as Tremont Hall, was sold to the Masonic lodge around 1902. The lodge members renamed the building, raised it, and rebuilt the first and second floors to achieve the building shown in all the pictures as the First Masonic Hall – See the Bar Harbor Times, April 20, 1927, p. 7. The building shown here is the Tremont Hall as it originally looked.

One of the old street lights is visible on the right. - “In 1897, the different societies in the village combined to raise funds for street lights. The lamps were bought and placed near those houses whose owners were willing to furnish the kerosene and keep the lamps trimmed and lighted. These lamps did duty until the installation of electricity in the summer of 1917.” - “Traditions and Records of Southwest Harbor and Somesville, Mount Desert Island, Maine” by Mrs. Seth S. Thornton, 1938, p. 124.

The building on the right is John C. Ralph's Studio - Optician and Jewelry. John C. Ralph was Postmaster at Southwest Harbor from July 19, 1897 to November 1, 1905 and the Post Office is in the same building at far right. - Note wooden sidewalks.

Southwest Harbor

ME

USA

1898 c.