Portage Lake Historical Society Museum opens

PORTAGE LAKE, Maine — The Portage Lake Historical Society Museum is now open, complete with hundreds of Aroostook County relics from centuries past. 

 

As Maine celebrates its bicentennial, the museum represents another effort from County residents to preserve and display a long, storied history. While larger museums are the leaders in that effort, the Portage Lake museum shows that even the smallest communities can organize an impressive collection.

The society held a grand opening ceremony for the museum, located on the Cottage Road, on Sunday, Aug. 16. Dozens of residents of the tight-knit community came to the opening, excited to take a deep dive into the history of their hometown. Organizers had to turn several people away who arrived before the noon opening. 

Each display is themed, featuring dozens of items formerly used by Portage Lake residents. One large exhibit features tables and benches from the Portage Lake Tea House, a popular destination in the 1910s and 1920s that was rumored to only be accessible by boat in a time when roads were scarce.

Though scant information is available on the tea house, information around the exhibit dives viewers into life during that time. For example, tea houses were one of the first American businesses run by women, often middle class women who employed an exclusively female staff. 

Other exhibits herald back to Portage Lake institutions that no longer exist, including several desks from Portage Lake’s former school houses. While Portage once contained two school districts — north and south– residents have attended school in Ashland since 1985. A uniform and handcuffs were displayed from the defunct Portage Lake Police Department.

Another gallery exemplified the town’s reputation as a woodworking hub. It includes several old-fashioned machine tools and a replication of a bunk bed that loggers would often sleep on between workdays. 

Having a museum in town has long been a dream of Portage Lake Town Clerk and Historical Society President Corrine Routhier, who led the way on the project with help from several other residents who volunteered their time, including Vice President Patricia Lyons.

Routhier said the inspiration for the museum came from a local history book written by residents around the time of the town’s centennial in 2009. The society was incorporated in 2011, but had never had a physical building. 

“There’s a lot of stuff in this town that people don’t know about,” Routhier said. 

Though there were settlers beginning around 1844, Portage Lake was formally incorporated as a town in 1909. It became a popular residence for woodworkers, with the population peaking at nearly 900 in 1930. 

The town of Portage Lake purchased the land the building sits on in 1924 for $450 (about $7,000 in 2020 dollars). It proceeded to build a large structure that was used for town meetings, wedding receptions and Christmas parties, among other community gatherings. 

The building was sold to Daniel Higgins Sr. in 1987, who sold it to the historical society in March. Volunteers worked hard to gather and organize several historical items from the town’s history, with most of the work being done in the last month and a half. 

Many of the artifacts were personal to the dozens who arrived for the opening. For example, notebooks from Routhier’s grandfather were on display. She hopes the museum to be a “living museum,” that will evolve over time as the society acquires new items.

The museum’s opening was not hampered by the COVID-19 pandemic. Visitors to the grand opening were asked to wear masks and organizers restricted attendees to 50 at once, in line with guidelines from Gov. Janet Mills.