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Water Village: The Story of Waterville, Maine
As his third work of history, Maine author Earl Smith has written Water Village, the first history of Waterville, Maine, to be published since 1902. Like the stories of many river places in the American northeast, this book tells of determined early settlers who found promise in the power of the water and whose descendants built a city that flourished with industry and mercantile trade throughout the Second Industrial Revolution and for a half-century beyond. It is also the tale of the hundreds of immigrants, welcomed from Canada, the Middle East, and Europe, who enriched the city when they came to work in the mills and who remained as partners in the community’s long struggle to reinvent itself when the mills were gone.
253 pages, Kindle Edition
Published November 28, 2018
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June 30, 2019
I was a student at Colby College, located in Waterville, from 1970 to 1974. I’d never been there before I was a student and I’ve been back a very few times since. As a student, I had almost nothing to do with Waterville. My few clothing purchases were at Levine’s, I went to a student production at the Opera House, I crossed the Two-Cent Bridge twice. Freshman year a bunch of us walked to Waterville for donuts when it was probably 30 below. During one January I did spend a good bit of time at the Waterville Historical Society.
Colby was about a mile from Waterville, and with no money and no car, I had little need for Waterville. At the very best, I was a tourist, not a resident.
I was vaguely aware that Waterville had seen better days, but it didn’t make much of an impression on me. I did spend a lot of time on my bicycle seeing the surrounding country, but I was usually pleasurably lost. I think I’ve been on almost every road within 40 miles of Colby, but took very little note of the towns.
On the very few road trips I took with friends to more distant destinations (Sugarloaf, Mt. Katahdin), I do recall being impressed by the poverty in rural Maine. I’d spent a lot of time in West Virginia, and I thought Maine was even poorer.
What impressed me then, and still does, is the amount of falling water around Waterville. In colonial days, falling water could be made into money. Waterville was uniquely situated at the intersection of falling water, cheap labor, natural resources, and good transportation.
What Earl Smith does in his history is illustrate how these resources gradually (sometimes suddenly) declined, leaving Waterville with three valuable resources - Colby College, a robust medical community, and wealthy scions of the early wealth. Water is still falling there and somebody is making electricity from it, and therefore money, but its use, profits and benefits are untraceable. Waterville is on a rebound, but it seems very unlikely it will have the robust mix of businesses it had in its heyday.
The first and greatest asset was falling water: two tributaries as well as the Kennebec River. Power to run mills of all types available to anyone who could harness it. But it was unreliable. In times of flood, the dam as well as the mill could be ruined. In the winter it could be frozen, and during the summer, too little flow to maximize use. With the advent of electricity by multiple means, the advantage of water power declined precipitously. Plants could be sited anywhere; flip the switch and you could buy unlimited reliable power.
Some industries require copious amounts of water for production as well as power, lumber and paper for example. But when the cost of raw materials goes up, as when timber is exhausted, and the cost of waste goes up (people get tired of pollution), the industries fold.
But what doomed Waterville was the flight of capital. Eventually every owner of every industry decided they could get a better deal elsewhere. Once no longer tied to the falling water, being able to buy electricity anywhere, it was only a matter of time until they decamped to more exploitable environs.
Cotton and weaving was the first to go. If cotton is being produced in the south and labor is cheaper and more malleable in the south, and you can pick up any piece of machinery on a rail car, why would they stay?
In very few cases did the family who made the money stay in Maine. Among those were the Alfonds and the Lundys, who had several businesses, among them Dexter Shoes. They eventually sold the business to Warren Buffett of Berkshire Hathaway. Even if the money stayed in Maine, the manufacture of shoes went somewhere else (China?).
Mr. Smith tells the story in a straightforward manner. But unless you are intimately familiar with Waterville, a map is a must. I read the book on Kindle. I don’t think maps are in the Kindle edition. I relied on Google Maps, but this is of limited use when so much of what he describes are gone.
Waterville is enjoying a resurgence with a great deal of help from Colby. One of the ideas being discussed is making Main Street a two-way street again. I think this is a great idea, but a large number of the downtown merchants do not want to lose the “free” parking in front of their stores. Waterville was established around the rivers and the railroad, with the cars eventually crowding out the pedestrians on what I presume were footpaths at one time. Waterville probably has the worst street plan I’ve ever seen. As long as the car is the primary planning unit, Waterville will probably continue to be unattractive as a shopping destination. If they can reduce traffic to one lane in each direction with the remainder of the roadway into a pedestrian mall, I think it will be a more desirable destination. With one caveat, motorcycle noise.
I spent about a half hour on Main Street on a Saturday afternoon in late spring. There was not a minute that went by without at least one loud motorcycle disruption. I cannot imagine enjoying a sidewalk cafe conversation with that amount of noise reverberating between buildings on opposite sides of the street. If there isn’t a noise ordinance in Waterville, there ought to be. Certainly there should be before anyone thinks of opening a sidewalk business.
But what has crippled Waterville more than anything is the flight of capital. We all know about the increasing concentration of wealth. There are cities like Waterville in every state in the union. Once rich, now poor. The people that are left behind are usually the less-educated and mono-skilled. They seldom have the imagination and almost never the means to re-make a community, if indeed that can be done.
Waterville has established itself as a medical center, but my impression is that the medical industry is concentrating in the same way that the paper, lumber, railroads and utilities have been concentrating. It could be another situation where the industry consolidates, leaving Waterville and other rural cities just an outpost in the boondocks.
Mr. Smith catalogues the enormous generosity of many Maine families to help in the resurgence of Waterville. The problem is that this is not sustainable. First, family wealth tends to become diluted from generation to generation. Sooner or later the money is going to run out. Second, the investments they make do not return the same scale of returns that the original businesses. As an example, the astounding art museum and collection at Colby. I’m sure it attracts droves of tourists, some elite faculty, and some talented students. But beyond tourist trade (usually unskilled, poorly paid seasonal labor), it returns no dollars to the community.
Mr. Smith also describes the incredible contributions Colby has made to the revitalization of the downtown. He doesn’t say it so I will: Without Colby, modern Waterville would be a ghost town.
The fundamental problem is the growing divide between the haves and the have-nots. Not only Maine, but the country and the world. Until we can find a way to spread prosperity more widely, cities like Waterville will continue to contract and be less able to build a sustainable future.
Colby was about a mile from Waterville, and with no money and no car, I had little need for Waterville. At the very best, I was a tourist, not a resident.
I was vaguely aware that Waterville had seen better days, but it didn’t make much of an impression on me. I did spend a lot of time on my bicycle seeing the surrounding country, but I was usually pleasurably lost. I think I’ve been on almost every road within 40 miles of Colby, but took very little note of the towns.
On the very few road trips I took with friends to more distant destinations (Sugarloaf, Mt. Katahdin), I do recall being impressed by the poverty in rural Maine. I’d spent a lot of time in West Virginia, and I thought Maine was even poorer.
What impressed me then, and still does, is the amount of falling water around Waterville. In colonial days, falling water could be made into money. Waterville was uniquely situated at the intersection of falling water, cheap labor, natural resources, and good transportation.
What Earl Smith does in his history is illustrate how these resources gradually (sometimes suddenly) declined, leaving Waterville with three valuable resources - Colby College, a robust medical community, and wealthy scions of the early wealth. Water is still falling there and somebody is making electricity from it, and therefore money, but its use, profits and benefits are untraceable. Waterville is on a rebound, but it seems very unlikely it will have the robust mix of businesses it had in its heyday.
The first and greatest asset was falling water: two tributaries as well as the Kennebec River. Power to run mills of all types available to anyone who could harness it. But it was unreliable. In times of flood, the dam as well as the mill could be ruined. In the winter it could be frozen, and during the summer, too little flow to maximize use. With the advent of electricity by multiple means, the advantage of water power declined precipitously. Plants could be sited anywhere; flip the switch and you could buy unlimited reliable power.
Some industries require copious amounts of water for production as well as power, lumber and paper for example. But when the cost of raw materials goes up, as when timber is exhausted, and the cost of waste goes up (people get tired of pollution), the industries fold.
But what doomed Waterville was the flight of capital. Eventually every owner of every industry decided they could get a better deal elsewhere. Once no longer tied to the falling water, being able to buy electricity anywhere, it was only a matter of time until they decamped to more exploitable environs.
Cotton and weaving was the first to go. If cotton is being produced in the south and labor is cheaper and more malleable in the south, and you can pick up any piece of machinery on a rail car, why would they stay?
In very few cases did the family who made the money stay in Maine. Among those were the Alfonds and the Lundys, who had several businesses, among them Dexter Shoes. They eventually sold the business to Warren Buffett of Berkshire Hathaway. Even if the money stayed in Maine, the manufacture of shoes went somewhere else (China?).
Mr. Smith tells the story in a straightforward manner. But unless you are intimately familiar with Waterville, a map is a must. I read the book on Kindle. I don’t think maps are in the Kindle edition. I relied on Google Maps, but this is of limited use when so much of what he describes are gone.
Waterville is enjoying a resurgence with a great deal of help from Colby. One of the ideas being discussed is making Main Street a two-way street again. I think this is a great idea, but a large number of the downtown merchants do not want to lose the “free” parking in front of their stores. Waterville was established around the rivers and the railroad, with the cars eventually crowding out the pedestrians on what I presume were footpaths at one time. Waterville probably has the worst street plan I’ve ever seen. As long as the car is the primary planning unit, Waterville will probably continue to be unattractive as a shopping destination. If they can reduce traffic to one lane in each direction with the remainder of the roadway into a pedestrian mall, I think it will be a more desirable destination. With one caveat, motorcycle noise.
I spent about a half hour on Main Street on a Saturday afternoon in late spring. There was not a minute that went by without at least one loud motorcycle disruption. I cannot imagine enjoying a sidewalk cafe conversation with that amount of noise reverberating between buildings on opposite sides of the street. If there isn’t a noise ordinance in Waterville, there ought to be. Certainly there should be before anyone thinks of opening a sidewalk business.
But what has crippled Waterville more than anything is the flight of capital. We all know about the increasing concentration of wealth. There are cities like Waterville in every state in the union. Once rich, now poor. The people that are left behind are usually the less-educated and mono-skilled. They seldom have the imagination and almost never the means to re-make a community, if indeed that can be done.
Waterville has established itself as a medical center, but my impression is that the medical industry is concentrating in the same way that the paper, lumber, railroads and utilities have been concentrating. It could be another situation where the industry consolidates, leaving Waterville and other rural cities just an outpost in the boondocks.
Mr. Smith catalogues the enormous generosity of many Maine families to help in the resurgence of Waterville. The problem is that this is not sustainable. First, family wealth tends to become diluted from generation to generation. Sooner or later the money is going to run out. Second, the investments they make do not return the same scale of returns that the original businesses. As an example, the astounding art museum and collection at Colby. I’m sure it attracts droves of tourists, some elite faculty, and some talented students. But beyond tourist trade (usually unskilled, poorly paid seasonal labor), it returns no dollars to the community.
Mr. Smith also describes the incredible contributions Colby has made to the revitalization of the downtown. He doesn’t say it so I will: Without Colby, modern Waterville would be a ghost town.
The fundamental problem is the growing divide between the haves and the have-nots. Not only Maine, but the country and the world. Until we can find a way to spread prosperity more widely, cities like Waterville will continue to contract and be less able to build a sustainable future.
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