Maine State Building
Penobscot Marine Museum
In 1893 at Jackson Park in Chicago, the United States hosted an international event celebrating the 400th anniversary of Columbus’s arrival in the Americas. Alongside the debut of the Ferris Wheel and exhibitions of early moving-picture technology and electric lights, 34 states, including Maine, had pavilions to promote themselves to tourists, possible future residents, investors, and businesses.
Maine’s pavilion at the Chicago World’s Fair was given an irregularly-shaped plot at the northeast section of the park, prompting the architect, Charles Sumner Frost, a Lewiston native working in Chicago, to design an unusual three-story, Queen Anne-style building with elements of other popular architectural influences. Constructed of granite from eleven different quarries throughout the state, slate from Monson, and wood harvested and milled in the state, the Maine State Building was a showcase for Maine’s natural resources.
During the six-month run of the fair, the Maine State Building exhibited paintings and portraits of famous Mainers, art and books created by Maine artists and writers, and Maine-made manufactured goods.
When the World’s Columbian Exposition closed at the end of October, the Ricker family, owners of the Poland Spring Resort, purchased the Maine State Building and sent a crew to dismantle it, load it onto 16 freight train cars and transport it to the resort where it was rebuilt. The Ricker family used the building as a library and art gallery for resort guests.
The Poland Spring Preservation Society cares for the Maine State Building today and exhibits local and regional art in the building’s Nettie Ricker Art Gallery. The building is on the National Register of Historic Places. It is one of a few surviving buildings from the Chicago World’s Fair of 1893 and the only surviving state exhibition building. The Maine State Building is open to the public seasonally.
Author: Stephanie Bouchard
