The Bucksport Railroad Station is a historic railroad station on Main Street in Bucksport,

Maine Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and north ...

. The station was built in 1874 by the

European and North American Railway The European and North American Railway (E&NA) is the name for three historic Canadian and American railways which were built in New Brunswick and Maine. The idea of the E&NA as a single system was conceived at a railway conference in Portland, M ...

, and is one of a small number of surviving rural railroad stations in Maine. It is now home to the Bucksport Historical Society Museum. It was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1975.

Description and history

The station is a rectangular wood frame structure, 1-1/2 stories in height, with a gable roof that has extended eaves and gables supported by knee brackets. The exterior is sheathed in clapboards, and the building rests on a granite foundation. The long southern facade originally faced a railroad platform, and is organized into seven bays. The leftmost (western) bay provided a window for the ticket office, the next four bays housed windows and a door for the passenger waiting area, and the last two bays housed a window and a wide door for the freight area. The northern facade, facing Main Street, is similarly arranged, except the ticket office door is in the bay furthest west. The narrow ends of the building both have three windows, two in the first level and one in the half story. The

(E&NR) was founded in 1851 with the objective of providing rail service between

Portland, Maine Portland is the largest city in the U.S. state of Maine and the seat of Cumberland County. Portland's population was 68,408 in April 2020. The Greater Portland metropolitan area is home to over half a million people, the 104th-largest metropol ...

and

Canso, Nova Scotia Canso is a community in Guysborough County, on the north-eastern tip of mainland Nova Scotia, Canada, next to Chedabucto Bay. In January 2012, it ceased to be a separate town and as of July 2012 was amalgamated into the Municipality of the Di ...

as a means of shortening sea travel times between

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and

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, and to facilitate the movement of goods between the various colonies of

British North America British North America comprised the colonial territories of the British Empire in North America from 1783 onwards. English overseas possessions, English colonisation of North America began in the 16th century in Newfoundland (island), Newfound ...

(now

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). The principal line intended to provide this service ran via Bangor, and the company in the early 1870s built a narrow-gauge spur line to Bucksport in response to a local petition. This station was built in 1874 to serve this line. The E&NR failed a few years later, and the route was locally operated until it was consolidated into the

Maine Central Railroad The Maine Central Railroad Company was a U. S. Class I railroad in central and southern Maine. It was chartered in 1856 and began operations in 1862. By 1884, Maine Central was the longest railroad in New England. Maine Central had expanded to w ...

in 1884. The station is now home to the Bucksport Historical Society, which has offices and a museum on the premises.

References

External links

Maine Memory Network: Bucksport Historical Society
{{National Register of Historic Places Railway stations on the National Register of Historic Places in Maine Railway stations in the United States opened in 1874 Museums in Hancock County, Maine History museums in Maine Buildings and structures in Bucksport, Maine National Register of Historic Places in Hancock County, Maine Transportation buildings and structures in Hancock County, Maine Former railway stations in Maine Former Maine Central Railroad stations

Description and history

See also

References

External links