Maine Historical Society

Coll. 2775 Collection 1882-1972

Accession #: 2013.280 Processed: October 2014 by Lucinda Gannon, MHS Volunteer Access: Unrestricted Copyright: Requests for permission to publish material from this collection should be discussed with the MHS Images Services Coordinator. Size: 1 linear foot, 1 volume and 1 oversized manila folder retained with oversized material

Scope and Content: This collection contains ledgers, documents, correspondence, and a map/ plan. Specifically, it contains several 1883 ledgers from the Ottawa House on Cushing’s Island; an Ottawa House receipt book from 1868; a copy of the Frederick Law Olmstead “Preliminary Study for Laying Out Cushing’s Island” (1893); various corporate documents of the Cushing’s Island Hotel and Transportation Company from approximately 1887-1894; various documents and pleadings relating to the case of Francis Cushing v. Cushing’s Island Hotel and Transportation Company, in which Francis Cushing, the son of Lemuel Cushing, alleged that the Casco National Bank fraudulently obtained stock in and control of the Cushing’s Island Hotel and Transportation Company; evidence transcripts and the published decision in the case of Bacon v. Casco Steamboat Company (1895); Francis Cushing correspondence relating to the sale of Cushing’s Island land to the US government in the mid-1890s; and correspondence between Standish Meacham (the husband of Sarah Meacham who donated this collection) and Robert Hale, the former US Representative from .

Administrative Note: Cushing was a businessman and pioneer in the Ottawa valley. In 1859 he bought Cushing Island in Portland Harbor, Me. He planned to turn this island into a summer resort and built the Ottawa House hotel there. Lemuel's son, Francis Cushing, formed Cushing's Island Company in 1883 and hired Frederick Law Olmsted and Charles Eliot to design a summer resort. The Ottawa House catered to

English Canadian tourists. The first Ottawa House was destroyed by fire and rebuilt in 1888. The second Ottawa House burned down in 1917 and was not rebuilt. The U.S. Army began acquiring land on the island in the 1890s to build Fort .

The collection is notable for the contents of the ledgers, which provide social and economic data from the end of the nineteenth century, and for the information in the Francis Cushing litigation, which evidences the boom and bust economy of that same period, more volatile still when set on a Maine island.

Related material is contained in Coll. 2580: Ottawa House hotel register, 1869-1883.

Maine Historical Society Coll. 2724

Processing note: The material is organized both topically and chronologically. An oversized ledger is housed with the boxes, and the Frederick Law Olmstead plan together with two photographs are housed with other oversized materials.

Provenance: Gift of Sarah Meacham

Inventory:

Box 1 Folder 1: Cushing’s Island Ottawa House Account Book 1882 Folder 2: Ottawa House Cash book 1883 Folder 3: Ottawa House Help Ledger 1883 Folder 4: Francis Cushing Allegations Inadequate Fire Protection 1889-91 Folder 5: Francis Cushing Miscellaneous Papers 1890-92 Folder 6: Portland Kerosene Oil Co. v. Cushing’s Island Hotel and Transportation Company ets als, ca 1892 Folder 7: Corporate Documents Cushing’s Island Hotel and Transportation Co. 188-1894; Cushing’s Island Hotel Co. 1894

Box 2 Folder 1: Francis Cushing v. Cushing’s Island Hotel and Transportation Company ets als Folder 2: Evidence Transcripts Bacon v. Casco Steamboat Co. Folder 3: Correspondence re Sale of Cushing’s Island Land to Government, ca. 1894-96 Folder 4: Bacon v. Steamboat Co., 90 ME 47 (1897) Folder 5: Misc. Standish Meacham and Robert Hale documents re Cushing Island, 186- to 1972

Receipts Book (oversized): Ottawa House 1868

Oversized Folder (located in “O.S. in numbered collections” in 2nd floor compact storage, corner flat file case): Frederick Law Olmstead Preliminary Study for Laying out Cushing’s Island, 1893

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