Radio Script #735

Little Talks on Common Things

September 24, 1967

Elmer Gerald of Fairfield has allowed me to examine a hotel register almost a hundred years old. It is a register kept at the Fairfield House from March, 1874 to May, 1875. At that time the Fairfield House stood on the site where the Gerald Hotel was later built. Now the Gerald as a hotel has long been closed, but the big brick building still remains. After the closing of the hotel, it was the headquarters of Lawry Brothers, undertakers and furniture dealers. Though sold a few years ago by the Lawries, it is still a furniture store.

When the Gerald was built, the old Fairfield House was moved back from Main Street. A picture postcard of 1912, designed to give a good view of the Fairfield Opera House, also reveals to the left an empty lot and far in the rear the Fairfield House and livery stable, already set far back from Main Street, for in 1912 the Gerald Hotel was already built and flourishing.

In 1874 the proprietor of the Fairfield House was Randall Andrews, and he apparently liked to hand-print in huge block letters, for that is the kind of inscription he made in the front of the old register, and he repeated it several times as headings for various pages.

Like most hotel registers of that day, this one contained four vertical columns besides the two wider columns for the guest’s name and address. The first of the three smaller columns denoted the time of arrival. 0 meant for dinner, the noon meal. T meant for tea or supper, the evening meal. L meant arrival after supper, so that lodging was the first charge. The register contained no indication of time of departure. That was a separate record at the hotel office. Therefore one never finds arrival indicated B, because no one arrived before breakfast. The second column denoted the room number, if the guest stayed overnight. Not all of them did. There were frequent registrations for dinner only, a few for supper only. The third column showed whether the guest had a horse or horses to be stabled, and it is interesting to note how often that record shows a guest with two horses. No doubt some of these were teamsters, but most were drivers of large carriages drawn by a smart pair of horses.

Rooms on the first floor — the office floor of the Fairfield House — had single digit numbers, and the most popular guest room on that floor seems to have been Number 4. The hotel was the frequent stopping place for theatrical troupes, in which men usually predominated. As a mark of propriety the girls were usually quartered in No.4, while the men occupied rooms on the second floor. The biggest room seems to have been No. 14, where as many as four men were sometimes lodged.

During the fifteen months covered by the old register guests came to the Fairfield House from a wide range of places. The first to register in this book, on March 16, 1874 was D. Laurence, Boston. His name was immediately followed by William Bodfish, Shirley. Most of the guests from Boston and New York were probably traveling salesmen, and every week saw one or more of them. But during the period covered by the register, guests gave their residence as Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Chicago, Omaha and there were six entries from San Francisco.

Of course the predominating registrations were from Maine communities. In April, 1874 dinner guests were C.M. Pishon of Pishon’s Ferry, Nahum Tozier of Fairfield Center, and T.P. Page of Waterville. Staying overnight were G.A. Parsons of Dead River, William Totman of New York and Stephen Coburn of Skowhegan. In 1874 a man of my own name was in business in Fairfield. One day in July Charles Marriner had dinner at the Fairfield House.

When the theatrical troupes planned to show in town, they were usually preceded by an advance agent who. when he signed the hotel register, saw to it that no one missed what he represented. In July, 1874 one J.H. Monroe wrote in the register that he was agent for William Cook’s Concert Troupe, that would perform at Andrews Hall in Kendalls Mills on July 31, admission free.

In August, 1874 the circus came to town. Of course, like every circus, this one carried its own lodging equipment, but the advance agent stayed at the Fairfield House. He signed in as R.M. Andrews, agent for Stone and Murray’s Circus. One the same day another agent showed up from farther away. He was R.K. Young, agent for Chriski’s Troupe from San Francisco. In September Litchfield’s Jubilee Singers came to town, four men and three women. They too performed at Andrews Hall. Two days later came the Theatre Comique, with ten men and two women, putting on a show at 25 and 35 cent prices. In February it was Maggie O’Neil’s Company holding forth at Andrews Hall. In April Washburn’s big troupe of fifteen persons were there, and the Fairfield House proprietor wrote opposite their registrations the following notations: “Dinner at 12, supper at 6, breakfast at 8, sherry at 10.”

Theatrical agents were not the only ones that used the register to advertise what they represented. In October L.H. Baker signed in as agent for Home Saving Machines. The most elaborate entry, however, was made by Frank Twombley, who entered after his name the following elaborate statement: “Wholesale agent for Bartlett’s Blacking, Bartlett’s Blueing, Crumbs of Comfort; also Treasurer for Dr. Perry, Manufacturer of Perry’s Patent Double and Twisted, Verifying, Recuperating, Back-acting, Sugar-coated, Double-breasted, Self-adjusting Pills. Death looks you in the face. Take ’em or leave ’em.”

One name in the old register brought memories of a broadcast I made on this program several years ago. I then told how a certain Dr. Mann of Skowhegan published a paper made up almost entirely of testimonials which indicated that Dr. Mann’s remedies would cure every disease under the sun. One entry in the Fairfield House register in June, 1874 reads: “Dr. Mann, Skowhegan”. The doctor occupied Room No. 8 on the ground floor.

One entry in the register is a real puzzler. It reads: “Andrew Johnson, Washington, D.C.” The date was March 5, 1875. Now it is true that former President of the U.S. Andrew Johnson did not die until July of that year. But staying or dining at the Fairfield House on that March 5th was no other person living outside of Maine. I cannot deny the possibility that the man who succeeded Abraham Lincoln as President may have been in Fairfield all alone four months before his death in Tennessee, but I doubt it. The official biographer of Andrew Johnson gives no evidence of such a trip to Maine. I am willing to make a guess, and at the same time admit it is only a guess, and may be far from the fact. My guess is that the signature is the work of a prankster in the name of the former President, someone concealing his real name by writing.

There is no evidence of evening banquets at the Fairfield House in 1874-75, but I have no doubt such occasions were held there. But the register does give evidence of parties for mid-day dinner on Sunday. On one Sunday in the spring of 1875 a party from Waterville dined at the Fairfield House. Among them was G.W. Hubbard and his wife, who were accompanied by their young son, Frank B. Hubbard, who many years later would end a distinguished business career as Treasurer of Colby College. Others in that dinner party were M.L.Tilton, E.A. Penney, E.G. Benson, Scott Crowell, F. Thomas and S. Crowell.

Sometimes an extra word is inserted in the address column of the register. One such reads: “A.F. Whittier, from Skowhegan”. Another says: “Charles Erickson, from New Sweden.”

Frequently guests named a child accompanying them, as the Hubbards did in the case of Frank. But now and then were entries like “E. F. Webb and Boy, Waterville”, “Charles Stanley and Servant, Boston.”

Between the pages of the old register are sheets of blotting paper on which are printed ads. The ads are all the same on every blotting page, headed by one from New York that heralded Ladd’s patent, stiffened gold watch cases. But most of the ads were those of merchants of Fairfield or Waterville. I.H. Low, who had drug stores in both Waterville and Fairfield, said in his ad: “Apothecary. Patent medicines, toilet soaps, brushes, combs, fancy articles, perfumery. Pure wines and liquors for medicinal use.”

Dr. B.F. Tasker announced that he was a physician and surgeon with office over Thompson and Mariner’s store on Fairfield’s Main Street. Edward F. Nye wanted folks to know that he had a hair-dressing saloon in the Vickery and Lawry Block. F. Kendrick was a manufacturer of fine carriages and sleighs, with light wagons a specialty. Frank Kinsman, down in Augusta, proclaimed Adamson’s Cough Balsam an unfailing remedy.

A.H. and C.E. Duren had one of Fairfield’s several large lumber mills. Their ad says they were manufacturers of pine and spruce lumber, clapboards, shingles, laths and pickets. Allen and Totman dealt in hardware, paints and oils. Their line included tinware, woodenware, washers and wringers, table and pocket cutlery, stoves and furnaces. The partners were D. Webster Allen and Everett Totman. Dr. G.M. Twitchell, dentist, assured readers they would find him at the sign of the golden tooth.

Horace Burgess, whose son is still a distingUished citizen of Fairfield, advertised fine Swiss and American watches, jewelry and spectacles, and declared he could repair any watch that was ever made. A.F. Knight operated a livery stable on Bridge Street, and this is what he said about it: “Teams to let by the mile or the day. Passengers taken to neighboring towns at low rates. Also boarding of private teams.” C.A. Williams was anxious that people should know that Ed Nye was not the only barber in Kendalls Mills. Williams’ ad said: “Fashionable hair-dressing and shaving saloon. Shop nearest the hotel.”

And with that rivalry between Fairfield barbers, we must leave this old hotel register of more than 90 years ago, and say goodbye until next week.

Year: 1967