The Bijou

DID YOU KNOW: The Bijou Theatre graced Exchange Street from 1912 until its demise during urban renewal in 1974.

When the Bijou opened on April 18, 1912, it was called “one of the finest movie houses in New England.”

This image of The Bijou was taken looking down Exchange Street towards the river. The blocks along the right-hand side are no longer there. The Judicial Center and the Camden National Bank buildings are in that space today.

See page 6 for a picture of The Bijou in the 1960s.

Freese’s

DID YOU KNOW: Langdon Freese was just 23 years old when he rented a storefront on Main Street. His little shop had only one window but within a year it would double in size. In 1907, he presided over the grand opening of Freese’s Department Store, which occupied the space that’s now home to the Maine Discovery Museum.

In the 1930s photo at right, Freese’s Department Store is all lit up for the Winter Carnival and Food Fair held each year in February. The first fair took place in February 1911. The event was designed to showcase the gadgets and conveniences available because of electricity. Downtown businesses strung lights for the celebration and the end result was not just beautiful, but provided an added level of security to the previously dimly lit streets. The city left the lights up. The result? An increase in downtown shopping and theatre going, creating a “new economy” for a city feeling the downturn of the slowing lumbering and maritime industries.

Norumbega Hall

DID YOU KNOW: When it first opened in 1855, Norumbega Hall was Bangor’s marketplace — much like Quincy Market in Boston. Norumbega Hall was a brick structure on a granite foundation on an island in the middle of the Kenduskeag Stream between Franklin and Central Streets. It had 14 stalls for meat and grocery vendors. Its second story held a grand hall with seats for more than 2,500.

Ralph Waldo Emerson spoke at Bangor’s Norumbega Hall in 1864. It was a return to the Queen City for the author and orator. He had served as interim Pastor of the Unitarian Church (Union Street Brick Church) in 1834.

In 1872, author Harriett Beecher Stowe appeared at Bangor’s Music Hall, which was on the lower level of Norumbega Hall, to do a reading of her works.

Norumbega Hall was destroyed in the Great Fire of 1911, and was replaced by a park-like walkway that is still enjoyed today.