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DiscoverMaineMagazine.com
Rumford’s James H. Kerr
I
by Charles Francis
Giant of construction
t is a well-established fact that immigrants have played an important role in helping to build Maine. Swedish immigrants were among the early farmers of Aroostook County. The Irish formed the backbone of the labor force of the Bangor waterfront during that city’s heyday as a lumber port. Germans and Russians made major contributions to such towns as Waldoboro and Richmond. And, of course, Maine would not be Maine without the infusion of the vital French culture that runs from Biddeford in the south, through central Maine cities like Waterville, Lewiston and Auburn, and all the way to the St. John Valley in the north. While these immigrant groups and others like them
have put their stamp on the state, another group of immigrants goes almost unrecognized in Maine. These are the Scots, one of whom, James H. Kerr, left an indelible mark on his adopted state and the city he settled in, Rumford. James H. Kerr was an extraordinary builder. He built roads and bridges all across Maine as well as business offices, industrial structures, and even parking garages and theaters outside of the state. In fact, one of his bridges, the ornate Hancock and Sullivan Bridge in Downeast Maine, was considered the most beautiful structure of its type in the country at the time of its construction. Rumford, where James Kerr settled
and where he had the headquarters of his construction business, owes some of its first major business and industrial structures to Kerr. Kerr was also instrumental in developing the Mt. Zircon Spring Water Company, which at one time was second only to Poland Spring as a purveyor of mineral water in the northeast. James H. Kerr was born on March 7, 1874 in a Nova Scotia town bearing the fanciful name of Pugwash. Pugwash lies on the Northumberland Strait which separates northwestern Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island. When James Kerr was growing up there, Pugwash and the nearby coastal (cont. on page 42)
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