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Maine State Building

Poland, Italy

Maine State Building

The Maine State Building is a historic building on Preservation Way, part of the Poland Springs resort complex in South Poland, Maine. It was built in 1893 at the Columbian Exposition in Chicago. Designed by Chicago architect Charles Sumner Frost, a Lewiston, Maine native and MIT graduate, the build

ing was constructed of granite with a slate roof. All the materials were from Maine and crafted by craftsmen and companies from Maine. At the fair, the building was filled with displays about the State of Maine. The granite that composed the building came from ten different quarries throughout the state and the slate on the roof comes from the Monson Slate Company of Monson, Maine. The Ricker Family bought the building for $30,000. Arrangements were made for the dismantling of the building and shipping by freight train back to Maine, which was to take 16 freight cars. The Rickers sent a crew of 19 men to Chicago, led by Forest Walker of Poland, the resort's head carpenter and civil engineer to take the building down, carefully marking each section. The building was taken apart under the personal supervision of Hiram W. Ricker, loaded on a special train of sixteen cars and transported to...

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