Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1907-08-29
OLD ORCHARDS DOOM
Fire Merely fastened What Was
the Resort Inevitable End
Its Decline Began Ten Years Ago
with Advent of Trolley Cars and
Cheap Excursion Trains
Rebuilding Doubtful.

chard Beach last Thursday night ami
ate up nearly all it's large hotels and
over half of its cottage colony, many
of those who watched the conflagra-
ton recognized in the roar of the
flames the swan song of the famous old
Maine resort, says tho New York
Times. 1t is very unlikely that the
burned area will ever be rebuilt, and
what is left of Old Orchard will at
tract but few and pass as n poor apol
ogy for the old resort as its friends
knew it. The passing of Old orchard
has been slowly coming for several
years. The work of the flames has
merely FASTENED the end.
The passing OF Old Orchard! What
this means can he realized only by
those who are familiar with its his
tory and the few who have stuck by
It through thick and thin from the
old days of grandeur and prosperity.
Situated in tho midst of natural
beauties which made it an ideal pleas
ure resort, a summer colony was start
ed at Old Orchard many decades ago
The beach is one of ,he most beauti-
full on the Atlantic coast running un-
interruptedly for ten miles, a broad,
nara strip VI D'dU'lI VI SdIlu Nv
ground runs back from the beach in
gradual rise to low hills covered
with thick pine groves
The summer residents were for
many years principally the woll-to-do
families Of Maine. But In the '40's
the Boston & Maine railroad was run
through from Boston to Portland, and
Massachusetts and New hampshire
people began to get Interested In tn"
resort. In a few years several large
hotels had been erected and the cot
tage colony was spreading along the
beach and up into the pines. The poo
plc who came to old Orchard for the
hot months were "fashionahle' ana
wealthy, and in a few years the sea-
sons DEVELOPED into a round of GaYcty
and elaborate "functions.' Society
claimed the beach for its own and
reveled in the seclusion which in those
days it demanded. The Sea Shore house
and the Hotel Fiske, two of the first
large hotels built at the beach, were
the centres Of the gay seasons. Money
flowed into the pockets Of the all-the-
year population of the beach like
water The seasons were short. from
the first of July to the first OF Septen,-
Der, and the natives lived like royalty
ten months of the yer on the money
they made during the sothcr two. The
fame of Old Orchard spread abroad
as me years went by and the prosper
ty of the place grew.
Then a change came. Ten NeVs
oro trollc,- lines were run connecting
the beach with the large mill towns
of Saco and Biddeford, a few miles
inland. In an incredibly short time
the resort became a Saturday night
and Sunday carnival ground for tho
sands of mill hands ana their families
The beach doubly doomed for year
or two. The old residents looked or
at the rocking crowds amused and en-
tertained They knew they would be
gone on Monday. Then the railroads
got the fever and commenced to poui
thousands of cheap excursionists inti
the resort The result was forcot'
aaincd The fashionable folk fed.
The hotel managers and the others
who catered to those who visited the
beach saw their golden food ebbinf
away and turned to the new visitors
Cheap amusement places were put ur
and a fight began for the pennies In
stead of the dollars. But the struggl
was hopeless. The camp meeting FOLK
who had taken possession years befor
Of the greater part of the pine land
on the hill and put up big cam
ground whore meetings were held eV
erv afternoon and evening during tn
season. insisted that the rigid liquo
laws of the State be enforced, and II
end was not far distant Four year
ago the company that owned the Hot'
Velvet. one of the largest and mos
elahoratcly furnished hotels at tn
beach, failed at the close of the see
son. 1t could not pay It's large forc
Of help. and they raided the place on
night. carrying off the silverware /
lieu Of wages. The old Orchard Hous
the largest at the beach. which,
account of it's location on the hill nea
the canlp grounds, escaped the name
has for many seasons struggled alon'
sometimes with not half of Its hur
1reJs of rooms occupied, Real estat
values crashed. The fire has fnishe
the story.
A beautiful and charming resoi
ru,ned bv trolley cars and cheap eA
cursions.
The Old Orchard camp grounds al
the largest of the many religious II
stitutions of this kind in New Ems
land They were unframed by IL
flames and the thousands of member
NJ different religious denomination
who flock to the big arena every ye'
wul now be left undisturbed to the
Jevotions beginning with the oper
ing of the season the meetings NJ
hold every afternoon and every over
ing until late in the fall. Tho dihe
ent denominations have tho use of Il
grounds for two-wcck periods, Il
Methodists holding forth for s"ssi'
of rousing meetings, followed posslh
by the Salvation Army. IT is here tn
the Christian and Missionary Allan
yearly collects hundreds of thousan
of dollars at the most unusual serl
of meetings that are held in this cou
try. One Sunday afternoon five yea
ago, after tho delivery of one OF I
most dramatic speeches ever hea
from a platform by the Rev. Abe
Simpson of Nyack. the head of I
Alliance, an offering of 100000 W
gathered in. Watches and all kin
OF valuablcs were placed on the pla
and the wild scene will never be 10
gotten by those WHO were present.
MANY of natives of Old OrCna