EDWARD LITTLE HOUSE

Along with Squire Andrew R. Giddinge and James Goff, Squire Edward Little is considered one of the three significant leaders during the the period immediately proceeding the organization of the town of Auburn in 1842. Edward Little's home is unquestionably, the most historic home in Auburn. Built in 1826 for Auburn's most beneficent founder, philanthropist, and educator, Squire Little, a lawyer, was one of the driving forces in the development of the Great Falls community. Edward Littles grandfather, Col. Moses Little, a revolution war veteran, was one of the first settlers to the area in the late 1700's. He laid claim to portions of land that at the time was referred to as the Pejepscot claim. Edward Little's father Josiah Little, a lawyer, represented many of the proprietors that incorporated the land into the town of Danville in 1818. Josiah managed and purchased much of the land until his death in 1830. In 1830 Edward Little, a Dartmouth College graduate, inherited the land from his father. Squire Edward Little was a generous man who made numerous public benefactions. One such gift was the creation of the Lewiston Falls Academy in 1834. The Academy, later named Edward Little in 1866, gave the city its first high school originally located at the intersection of Main and Academy Streets. The school was rebuilt in the late 1960's in the western prom section of town. To this day the high school still bears his name. Edward Little, who passed in 1849, was a quiet scholarly man who was always looking out for the best interest of the town. Over the years Edward Little's home has served many purposes since passing out of the Little family. It was recently restored to its original Federal Style elegance and is now home to an accounting firm.

ROAK BLOCK

Jacob Roak, an enterprising young man from Durham had been making and selling shoes at Goff's corner since he was very young. When the railroad came to Auburn in 1849 and continued across the river above the falls Auburn commerce gravitated to a more modernized area. Many businesses formally in Minot and Durham started exploring opportunities to move to the central part of Auburn. Because of the direction of the falls textile mills that were expanding in Lewiston and that required water wheel power, did not work as well on the Auburn side of the river. Due to the growing demand for shoes promoted by the Civil War, by 1959 twenty five shoe manufactures were in operation in the city. Although the War had brought expansion and prosperity to Auburn it also interrupted the lives of many of its young men. Jacob Roak understood this and knew that after the war the community would need a manufacturing center to provide jobs to all the returning veterans. Roak joined with eight others in 1871 in the construction of a four-story brick building. Among those making their start here were long time leaders Dingley & Foss and Wise & Cooper, such that it became known as the “Cradle of the Auburn Shoe Industry." Roak, in addition to being a shoe manufacturer, was a banker and business man, who secured the cooperation of these prominent shoemakers, each of whom invested and owned a separate vertical section of the combined structure. The building with its back to the Androscoggin later was named Roak Block and housed some levels of manufacturing until the early 1970's. It has since been modernized and used for elderly housing as well as street side businesses.

Holman Day House

Perhaps one of Auburn's most famous citizens, Holman Day was a writer and humorist that captured the spirit of Maine residence in the early 1900's. His Down East poems were often recited a Grange meetings and local colleges and never went out of popularity. He wrote twenty five novels, three hundred short stories, and several plays. He received wide recognition as a newspaper editor, reporter, film director and radio actor. Day grew up in Vassalboro and after graduating from Colby College in 1887 and he published papers in Dexter and Bangor before settling in Auburn in the late 1890's, while working for the Lewiston Evening Journal. His Victorian home at the corner of Goff and Court Streets has a circular tower and fancy gingerbread trim that sets it part from its inner city neighborhood. To this day it remains a unique Auburn property. After Day retired from the newspaper business he launched his fiction career and had much of his work published in the Saturday Evening Post. His book “King Spruce” was one of the first novels to depict the dramatic lives of Maine's river drivers and lumber barons and was later made into a movie staring Dorothy Gish and Leon Erroll. Day also produced the first motion picture ever made in Maine called the “Maine Log” with an all Maine cast.. Day eventually left Auburn and moved to California where where he specialized as a “Down East Captain” in a San Francisco radio program. He passed away in 1935 but his home remains as a historical landmark.

PENLEY CORNER BAPTIST CHURCH

In the south section of Auburn that at one time was called Danville sits the historic Penley's Corner Church on the South River road. Only used once a year since the early 1900's, the church has been kept in good shape through the efforts of the locals whose ancestors are buried in the grave yard located next door to the church. In the 1800's the church was used by the the baptist or “free Baptist” of the area. In 1833 thirty members of three other smaller churches in West Danville, that had been around since the 1700's, built the church on the land owned by Captain John Penley. Captain Penley who derived his title from service in the militia of the time, was a pioneer in the sending of Maine cattle to the Brighton market near Boston. At one time he ran the largest independent meat packing plant in New England. The tradition of the cattle business continued in the family for years. One of Penley's sons Albert served as Auburn mayor from 1887-88. The church was originally called the Danville Church but changed later to honor the family on whose land it still sits.. Every summer Penley family members and friends, journey to Auburn from all over the U.S. and gather at the 1833 church for an afternoon service, followed by an outdoor reception.

William Briggs Homestead

In an area of town called East Auburn sits the historic Briggs Homestead. The village of East Auburn is located about four miles north of the center of Auburn at the outlet of Lake Auburn. It was settled in the late 1700's as part of Minot, and was for some time called Berry's Mills then Vickery's Mills. When it was part of Minot it was recorded as lot #45 and was first settled by Samuel Berry who is believed to be the first white settler in the area. Mr. Berry was enlisted as a scout and a guide for the historic Arnold Expeditions. From the beginning, the settlement became an important industreal center. Power for water wheels was supplied by the outlet stream from the lake. A grist mill was built by Berry as early as 1793 and later he built a saw mill. A friend of the Berry family, William Briggs also constructed a second grist mill as well as a bobbin mill. Briggs,from Dighton, Massachusetts, settled in the area in 1797 and in the same year built a frame house for his large family. The house has been restored an still sits on the original property.

BARKER MILL

The Barker Mill was, for a long time Auburn's one major venture in the textile industry. It was the enterprise that gave the New Auburn section of town its own identity and its first start as a business center. It was started in 1870 on land next to the Little Androscoggin River away from the other mills located in Lewiston on the bigger Androscoggin river. The acquirement of the land included the right to build a power dam, a five story mill, and the opportunity to create many homes to be sold to the number of people who were at the time flocking to the area. The damn was completed in 1872; the mill in 1873; and was named “Barker Mill” in honor of C.I. Barker, a prominent textile executive who became its first directing agent in 1874.The mill engaged in the manufacturing of cotton shirts and sheets and produced four million yards of goods. It continued as a textile mill until 1928 when eventually it became a ware house for the shoe industry.

The Horatio G. Foss House

One of the most striking mansions in Auburn, this Spanish-influenced Federal revival style house was designed for Horatio G. Foss, a prominent shoe magnate at the turn of the century. Along with his partner Henry M. Dingley, Foss helped Auburn earn its nickname “the shoe city.” Along with other shoe magnates such as Jacob Roak, Dingley/Foss created a shoe dynasty on the wrong side of the Androscoggin. In business since 1876 mostly creating so called athletic shoes the Dingley-Foss Shoe Company helped Auburn make it big during the”white shoe run” in the early 1900's. White shoes were worn by nurses and medical staff during the days of the first World War. At the height of the run the company was employing over 2,000 employees with a daily output of 26,000 pairs of shoes. At its peek in 1922 Auburn was the fifth largest shoe production center in the United States. Due to the Depression Dingley-Foss closed their doors in 1932. Foss' mansion is located about three blocks from the center of town and Roak building that house the shoe plant. When Horatio's widow, Ella, died in 1941, she bequeathed the mansion and funds(over $25,000) to maintain it to the Woman's Literary Union (WLU). The WLU established in 1892 by Mrs. Thomas Rich, was and is an organization whose purpose is the intellectual and cultural advancement of its members and the community. Among its guests over the years have been Helen Keller and Eleanor Roosevelt. Over the years the property has won awards for its landscape and floral arrangements.