Keystone Mineral Springs

The Keystone Mineral Spring water facilities in East Poland Maine are rare surviving examples of the 19th and early 20th century water bottling industry in Maine. With the exception of the famous and ornate Spring House and Bottling Plant at the nearby Poland Spring facility, the two buildings that comprise Keystone are the only known examples of period water extraction facilities in Maine. Although the Spring House is suffering some interior structural deterioration, the complex retains a high degree of integrity of workmanship, materials, design, location, setting, feeling, and association. Keystone Springs water was drawn and distributed almost continually from 1885 to the mid-1990s utilizing the original Spring House (c.1885) and the Bottling House which was rebuilt after a fire in 1928. Adding to the significance of this cultural and industrial resource is the large stock of bottling supplies, (including original glass bottles and carboys), and packaging and distribution equipment dating to the early 20th century. Taken together, the Keystone Mineral Springs provides unparalleled access to the early years of an important state-wide industry. The Keystone Mineral Springs are nominated to the National Register of Historic Places at the state level of significance under Criterion A, as a rare example of a 19th and early 20th century commercial water extraction and processing facility.

The site on which Keystone Mineral Springs is part of the home farm of E. Greenleaf Woodman, a farmer in East Poland, who resided on the property through at least 1880. By 1884 the property was in the possession of Seriah Pratt, who recognized the potential in the spring water that emerged from a rock in his backyard. The following passage from A History of Poland neatly summarizes the activities and ownership chronology of the Keystone Mineral Springs.

In 1884, Seriah M. Pratt found that the water from the Spring (which came out of a rock) was comparable to that of the Poland Spring water and started selling it in 1884. Needing help he persuaded his nephew, Edward H. Pratt who had been working in a shoe shop (sic) in Auburn, to help him. This was in 1885. This relationship apparently continued until 1892 when Edward Pratt and his brother-in-law, Abe J. Anderson bought the property. From then until 1896 the Keystone Spring was operated by Pratt and Anderson. It was called Key Stone during that period.

In 1896 Edward Pratt bought out Anderson, who returned to his native New Jersey. During that period and several years following, the water was sold extensively in Lewiston Auburn and surrounding areas. Even shipped to Portland and New Jersey.

In 1928, probably Jan. or Feb. the bottling house was destroyed by fire. At this time, Mr. Pratt, being 66, and his son Hartwell away at college, decided to lease the business to Harold (Red) Lothrop. The bottling house was rebuilt on the same site and the same size, being completed in the spring of 1929. In 1930 Robert Kilgore bought out Harold Lothrop. In 1938 the spring was leased to Wilfred Gary and then in 1942 to Willard Greene. In 1943 Willard was drafted into the service. That same summer, 1943, the water from the spring was piped to the residence of Mrs. Edward (Grace) Pratt. Previously all spring water had to be hauled in carboys for home use. No water was had from the spring again until 1947, when J. Hartwell Pratt, a son returned and took up residence on the home place.

Upon urgent request, the water was delivered to Mechanic Falls for a year, then in 1948 Roland Downing started delivering water and built up the route again. He continued until 1962. Landon Hall then took over and delivered water until August of 1965 when after a number of unusually dry seasons the spring went dry. In October 1965 the water came again and has been returning to normal with the increased rainfall. While the spring was dry, Hall took a steady job with Harrison and Sylvester Inc. He still sells some water weekends and supplies the needs of Mechanic Falls.

Upon the death of E.H. Pratt's wife Grace in 1952 the property was bequeathed to their son Hartwell Pratt, who in turn left the property to Landon Hall in 1995. As noted above, Mr. Hall had worked in the Spring for several decades, and he continued to bottle and sell the water sporadically before abandoning the pursuit. The present owners purchased the property in 2004, and after numerous appeals from local residents, are planning to repair the facility and resume distribution of the Keystone Mineral Spring water.

As the history cited above notes, the Pratts frequently leased the springs to individuals who actually processed and delivered the water.' With the exception of a short period during which the water was sold in New Jersey, the enterprise served local markets in Lewiston, Auburn, Minot, Mechanic Falls, and other nearby communities. Initially, testimonials given by scientists and medical workers spread the word about the water's quality and purity. In 1893 several of these testimonials were grouped into an advertising pamphlet which both attested to the mineral composition of the water and its medicinal qualities. As the water was said to be very similar to the famous waters of Poland Spring, establishing the composition of Keystone Mineral Water was an important selling point.
To S.M. Pratt, Esq.:

Dear Sir. - I have to-day completed a chemical examination of the sample of Spring Water left with me by you to determine its composition and its quality for drinking purposes and for household use. I find that it contains about three grains of solid matter to the gallon, made up of Iron, Magnesia, Carbonates of Soda and Potash, Silica and Alumina. It is free from injurious matter, a remarkably pure, soft, wholesome water, and I confidently and cordially recommend it as such. The Iron and Magnesia in it give it medicinal character. It is as good a sample of water as I have ever examined. Richard C. Stanley
Professor Chemistry, Bates College.

According to Andrew Tolman formerly with the Maine Geological Survey, "Mineral springs were often viewed as healing potions. Spas were built in places like Saratoga Springs, New York, and people would journey for miles to "take the waters" for their health... Even at the time, most health professionals were skeptical of claims that mineral or other waters would cure various illnesses, although there was general agreement that pure spring water had a "buoyant effect" on general health." (Tolman, 1999). Indeed, among the fans of the Keystone water were testimonials to the beneficial effects of the water on dyspepsia and kidney complaints (from Leeds Point, N.J.), and rheumatism (Auburn, Maine) or for "all pharmaceutical purposes requiring pure water," from a Lewiston druggist. The medicinal attributes of the water were also noted in a report on 'Mineral Springs in Maine' printed in the Seventeenth Annual Report of the Bureau of Industrial and Labor Statistic, 1903
The town of Poland is noted for its mineral and medicinal springs. In addition to the world-renowned spring belonging to Hiram Ricker & Sons of South Poland, described elsewhere in this article, there are the Polsko Spring, the Highland Spring, the White Oak Hill Spring, and the Keystone Spring. These are all situated on high elevations and the waters of all of them are recommended for diseases of the kidneys and associated derangements.

Indeed, Keystone Springs was one of five active mineral springs in Poland. Mineral Spring water was 'taken' either by drinking or submersion. At some facilities, the natural mineral springs formed the basis for resort developments complete with baths, spas, hotels, and recreation activities. In Maine, the Underwood Springs in Falmouth was situated in a public park, while the Bluehill Mineral Co.'s facility featured accommodations for tourists and visitors in the spring. The most well-known example in the state is Poland Springs.

Owned and developed by the Ricker Family, this world-famous hotel and resort was located near the water source. While the Ricker family had offered accommodations at their home since the early 19th century, after 1845 when the curative powers of the water first became well known, the enterprise grew. In 1876 the family built a hotel that eventually contained hundreds of rooms and a reputation that matched that of their water.

By the beginning of the 20th century, the Bureau of Labor Statistics enumerated 81 mineral springs that claimed medicinal qualities, and a 1906 census conducted by the United States Geological Survey indicated that there were 44 commercial springs in southern Maine alone. (Tolman, 1999). The economic potential for developing these resources was a key component of the Bureau's report as shown by the following paragraph:

They are employed in the bottling houses and in driving teams to convey the water to stations, from 150 to 200 men at good wages. The sale of Maine mineral and medicinal waters is increasing rapidly, and can even now be classed among our important industries. The sales will continue to increase as the purity and the curative properties of the water from our springs become better known by means of advertising, the best advertisement being the testimony of persons who have benefitted from the use of the water.

There are no known documents that describe either Seriah or E.H. Pratt's motivation for bottling and selling water from their spring. It is likely, however, that they were aware of the economic success of the nearby Poland Springs facilities. Keystone Mineral Springs water became well known in Central Maine, however, it remained a small operation when compared to the Poland Spring, the Highland Mineral Spring, which maintained offices in New York City, or the Mt. Hartford Mineral Springs in Hartford, Maine, which had agents in Philadelphia, or the Ishka Mineral Springs in Hancock, that sold water in Cuba. While Keystone Springs made deliveries throughout the area in its 1910 Buick truck (still owned by a neighbor in Poland), its facility was neither as extensive nor as geared towards tourists as were many of its competitors.

The Spring House and Bottling House at Keystone Springs are functional, vernacular buildings, with a minimum of stylistic references. No other facilities from the same period, and of a similar scale are known to be extant in Maine. The Poland Spring Bottling Plant and Spring House, (NR: 84001354), designed by Harry C. Wilkinson in 1907, are highly ornate Italian Renaissance-style structures built to complement the resort atmosphere garnered at the Poland Spring House. On the interior, this facility is equally ornate and lined with marble. At the time of its opening in 1907, the Industrial Journal remarked on the advanced systems that had been installed to facilitate the operations:

Every mechanical device to save handling, such as automatic multiple-feeding filling machines, endless belts to carry bottles from one machine or department to another, etc., and every machine used for filling, cooking, or aerating the Poland water and for cleaning and sterilizing Poland water bottles is the best it is possible to procure - and in every instance expressly made for Hiram Ricker & Sons.

Other early spring houses exist outside of Maine. In North Conway, New Hampshire, the spring house for the White Mountain Mineral Spring Water Company, 1882, exists on a site adjacent to the High School. Determined to be eligible for the National Register, this Spring House is a wood-framed, six-sided pavilion with a bell-cast pyramidal roof and a six-sided cut granite basin. Queen Anne in style, it is sheathed with wide, match stick paneling and sawtooth and fish scale shingles. Another extant example, in Middletown Springs Vermont, is the Montvert Hotel Mineral Springs House from 1871, which is a replica of the original spring house built on the original 1871 marble floor. Historic photographs were used to guide the reconstruction of this small, open-sided, canopy-topped structure. As with the Poland Spring facilities, the examples from Vermont and New Hampshire were both associated with large resort-type hotels that built their reputations on the purity and healthful aspects of their spring water.

In recent years there has been an increasing interest in the consumption and distribution of spring water, and currently, there are at least 14 companies processing this resource in Maine. Of these, only four commercial operations other than Poland Springs appear to be the direct descendants of the 81 mineral springs identified in 1903: the Crystal Mineral Springs in Auburn, Oak Grove Spring Water Company in Brewer, Summit Springs in Harrison, and Glen Rock Springs in Greene. Both the Crystal Springs and Summit Springs feature spring houses from the 1930s, while in Brewer and Auburn, the original facilities no longer exist. As with Poland Springs, Summit Springs was associated with a 55-room hotel (built in 1888), and the 1936 spring house is a domestic scale structure built of rounded cobblestones that surround the granite spring basin. None of these facilities, however, retains the historic integrity and simple mechanisms associated with the early mineral water industry to the extent that is found at the Keystone Spring in East Poland.