The following is a test. The more items you can remember, the longer you have lived in Scarborough. I myself am a newcomer, having lived here only 19 years this month. Here are just a few of the changes I’ve seen in our little town:
Can you remember the Humpty Dumpty Potato Chip factory? Oh, the delicious smells! Just driving past it would cause such major salivating that you thought you would die if you didn’t eat a potato chip soon. I used to think that the Humpty Dumpty folks would make a fortune if they sold bags of chips by the roadside in front of the factory.
Who remembers the old Scarborough Town Hall? It was located in a rundown structure right on Route 1. The building was in pretty bad shape, but I still recall the beauty of some of the old wooden details. I couldn’t help but laugh when Scarborough residents voted down building a new town hall, and then the following week someone’s foot went right through the old town hall’s dilapidated floorboards. Somehow we ended up with a fancy new town hall – but I still miss the old one.
Probably a lot of you remember when Hannaford was called Shop ‘N Save. But how many of you remember the days before the current Hannaford was built in Scarborough? There used to be a small Shop ‘N Save way up north on Route 1, where the Scarborough branch of Maine Medical Center is now located. I loved it because you could be in and out quickly, like a convenience store, but with more variety and better prices.
And do you remember the K-Mart that was right next door to the little Shop ‘N Save? Everything we could possibly need, all in one stop. Scarborough had this long before anyone had ever heard of a Wal-Mart Super Center.
Remember when that busy stretch of Route 1 north of Oak Hill was 45 mph? I wonder how long I kept driving 45 before one day I noticed it had been dropped to 35 mph.
And speaking of law breaking, when I first moved to Scarborough the police drove blue Volvo sedans. I wasn’t sure I would be able to keep a straight face if I ever got pulled over. I was glad when they changed to a more suitably authoritative vehicle.
Who remembers when the hot tub store closed down and a church moved into the space? Not too many towns can make that claim. I think that is my all-time favorite Scarborough story.
How many of you visited the old Scarborough Public Library when it was housed in a renovated residence on Black Point Road? Then we outgrew it and built a beautiful new library. It’s hard to believe that we have outgrown the new one already, but we have.
Do you remember when Key Bank was located in the building that currently houses Amato’s? And I know one reason why Amato’s has been so successful in that space – because there used to be a building right next door that housed a very popular sandwich shop called Hero’s. They made absolutely delicious sandwiches with the most fun names. Then Route 1 was widened, the Hero’s building was too close to the road, and so it was demolished. Hero’s was gone, local customers were left without a sandwich shop, and Amato’s saw their opportunity. I’m glad they are thriving, but it’s just not Hero’s.
Like I said, I’m still new to town. I’m sure there are quite a few townspeople who remember far more changes than I have witnessed – people who attended Bessey School, who saw movies at the old drive-in, who remember when you could hitchhike down Route One and catch a safe ride home.
When we are making decisions about changes for Scarborough, let’s keep in mind some of Scarborough’s history. After all, this is Maine, not Manhattan. And most of us wouldn’t have it any other way.
Julia Iuretig relied completely on her sieve-like memory for this article, doing no research whatsoever. Any complaints about inaccuracies may be directed to Jeff Inglis, editor of the Current.
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