We take a look this week at a lesser-known location in South Portland, Germania Park, and the interesting couple who opened it in 1900.

Harry Callan was born in Germany and immigrated to the United States circa 1884. His name was not originally Harry Callan, however. On a naturalization record from 1890, his name was listed as William Brown. He was a restaurant keeper living in Boston in 1895 when he married. On the 1895 marriage record in Boston, he used the name William Brown and recorded his parents’ names as Heinrich and Sophie. His wife, listed as Annie Callan (although her father was James Callahan) was born in Ireland and came to the U.S. circa 1886. She was working as a waitress at the time of their marriage. They had a daughter, Anna Marie Brown, born in 1896, and Harry recorded his name as the father on the birth record as William Brown.

When they arrived in Portland in the late 1890s, however, William Brown had changed his name to Harry Callan and their daughter’s last name was also now Callan. Harry and Annie operated a restaurant at 59 Center St. around 1899, then they moved it to 69 Commercial St.

In 1899 and 1900, in three separate real estate transactions, Harry Callan bought up 18 vacant lots of land (lots 70 through 87) along Rigby Road in South Portland. Rigby Road used to extend from Main Street down to the old Rigby Park (Rigby Park was a horse trotting park that opened in 1893 and held its last races in 1899). With all of these lots, the Callans had about 360 feet of frontage along Rigby Road, and on a mortgage that he obtained, Harry stated that the park covered about 3 acres of land.

Harry and Annie Callan purchased a building at Rigby Park which had previously been operated as a restaurant, and moved it down the street to their new “Germania Park.”

Germania Park and restaurant held its grand opening on April 22, 1900. According to news reports at the time, there were “quite a large number of people from the city present during the day and there was music furnished by an orchestra.” Unfortunately, they had not obtained a license to operate the restaurant, so Harry had to appear in court on May 9 where he was found guilty and fined. That same evening, an attorney representing Annie Callan appeared at the meeting of the South Portland aldermen asking for a permit to operate a restaurant; the permit was granted.

About a week later, Harry was in court again. This time it was because two of his employees were caught planting trees at Germania Park on a Sunday, in violation of the “Sunday Law.” Harry pleaded guilty, saying that he didn’t realize that he couldn’t plant trees on his own property.

By December of 1901, Harry borrowed $350 from John F. Proctor, putting up Germania Park as collateral for the loan. At that time, the Germania Park property featured a 2.5-story building that was being used as a hotel, as well as another 2.5-story cottage with six rooms.

A year later, Harry had a large casino under construction on the property. In a story in the Evening Express in January, 1903, “Harry Callan, proprietor of Germania park, is having a three story wooden building erected at the park to be used as a dance hall. The building, which is up and boarded in, is 30 by 40 feet in size, and will contain besides the hall, which will be located on the first floor, quite a number of rooms on the second and third floors. Mr. Sumner F. Hunnewell is doing the work.”

Work on the dance hall was completed and they had a grand opening on June 13, 1903. The Callans advertised, “Germania Park, Rigby Road, So. Portland, Me…The Park with new casino, twelve hundred square feet floor for dancing, is one of the best built halls in Portland for summer or winter entertainments. Café second to none. Twenty nice furnished rooms to let by day or week. Books now open for private or dancing parties. Good baseball grounds in rear of casino. Dance will be given on opening night. Gents, 50 cents. Ladies free. Good music.”

On a Sunday afternoon, Aug. 9, 1903, a scary episode happened when about 500 people turned out for a picnic at Germania Park. In this time period, like many other states in the U.S., Maine had a blue law that prohibited the playing of baseball on Sundays.

An account of the event appeared in the Evening Express the next day, “One of the features of the afternoon’s sports was to have been a game of baseball, but Officer Burgess objected to this part of the program and arrested the man who seemed to be the ringleader, whereupon the crowd swooped down on the officer in a way that would have most men take back water, but Officer Burgess is not made of that kind of stuff, and when he starts in to perform a duty, he generally succeeds in doing it. For a time it looked a little warm for the officer, but he hung onto his man and only released him upon the promise of the crowd of good behavior. Many of the crowd had been drinking, and becoming ugly and quarrelsome, they surrounded the officer and threatened to kill him, and so hard did they press him that he was obliged as a matter of self protection, to draw his revolver and with this he kept the rioters at bay until Officers Bartlett, Pray and Goddard who had been sent for, arrived. When they did arrive, the crowd yelled ‘Put them out,’ and other things that boded no good for the officers, but though few in number, they are made of that sort of material that ‘don’t scare worth a cent’ and it was not long before they were masters of the situation, and the crowd began to thin out and start for their homes in Portland.”

Throughout the years that they were operating Germania Park, the Callans were also operating a restaurant in Portland. Long before nationwide prohibition was in effect in the U.S. from 1920-1933, we had prohibition laws enacted here in Maine. The Callans were under high scrutiny by the officers who were charged with enforcing liquor laws.

In October, 1900, officers entered the Callan restaurant at 69 Commercial St. and seized a bottle of whiskey. In April, 1901, Harry was arraigned on search and seizure charges again, this time held on $200 bail; the assistant county attorney (ACA) decided not to prosecute, however and the charges were dropped. This was not a good time for someone with an alcohol problem; according to a story in the Portland Daily Press on May 24, 1901, “The liquor deputies, five in number, were out on the war path yesterday and though they worked hard from morning until night they did not succeed in finding much to reward their efforts.” They knew one place to go, though. “They also went into a place at 71 Commercial street where in a girl’s trunk on the second floor, they found a jug of whiskey and arrested the man who kept the place, named Harry Callan.”

The ACA again decided not to prosecute and the charges were dropped. They continued to pursue Harry, who would sometimes use the name Henry when he was caught with alcohol.

In an interesting court case in January, 1902, prosecutors called Harry Callan as a witness, trying to get him to testify against a company that was accused of transportation of alcohol. Prosecutors first asked him if he had purchased any liquor from that company in the last three months. Harry replied that he had not. They then read entries that they had found in a company ledger; under a header of “Harry Callan” had been written lines like “Jan. 2, merchandise, $6; Jan. 18, four gallons of whiskey, $8.” Harry claimed that he had never made the purchases and “the entries must refer to some other Harry Callan.”

Annie Callan held the liquor laws in the same disregard as Harry, as she also ran into trouble with the law. In May, 1901, she was indicted on charges of keeping a “liquor nuisance.” She was found guilty and had to pay a $200 fine. In an April, 1902, story in the Evening Express, “Annie Callan, wife of Harry Callan, who keeps a restaurant at 69 Commercial street, was named in the warrant relating to yesterday’s seizure of whiskey and beer there. She decided not to stand trial, but waived a hearing, was fined $100 and cost and appealed.”

Both Annie and Harry Callan appeared in the newspapers repeatedly due to searches and seizures. In a September, 1902, article in the Evening Express, “Harry Callan, who now has one continued case awaiting trial was brought into court this morning on another seizure. Friday Deputies Doughty and Skillings after watching his place for a considerable time saw him go into a stable with a can and return with it full of a dark reddish liquor. Shortly afterwards in a search of the stable the officers found a quantity of whiskey. They had no warrant against Callan and so did not arrest him at that time. This morning, Deputy Doughty called for Callan with a warrant but he was not in. The deputy left word for him to appear in court.”

Harry Callan died of cirrhosis of the liver in October, 1903. He is buried at Calvary Cemetery. Annie continued operating the restaurant on Commercial Street, through roughly 1905, as well as the restaurant at Germania Park. The liquor deputies continued to focus on her – they seized a pint of beer from the restaurant in Portland in April, 1904, and she was ordered to appear in court. She remarried in 1905 to John Blazer.

Not much is known about Germania Park after Harry Callan died. The Foresters of America, a fraternal and benevolent organization, held its annual field day at Germania Park in 1904 and for a few other years. Annie Callan is shown in the Portland Directories as operating the restaurant at Germania Park until about 1909. In 1910, the mortgage holder John Proctor, foreclosed upon Germania Park. The property changed hands a few times until it was purchased by the Portland Terminal Company in 1922. Portland Terminal bought up all the lots along that area and had all of the buildings razed to make way for its construction of Rigby Yard.

The South Portland Historical Society’s Annual Appeal is underway. If you appreciate the work that we do, please consider making a donation today. To donate by credit card, go to our Online Museum at https://sphistory.pastperfectonline.com/ and use the “Donate” button. To donate by check, please make it payable to South Portland Historical Society and mail to us at 55 Bug Light Park, South Portland, ME 04106. You could also drop off your donation at the museum by using the mail slot in the front door. Thank you for your support in ensuring that we have a thriving historical society in South Portland.

Kathryn Onos DiPhilippo is executive director of the South Portland Historical Society. She can be reached at sphistory04106@gmail.com.

Copy the Story Link

Comments are not available on this story.

« Previous

Community News – Volunteers sought for snow shoveling

Next »

Eighth annual Savage Family Turkey Trot 5K is a Thanksgiving tradition