Late 19th Century E. Swasey & Co. Sign Found in an Old Livery Building in Portland, Maine in the Late 1990s

This is really great! Last night I learned from a friend the story of how this late nineteenth century painted sign from the back of a carriage was found in an old nineteenth century livery building in Portland, Maine. It was the spring or early summer of 1998 when this building was opened up, retaining all sorts of original carriages and company related equipment from the 1800s; this part of the Swasey carriage and other pieces were found in the building.

For a brief history: E. Swasey & Company was a prominent business based in Portland in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. The company also had a branch on Summer Street in Boston. The company was run by Eben Swasey (1843–1906), his son Fred D. Swasey (1869–1931) and George Young. It produced pottery, crockery and glassware for wholesale, while also importing pottery from other American manufactures. The business model of the company was similar to how Moses B. Paige ran his company in Peabody, Massachusetts about the same period: https://historicbeverly.net/product/the-moses-b-paige-company-the-last-of-the-peabody-potteries/.

Eben Swasey began producing earthenware at his brick warehouse on Portland's Commercial Street in 1890. He had previously run the Portland Earthenware Manufactory with Rufus Lamson. Nonetheless, this sign now resides in the collection of the the Maine State Museum in Augusta Maine.

For more information - see my seventh book, titled, From One Town Came Many: The Red Earthenware Industry of Ancient North Yarmouth, Maine: https://historicbeverly.net/product/94597/.

E. Swasey & Co. Sign Found in an Old Livery Building

Sign on the Back of a Late 19th Century Carriage

E. Swasey & Co. Operated in Portland, Maine

Found in an Old Livery Building in Portland

The Other Parts of the Carriage Were Also Found in the Building

See Article for More Information

Photo Courtesy: Chris Havey

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