Charles E. Libby’s “Nonesuch barge” with its team of four horses, circa 1893, posed in front of the former house at 267 Highland Ave., on the corner of Scamman Street, in South Portland. The Nonesuch barge ran on a scheduled route, eight times a day, between the Portland Post Office and the drug store in Knightville. Three shifts of horses were needed. When the weather was poor, curtains were let down to provide some protection for the passengers. Contributed / South Portland Historical Society

Since the early 1800s, mass transit began developing in cities across America. While stagecoaches had provided travel by land across longer distances, within cities the omnibus was a large horse-drawn carriage that was available to the general public for a set fare and with regular, established routes. The first omnibus service in America was started in New York City in the 1820s. Compared to larger cities like Boston and New York, the development of public transportation in Portland and South Portland (known as Cape Elizabeth in the 1800s) was somewhat delayed. If a person didn’t have their own horse or when walking was inconvenient here, people could hire a cab or “hack” (short for hackney cab or hackney carriage). A larger population in the Portland area was needed in order to have regular, scheduled routes.

The first type of mass transportation for those living here on the south side of the Fore River was undoubtedly the Cape Elizabeth ferry service that ran between Ferry Village and the Portland peninsula. The steam railroad arrived here with the creation of the Portland, Saco & Portsmouth Railroad in 1842; the Cape Elizabeth Depot (a passenger station) was established near the intersection of Broadway and Evans Street, where Domino’s Pizza is now located.

The first omnibus that we’ve found in Cape Elizabeth was one that was run in conjunction with the Cape Elizabeth ferry in 1885. The ferry service had just been taken over and established as the People’s Ferry. They proudly announced that they were now offering combined service with an omnibus so that passengers could take the ferry in Portland and know that a carriage was waiting on this side to take them on to a further destination. Likewise, passengers starting their trip to Portland from Cape Elizabeth could look over the schedule and be confident of their ability to make it to the ferry, to Portland, and back at a set time.

In this advertisement that appeared in the Portland Evening Express on Feb. 27, 1893, Charles Libby announced that he had eight barges (passenger wagons) available for hire for special events. Contributed / South Portland Historical Society

We haven’t yet been able to confirm the operator of the 1885 omnibus in Cape Elizabeth (the People’s Ferry didn’t indicate who was operating it), but the likely person was the primary operator of omnibus lines here – Charles E. Libby. We have found documented evidence of Libby’s omnibus in Cape Elizabeth in 1888, when he had a regular line operating from the Prospect House at Pond Cove to the Cape Elizabeth ferry.

Charles E. Libby was born in Portland in 1851 and lived there for much of his life. One of his early business ventures was a partnership that he formed in the late 1870s with his brother-in-law, Charles R. Chaffin. Under the name Chaffin & Libby, Fruit and Confectionery Dealers, they did both a wholesale trade and operated retail stores at 568-570 Congress St. and at 498 Congress St. on the corner of Brown Street. They dissolved their partnership in 1884, but Charles Libby continued to operate the retail store at 498 Congress St.

Around 1885, Libby started advertising his parcel delivery business. This business was conducted with wagons and teams of horses. By 1887, he was employing more people and was now housing his growing number of horses and wagons in the livery stable at 27 Green St. (the street was later renamed Forest Avenue; the stable was located roughly where the Portland Stage Company is today). While his business continued to grow, he specialized in moving furniture and pianos.

On this image from the 1871 F.W. Beers atlas, the livery stable at 27 Green St. (Forest Avenue) can be seen at the center. Charles Libby kept his horses, wagons, and carriages in this stable until a deadly fire in 1890 occurred; most of his horses died in the fire. Contributed / South Portland Historical Society

Along with his delivery business, he developed a significant omnibus business. He hired drivers to operate his “barges” along his regularly scheduled omnibus routes that ran between Portland and various locations in Cape Elizabeth. This was a year-round operation, on wheels in the summer and sleigh runners in the winter. The term “barge” was used often in those days, used to describe a “passenger wagon” – simply a wagon in which he installed benches. They did not quite elevate to what one would call a carriage – which are specifically designed and built to carry people.

Libby had a huge setback when, just after midnight on Jan. 1, 1890, a devastating fire broke out in the stables. A hack driver who was also using the barn discovered the fire and ran up to Congress Street to alert the fire house. He ran back and was able to get his two horses and carriage out, and released a few other horses, but then the fire had become too intense. Charles Libby had 29 horses that he normally kept in that stable – four of the horses were out of town on jobs, but of his remaining 25 horses on site, over 20 perished in the fire. The fire spread to a few sheds and barns on Oak Street, but thanks to the lack of wind that night and the fire department’s fast response, the fire was contained.

An account in the Portland Daily Press described Charles Libby’s business at that point in time: “Mr. Libby is the man who has recently built up the extensive omnibus business to Cash’s Corner and other points in the suburbs, and these lines will be temporarily stopped. Mr. Libby has employed 17 men, some of whom will now be out of work.”

While this was a huge loss, Libby quickly built his business back up again. In addition to offering regular, scheduled service to Cash Corner, Knightville, Willard, Pond Cove and East Deering, he would also offer private charters, so any person or organization that was putting on dances or other special events could arrange for transportation to and from the event.

This 1889 schedule for the Cape Elizabeth Omnibus is preserved in the collections of the South Portland Historical Society. Charles Libby was offering a combination fare which offered both a ride on land with his service, and a ride on the Cornelia H. ferry. Contributed / South Portland Historical Society

In some cities, horse-drawn streetcars were one of the next developments in the history of mass transit. Riding in carriages made for a bumpy ride, but running a streetcar, even horse drawn, on a rail would allow for a much smoother ride, and allowed for horses to pull larger loads. We didn’t have street rails in South Portland, however, until the electric trolley service was brought here in 1895, but the coming of electric streetcars here brought about the end of horse-drawn omnibus services. Electric streetcars provided a smoother ride, ticket prices were cheaper, and operators didn’t have to deal with feeding and stabling horses, or cleaning up after them. Charles Libby did continue to provide transportation for hire, but on a much smaller scale. The last reference we have found for his service was in 1899 when a news article mentioned that the Fort Preble baseball team “will go to Windham today in Libby’s barge to play the nine of that town.” He did, however, continue with his freight handling business, right up to the early 1920s.

Charles Libby would later move to South Portland where he lived in the Willard neighborhood, first at 371 Preble St. and then at 19 Day St. He died in 1925 and is buried at Forest City Cemetery.

South Portland Historical Society offers a free Online Museum with nearly 17,000 images available for viewing with a keyword search. You can find it at sphistory.pastperfectonline.com and, if you appreciate what we do, feel free to make a donation by using the donation button on the home page. If you have photographs or other information to share about South Portland’s past, we hope you will reach out to us. South Portland Historical Society can be reached at 207-767-7299, by email at sphistory04106@gmail.com, or by mail at 55 Bug Light Park, South Portland, ME 04106.

Kathryn Onos DiPhilippo is executive director of the South Portland Historical Society.