The first story of the electrical building at 513 Broadway was completed in 1934 by workers employed through the Civil Works Administration. The building housed the switchboards and electrical equipment needed to run the city’s pull-box, fire alarm system. Mill Creek Park did not yet exist when the building was constructed. Contributed / South Portland Historical Society

We pick up where we left off last week in our story about the Depression-era jobs program and the resulting Electrical Building in Mill Creek. During the Great Depression, President Franklin D. Roosevelt created a program known as the Civil Works Administration. This short-lived, job-creation program began on Nov. 9, 1933, and South Portland was quick to take advantage of it, putting residents to work on local projects, with labor costs funded by the federal government.

One of the many CWA projects in South Portland was the construction of the fireproof Electrical Building at 513 Broadway. A story in the Portland Press Herald on March 7, 1934, stated that “CWA workers Tuesday erected poles to carry wires from the new city electrical building to the Central Fire Station. According to present plans the laying of cement in the foundation of the new building probably will be started today.” There was an update in the Evening Express on March 14, “The foundation for the electrical building has been poured and the forms are being stripped. It is expected that the building, with the exception of the installation of the interior electrical apparatus, will be completed by the latter part of the month.”

The Electrical Building constructed by the CWA in 1934 was only a one-story structure – essentially the basement of the building that you see there today. According to South Portland’s 1934 annual report, the city spent about $1,800 on the project, but most of that was the cost of “new switchboards and electrical appliances.” Once the building was completed and now serving as the center of our fire alarm system, all electrical equipment was removed from the Central Fire Station on Thomas Street and they used the freed-up space for additional sleeping quarters for firefighters.

The CWA was ended on March 31, 1934, leaving many projects unfinished, so we were lucky to have our electrical building completed in the nick of time. A similar federal program, the Works Progress Administration, was created about a year later, in May 1935.

While the Electrical Building constructed in 1934 was a one-story structure, there were plans to add another story on top. It took two decades for that second phase to come to fruition. In 1952, the electrical department started indicating that it wanted to add that second story. In the 1952 report, they stated that “since 1934, the Fire Alarm circuits have increased 85% and the Fire Alarm batteries 60%.” Construction of the brick second story began in 1953, based on plans drawn up by Lester I. Beal; construction was completed in early 1954.

In more recent years, the Electrical Building has been used for a variety of purposes. In 2007, the historical society temporarily used it for storage while it was raising money to make its home in the Cushing’s Point House. In 2008, Lee Humiston began working on the building and opened his Maine Military Museum there; in 2009, Humiston acquired a new facility on Peary Terrace and moved the Maine Military Museum there in 2011. In recent years, the South Portland Land Trust has been using the building for office and storage space. There is now some talk of the possibility of turning the building into a nature center for the public, with its ideal location in the park and along the Greenbelt Walkway. Regardless of its future use, the building is still an attractive structure with an interesting connection to local and American history.

2024 Annual Appeal

South Portland Historical Society’s Annual Appeal is underway. We are an active nonprofit, collecting and preserving local history, offering the museum in Bug Light Park with free admission, presenting a monthly lecture series through the winter, providing access to over 17,000 images in our Online Museum, and bringing this history column to you each week. 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 sphistory.pastperfectonline.com and use the “Donate” button. To donate by check, please make 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.

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