CHASE & SANBORN CONNECTIONS TO CENTRAL MAINE

by Dale Potter-Clark

In walking through grocery stores I sometimes wonder about the people on product labels. Chase & Sanborn recently caught my interest because one of my ancestral lines is Sanborn. Any connection, I wondered? A subsequent search revealed an interesting story about James Solomon Sanborn.

 

James was an only child, born in Wales, Maine in 1835. His grandfather, Moses, moved there from Epping, NH about 1808. The next two generations spread their tentacles into Winthrop, Monmouth, Leeds, Greene, Augusta, Lewiston and Poland.  James childhood was spent on Sanborn Road in East Monmouth where his father, Henry, and his maternal grandfather, Dr. Abial Daly, homesteaded. James lived or owned property in several of the aforementioned towns at some point, but a venture in Boston is where he made a mark that endured – Chase & Sanborn.

 

By 1870 James was living in Lewiston where he had started J.S. Sanborn, Co. selling spices, tea and coffee. In 1872 he moved his wife, widowed mother and four children to the Boston area. Caleb Chase had moved there from Harwich, MA and began a coffee roasting business. Since James was a coffee seller it was only a matter of time before they met.  The two men partnered to form Chase & Sanborn Coffee and Tea Co. in 1874 and established headquarters in a five-story building on Broad St. in Boston They were masters at marketing. Among their strategies was the application of placards across the entire width of their building, between every floor, touting the nature of their enterprise. Business flourished!

 

Until that time individuals bought coffee beans from local grocers and hand ground them at home. Chase & Sanborn ground and packaged them in sealed cans at their business in Boston. Their product was the first to be sold as such and it became a phenomenon in New England. They next hired salesmen throughout the U.S. and Canada, making Chase & Sanborn the first ground coffee to be sold from coast to coast. By 1893 their product had become so revered that Chase & Sanborn was chosen to supply all the coffee for the Chicago World’s Fair - a huge boon to their business!

 

Coffee was not James Sanborn’s only interest. In the 1890s he bought Maine Farmer, a popular weekly newspaper in Augusta, ME. Founded in Winthrop in 1842, it was moved to Augusta in 1844 where it remained until the Portland Press Herald bought it in 1921. Sanborn owned Maine Farmer until his death in 1903. In that interim he authored, "A Short History of the Ideal Gentlemen's' Road Horse Past and Present”, which leads us to his other interest - horses!

 

After residing in Boston for several years Sanborn yearned for country living. In 1886 he bought “Elmwood Farm”, an estate on 250 acres in East Poland, ME. It became his summer residence and the location for a stock farm from which he sold highbred horses. Building clientele required salesmanship so once again he put his promotional skills to work.  Three miles from there was the famous Poland Spring Hotel and one mile down the road was the Empire train station. Incoming guests arrived by train in those days and they disembarked at Empire Station.  Sanborn used his influence and convinced Maine Central Railroad to rename it the Elmwood Farm Station, giving his stock business name significant visibility with minimal effort and no cost. Many of his horses were sold to Poland Spring Hotel guests.

 

Within a year Sanborn added a 150x44 ft. two story barn - said to be the biggest and best in New England. It held a creamery, ice house, refrigerator, and a churn that could produce 40 lbs of butter at one time. The full, well-lit cellar was divided into manure vaults, pigpens, horse stalls, and space for vegetables. An 8 HP engine provided power for saws, churns, cutting silage and pumping water. Another wing stored carriages and farm implements. The second level held a workshop and sleeping quarters for the farm help and groom. Only one of two 12x14x36ft silos was filled at first – an indication the complex would be enlarged - and enlarged it was. Over the next few years Sanborn expanded Elmwood Farm to include 500 acres, an apple orchard of 600 trees, a Colonial mansion; six large stock barns; two farmhouses; two cottages; and blacksmith and carpentry shops. His farm animals included registered Holstein cattle, sheep, swine and horses. Windmills on the property provided the power that fed spring water to a tower large enough to supply every building. Sanborn also added a quarter mile trotting track and a 150x50 foot covered riding rink. These were used to train, exercise and show his horses.   

 

Sanborn sold registered French coach stallions and brood mares. His prize was Gemare, a thoroughbred Arabian stallion that stood 16 hands high, and weighed 1,250 pounds. Few living horses of the time held blood lines of so many famous equines as Gemare.  He was imported from France and Sanborn purchased him for $4,000 ($100,000+ in today’s dollars). From the time he bought Elmwood Farm in 1886 until his death in 1903 Sanborn built a reputation for producing superior road horses – some said the best in America. He sold hundreds of stallions, brood mares, drivers and young stock to patrons from all over the U.S. and Canada. Not to be outdone, his registered Holsteins also took prizes from the Holstein-Friesian Association of America.

 

Unlike Chase & Sanborn, there is no sign of Elmwood Farm today except for some foundation remnants. Lifetime Poland resident Louise Roberts, 84, recalls the last days of Elmwood Farm. “It changed hands many times after Sanborn owned it” she said. “A dance hall was even there at one time before it finally burned and there is nothing left there now.”

 

Oh yes, was he related to me you ask? Yes, James Solomon Sanborn was my 5^th cousin 5 times removed. Genealogy can be so much fun!

 

Dale Potter-Clark writes articles, monographs and blogs about local history and old families. She recently co-authored the book “Founders and Evolution of Summer Resorts and Kids’ Camps on Four Lakes in Central Maine”.

An abbreviated version of this story appeared in several editions of newspapers in central and western Maine in February 2018.