![[The old truss over the Kenduskeag Stream, near ME 15.]](385kentruss.jpg "[The old truss over the Kenduskeag Stream, near ME 15.]")
Maine's Lettered Highways (1913)
![[Return to RoadsAroundME]](exitik.jpg "[Return to RoadsAroundME]")
Maine's first highways were not numbered -- they were lettered. As part of the
first annual report of the State Highway Commission in 1913, by Lyman H.
Nelson, Philip J. Deering and William M. Ayer, the SHC accepted 21 state
highways and proposed three additional highways which were accepted in future
reports, all being assigned a letter of the alphabet as an identifier.
Although these routings do not appear to have ever been signed per se,
all of them survive in some form in the modern numbered routing system.
With the advent of the pole highways in
1919, it is unclear if the SHC still used the letter designations internally
to refer to these routings, but it is clear that with the advent of
Maine's use of the New England Interstate
system in 1925 that the letters were definitely replaced by their
numbered counterparts. The numbered equivalents for a given routing are
stated with each entry.
This entry is probably incomplete and I would appreciate any verifiable
corrections. All entries below come from pp64-65 in the 1913 report book.
A
- Definition
- Kittery to Portland, beginning at the Portsmouth-Kittery bridge and
running through Kittery, York, Wells, Kennebunk, Kennebunkport, Biddeford,
Saco, Scarboro [sic], South Portland, to Portland.
- Length
- 50 miles
- Replaced by
- NEI 1 (now US 1)
B
- Definition
- Fryeburg to Portland, beginning at the New Hampshire line in Fryeburg
and running through Fryeburg, Bridgton, Naples, Casco, Raymond, Windham,
Westbrook to Portland.
- Length
- 47 miles
- Replaced by
- NEI/ME 18 (now US 302)
C
- Defintion
- Portland to Bath, beginning at Martin's Point Bridge in Portland, running
through Falmouth, Cumberland, Yarmouth, Freeport and Brunswick, West Bath to
Bath.
- Length
- 31.4 miles
- Replaced by
- NEI 1 (now US 1)
D
- Definition
- Woolwich to Belfast via Rockland, beginning at Peoples' Ferry in Woolwich,
through Wiscasset, Edgecomb, Alna, Newcastle, Damariscotta, Nobleboro,
Waldoboro, Warren, Thomaston, Rockland, Rockport, Camden, Lincolnville,
Northport to Belfast.
- Length
- 62.4 miles
- Replaced by
- NEI 1 (now US 1)
E
- Definition
- Portland to Augusta, via Lewiston, beginning at Portland and running
through Falmouth, Cumberland, Gray, New Gloucester, Auburn, Lewiston, Greene,
Monmouth, Winthrop, Manchester to Augusta.
- Length
- 60 miles
- Replaced by
- ME 100
Note that ME 100 didn't reach Portland initially; the remainder of the
routing was probably NEI/ME 26.
F
- Definition
- Auburn to Rangeley, beginning in Auburn, and running through Turner,
Livermore, East Livermore, Jay, Wilton, Farmington, Strong, Avon Phillips,
Madrid, Letter E (Oxford county), Sandy River plantation, to Rangeley.
- Length
- 75.6 miles
- Replaced by
- ME 107
(now ME 4)
G
- Definition
- Augusta to Waterville, beginning at Augusta running through
Sidney, Belgrade, Oakland to Waterville.
- Length
- 24 miles
- Replaced by
- ME 100
(now ME 11)
H
- Definition
- Augusta to the Quebec line, beginning at Augusta, running through
Vassalboro, Winslow, Waterville, Fairfield, Skowhegan, Norridgewock, Madison,
Anson, Embden, Solon, Bingham, Moscow, Caratunk plantation, The Forks
plantation, West Forks plantation, Johnson Mountain, Parlin Pond, Jackman
plantation, through Sandy Bay plantation to the Canadian boundary.
- Length
- 122 miles
- Replaced by
- NEI 20 (now US 201,
except Norridgewock-Solon, which is US 201A)
I
- Definition
- Fairfield to Bangor, beginning at Fairfield, running through Benton,
Clinton, Burnham, Pittsfield, Palmyra, Etna, Carmel, Hermon to Bangor.
- Length
- 48 miles
- Replaced by
- ME 100 to Pittsfield, then
NEI 15 to Bangor (now ME 100
to Pittsfield, unnumbered higway to near Canaan, then US 2
to Newport, and US 2/ME 100 to
Bangor)
J
- Definition
- Newport to Greenville, beginning at Newport, running through Corinna,
Dexter, Dover, Foxcroft, Guilford, Abbot, Monson, Shirley, to Greenville.
- Length
- 53 miles
- Replaced by
- ME 104 (now ME 7 to
Dover-Foxcroft and ME 15 to Greenville [also
ME 16 from Abbot to Dover-Foxcroft, now
ME 6/ME 15/ME 16])
K
- Definition
- Bangor to Fort Kent, beinning at Bangor, running through Veazie, Orono,
Oldtown [sic], Milford, Greenbush, Passadumkeag, Enfield, Lincoln, Winn,
Mattawamkeag, Molunkus, Medway, 1R6 (Penobscot county), Township A, R7,
2R7, 2R6, Stacyville, Sherman, Crystal, Island Falls, Dyer Brook, Merrill,
Smyrna, Ludlow, New Limerick, Houlton, Littleton, Monticello, Bridgewater,
Blaine, Mars Hill, Easton, Presque Isle, Caribou, Connor, Cyr, Van Buren,
Grand Isle, Madawaska, Frenchville, to Fort Kent.
- Length
- 235 miles
- Replaced by
- NEI 15 to Mattawamkeag
(now US 2, except Old Town-Orono, which is
US 2A), then ME 157 to
Medway,
then ME 211 to Sherman
(now ME 11), then
ME 158 to NEI 15 east of Sherman,
then NEI 15
to Houlton (now US 2),
then NEI 24
to Madawaska (?Fort Kent) (now US 1
except Mars Hill-Easton, which is now
US 1A, and Easton-Presque Isle, which is now
ME 10).
L
- Definition
- Belfast to Bangor, beginning at Belfast, running through Searsport,
Stockton Springs, Prospect, Frankfort, Winterport, Hampden to Bangor.
- Length
- 31 miles
- Replaced by
- NEI 1
(now US 1
except
Stockton Springs-Bangor, which is US 1A
and US 1AB)
M
- Definition
- Bangor to Trenton, beginning at Bangor, running through Brewer,
Holden, Dedham, Ellsworth to Trenton.
- Length
- 33.4 miles
- Replaced by
- NEI 1 and ME 183
(now US 1A and ME 3)
N
- Definition
- Ellsworth to Calais, beginning at Ellsworth, running through Hancock,
Franklin, Sullivan, Gouldsboro, Township 7, S.D. (Hancock county), Steuben,
Milbridge, Cherryfield, Harrington, Columbia, Columbia Falls, Jonesboro,
Whitneyville, Machias, East Machias, Whiting, Trescott, Edmunds, Dennsyville,
Pembroke, Perry, Robbinston, Calais, with a spur from Perry to Eastport,
and a spur from Whiting through Trescott to Lubec, and a spur
from Columbia Falls through Addison to Jonesport.
- Length
- 143.4 miles
- Replaced by
- NEI 1 (now US 1). The
spurs were replaced by, respectively, ME 190,
ME 189 and ME 187.
O
- Definition
- Brettun's Mills, in Livermore, running through Canton, Peru, Dixfield,
Mexico, Rumford, Hanover, Newry, Bethel, Gilead to the New Hampshire line.
- Length
- 49.2 miles
- Replaced by
- ME 108 to Dixfield (apparently crossing the river),
then NEI 15 (now US 2)
P
- Definition
- Augusta to Rockland, beginning at Augusta, running through Chelsea,
Whitefield, Windsor, Jefferson, Somerville, Washington, Union, Hope,
Rockport to Rockland.
- Length
- 37 miles
- Replaced by
- ME 101 (now ME 17)
Q
- Definition
- Augusta to Brunswick, beginning at Augusta, running through Hallowell,
Farmingdale, Gardiner, Richmond, Bowdoinham, Topsham to Brunswick.
- Length
- 36.6 miles
- Replaced by
- NEI 20 (now US 201)
R
- Definition
- Augusta to Belfast, beginning at Augusta, running through Vassalboro,
China, Palermo, Liberty, Montville, Searsmont, Morrill, Waldo to Belfast.
- Length
- 39 miles
- Replaced by
- ME 102 (now ME 3)
S
- Definition
- Gray to Bethel, beginning at Gray, on state highway E, running through
New Gloucester, Poland, Mechanic Falls, Oxford, Norway, Paris, Woodstock,
Greenwood, Bethel, to join state highway O.
- Length
- 43.6 miles
- Replaced by
- NEI/ME 26
T
- Definition
- Newry to the New Hampshire line at Upton, beginning at Newry, on state
highway O, running through Newry, Grafton and Upton, to the New Hampshire
line.
- Length
- 19.4 miles
- Replaced by
- NEI/ME 26
X
- Definition
- Bangor to Dover, beginning at Bangor, running through Glenburn, Kenduskeag,
Corinth, Charleston, Garland, Hermon to Dover.
- Length
- 38 miles
- Replaced by
- ME 105 (now ME 15)
The following definitions were listed as "tentative," pending approval,
in the 1913 report.
U
- Definition
- (Tentative) Biddeford to Lebanon, beginning at Biddeford, running through
Kennebunkport, Lyman, Alfred, Sanford, Lebanon to the New Hampshire line.
- Length
- (Tentative) 27.2 miles
- Replaced by
-
NEI 11 (now ME 111 to
Alfred, ME 4A/US 202 to
Sanford, then ME 11/US 202).
This definition is made confusing with the presence of Kennebunkport in the
order stated, but that portion is actually in modern Arundel.
V
- Definition
- (Tentative) Norridgewock to Farmington, beginning at Norridgewock,
on state highway H, running through Mercer, New Sharon, to Farmington,
to state highway F.
- Length
- (Tentative) 21 miles
- Replaced by
- NEI 15 (now US 2)
W
- Definition
- (Tentative) From Belgrade Depot to New Sharon, beginning at Belgrade,
on state highway G, running through Belgrade, Rome, to New Sharon, on
state highway V.
- Length
- (Tentative) 15.4 miles
- Replaced by
- ME 140 (now ME 27)
![[Main page]](/roadgap/me/exitik.jpg "[Return to the main page]")