Keystone Mineral Springs facts for kids
Quick facts for kids |
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Keystone Mineral Springs
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 Location in Maine
Location in the United States
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| Location | Keystone Spring Rd., Poland, Maine |
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| Area | 3.5 acres (1.4 ha) |
| Built | c. 1885 |
| Architectural style | Italianate |
| NRHP reference No. | 05001175 |
| Added to NRHP | October 19, 2005 |
Keystone Mineral Springs is a special place in Poland, Maine. It was once a busy factory where natural spring water was bottled. This historic site has two main buildings. One is a spring house built around 1885. The other is a bottling house built in 1929.
These buildings are important because they show how mineral water was bottled a long time ago in Maine. They are some of the only old bottling places left, besides the famous Poland Spring Bottling Plant and Spring House. Because of its history, Keystone Mineral Springs was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2005.
Contents
What Keystone Mineral Springs Looks Like
The Keystone Mineral Springs site has two main buildings: the spring house and the bottling house. You can reach them by a dirt road called Keystone Spring Road. This road runs next to Empire Road.
The Spring House: Where the Water Comes From
The spring house is a small, one-story building made of wood. It has a pointed roof and measures about 20 feet by 40 feet. It sits on the west side of the road. The front of the building faces north, towards an old path.
The front has three openings. The middle one is a large sliding door. To the east, there is a window, and to the west, a smaller door that is now closed up. The side of the building facing east also has a large sliding door. Inside, the building is quite old and some parts are falling apart. The natural spring water comes up into a stone basin on a concrete floor. From there, the water flows through a pipe to the bottling house.
The Bottling House: Where Water Was Prepared
The bottling house is also a one-story wooden building. It was built in 1929 after an earlier building burned down. This building looks similar in size to the spring house. Inside, it's mostly unfinished, with wooden beams and walls showing.
The southern part of the building holds a very large tank, which can hold about 900 gallons of water. This tank is lined with granite. There's also a special area where extra water would go, and troughs where bottles were filled. At the northern end of the building, there's a room where the filled bottles were capped, labeled, and packed for shipping. Many of the original machines from the early 1900s are still there!
History of Keystone Mineral Springs
The Keystone Mineral Spring was a business that bottled and sold water from 1885 until the mid-1990s. It mostly served people in central Maine.
How the Business Started
Seriah M. Pratt was a farmer who owned the land where the spring was. In 1884, he realized that the water from his spring was just as good as the water from Poland Spring. So, he started bottling and selling it. In 1885, his nephew, Edward Pratt, joined the business. Edward took full control of the business in 1896.
Growing the Business
The business was very successful. They delivered bottled water all over Maine, even as far as Portland. Some water was even shipped to other states like Maryland and New Jersey. Edward Pratt's business partner moved to New Jersey and helped sell the water there.
Over the years, different people rented and ran the business. It continued operating until about 1995. Sometimes, the spring would dry up, which meant they couldn't bottle water for a while. In 2004, new owners made plans to fix up the facility and start bottling water again.
See also
