Peter Behrens's Blog, page 430
February 5, 2015
February 4, 2015
Marfa South of San Antonio Street: the 'hood
Many houses in our part of town, south of San Antonio Street, are very basic one-story adobe structures. They have a 'military barracks' look, and I'd assumed that they once were part of Fort D.A. Russell, the cavalry establishment that sprawled on the southern edge of Marfa. (Donald Judd's Chinati Foundation is now settled in what was the main part of the fort). But now I'm uncertain that the fort ever reached anywhere near house on W. Galveston Street. For one thing, the Blackwell School, less than a block away, has been on the same lot (I think) since the 1890s. Marfa was always a segregated town and south of San Antonio Street was/is the Mexican-American/Tejano quarter. Blackwell was the elementary school for "Mexicans" until desegregation in 1965. More later on Marfan morphology. I wonder if it's possible that some of the buildings in our hood were dragged from the fort and relocated...but I can't imagine it would be very easy or practical to move an adobe building...Oh yeah, the fence...I think it was supposed to keep out free-range, feral, chihuahuas. It doesn't.
The Blackwell School...
February 3, 2015
The Portland Company: Maine Industrial Vernacular
The Portland Company, founded in 1846, built and fixed locomotives for the Atlantic & St Lawrence Railway, (AKA the St Lawrence & Atlantic, in Canada). The ST L & A connected Montreal with Portland, Maine, the nearest year-round Atlantic port to central and western Canada.The Portland Company property is being developed. The final shape of the project hasn't been settled yet, but there's concern in the neighborhood that condominium development on the site will clog the generous views of waterfront available from most streets on that slope of Munjoy Hill.
The Portland Co. buildings remind me of Civil War-era photographs of the tobacco warehouses in Richmond. Same era, I think...humble unsung redbrick. The tobacco warehouse below was an (infamous) prison for captured Yankee soldiers, which is the only reason anyone bothered to take a photograph of it.
The Grand Trunk Railway took over the St L & A line and ran trains from Montreal through New England its India Street Station in Portland, near The Portland Company yards. (The GTR also brought thousands of French Canadian workers to the Maine textile towns of Biddeford, Waterville, Lewiston, Brunswick.)The India Street Station is gone, but the GTR's railway and steamship office is still there.
The GTR building dates from 1909 and is vacant. I don't believe it is part of the Portland Company parcel, but that whole zone of the waterfront seems to be up for grabs--Portland had better watch out or it's going to be smothered under piles of condos. Big (and I mean BIG) cruise ships have started calling in summer, flooding the area with sudden throngs of bored & antsy shopaholics. The mix of stores along Commercial Street and in the Old Port is getting less interesting by the month as merchants are facing jacked-up rents that can only be paid by high-volume tchotchke parlors.
Winter in Maine: Volvo 245DL
Not pretty, but this is Maine, and now is winter. Several feet of snow on the ground since the photograph was taken in the East End of Portland. The car's a survivor, and I like that green. Amazing how many Volvos of this vintage you see driving through one Maine winter after another.
Church for Sale: Wiscasset, Maine
You'll find out more here.
February 2, 2015
1956 Dodge Custom Royal Lancer
Saw it for sale on ebay, via
Another P210 Volvo Station Wagon
It's just a beautiful car. Why? Something about form following function. We posted another P 210 last fall.
Model A, etc.
This from Alex Emond, out on the Saskatchewan plains last fall:"You may need to upgrade your last tetanus shot before you look at these relics . There is a rancher who's 'spread' includes the 'former' village of Scotsguard, Saskatchewan. Seems like he likes to round up more than just cattle ... there are about 50 hulks from the teens , 20's and a few make it into the 1930's . What a sight . There was nobody in the house when I pulled in , but it's a busy time of year for those agricultural types. So I don't know the story but I can see that this dude has more vehicles in a variety of buildings . I have to hunt him down this winter and see if he is willing to show me more of his collection."-AE
