In Lubec, Maine still stands an old fish house. The tides in this area of the atlantic are among the highest anywhere in the world... July 14, 2014
For more than one hundred years, sardine canning was one of the two mainstays of the economy of coastal Downeast Maine. From the 1880s to the end of the 20th century, Lubec and Eastport were the twin centers of this fishery industry. The sardines canned there were really little herring, the same fish that provided the basis of the other mainstay fishery industry in the area, smoking herring. They were a natural resource that supplied tasty fast food, the means of employment and the basis of profitable investment. The waterfronts of both towns provided the perfect location for the industry, and a working landscape of canneries, smokehouses, and other businesses on wharves grew up.
At its peak (and much enlarged) American turned out 350 million cans a year...almost a million a day.
The industry was concentrated in Lubec and Eastport, and remained so right to the end. What inspired New York investors to come there was a well-established and well-known fishery involving harvesting herring for smoking and pickling. They joined with local entrepreneurs who shared the idea of canning small herring they called “sardines” to compete with real sardines from Europe. By 1880 there were five canneries in Eastport, and one in North Lubec.
Item Contributed by Maine Historical Society Link to todays photos
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