Historic Andover Pictures|Old Time Andover Pictures

A rebuilt snow roller is on display at the Historical Society Building in Andover. This was how they used to maintain the roads in the winter in the old days. They would roll the snow on the roads packing it down and then they would drive their horses & sleighs down the road, or in some cases automobiles with skis instead of tires.

Old Time Logging Truck.

I believe this must be near where the Elderwood Apts. are today.

Winter 1928- Ray Thurston, Road Commissioner
This snowplow ran on metal tracks not wheels. As a kid, every time it would go by the house, the whole house shook. It was a valuable piece of equipment back in those days as it seemed like we got a lot more snow back then. I'll bet it was a cold vehicle to ride in. It was a very slow and heavy plow. It could really move some snow. We had a name for it but I don't remember what it was.

Better picture of the old Andover snow plow.

   For years Andover was quite a popular spot for Skiing events and winter sports and drew a lot of people for these competitions. Every March there was an annual Ski Carnival and the skiing competitions were followed by Carnival Ball festivities and Awards Ceremony.

Below are some Pineland Ski Club Pictures of Annual Ski Carnival and Coronation. The ski carnival and skiing competitions were held almost every year. Ski Jumping and Cross Country events were very popular. Also some Slalom and Downhill events were held for different age groups.

A Carnival Queen an Princesses were chosen to represent the event. From what I can remember the Coronation was usually held at the Town Hall. People would come from all around to participate in the Carnival. I think you had to be a member of the Pineland Ski Club to enter the competitions. It was quite a tradition.

   There were dues paid by all Ski Club members who wanted to belong to the ski club and you got a Pineland Ski Club patch which most members had sewn on their sweaters or ski jackets. The Pineland Ski Club usually held weekly meetings during the winter time up at the Town Hall. I remember watching 8 mm movie reels of some of the competitions and events at these meetings. There was a secretary, treasurer, President and other elected officers from what I remember.

I apologize for the quality of these pictures. They were some old slides I had converted onto a CD so I could load them onto my computer. Most all of these were taken during the 1950's & 1960's. Unfortunately sometime around the 1970s, interest in the Ski Club and Carnivals seemed to drop off considerably. I'm not sure exactly why.

See if you recognize anyone?

L to R: Gertrude Percival, Warren Percival, Wendall Swealt,
Merton Fox, Hazel Fox. Sign painted by Bill French - 1936.

     For many years people came from all over to attend these annual winter Carnivals that were followed by a formal Carnival Ball and award ceremonies and were really well done and attended. I remember dressing up and attending at least one when I was a kid and participating in the events as a child. Also attending the weekly Pineland Ski Club meetings. I believe you had to belong to the Ski Club to participate in the events. Some more pictures of past carnivals are shown below.

First Carnival Queen 1928
Queen- Dorothy Bemis, Uncle Sam- Harry Poor, Behind- Henry Hutchins, Hazel Fox.

Carnival Queens from the Past 1976.

Front L to R - Eda Roberts, Marjorie Campbell, Roberta Thurston, Queen Leslie Mills, Mary Abbott. Sylvia Poor,
Frances Delong. Back L to R - Hean Peaslee, Dotty Jean Learned, Barbara Glover, Elaine Gammon, Norma White, Becky Learned,
Cynthia Bell, Gloria Howard, Virginia Bell, Juliette White, Helen Lang, Barbara Pratt

The Grange Apple Princess - Lone Mountain Grange. Apple Princess - Anna Thurston.
L to R - Lucy Mailloux, Violet Fraser, Etta Perkins, Lillian Webster, Lily Thurston, Vivian Bemis, Aorence Hall,
Nina Clark, Emily Thurston, Evelyn Stevens, Sadie Bailey, Marge Thomas.

L-R sitting _Janet Hewey, Trudy Learned, Maxine Dresser, Outgoing Queen - Philena Crooker, Ruth Chenery, Sharon Fitzherhert, Avis Perkins.
2nd. row L-R _Wayne Anair, Mike Feener, King _ Jim Bodwell, Queen - Dorothy Merrill, Billy Crooker, Tommy Learned, standing - Donald Mailloux

Carnival Ball - 1927.
L to R: Eunice Hawley, Dot. Campbell, Eva Roberts, May Hall, Dr. Stanwood, Hazel Fox,
Marie Morgan (Queen), Grace Glines, Margaret Hall, Carrie Morton, Mary MacNeil.
Front Row: Neil Bodwell, Doris French, Eda Perkins, Stan Fox, Kathy Glines, Jean Glines.

Children Participating in Pineland Ski Club Corination Ball 1979 ?
Front L-R Tom Morton, A.J. Milligan, Kelly Cronin
Back L-R Kathy Cronin, Kristie Clement, Stephanie Percival, Christine Gammon

Here's a few in color from the late 50's or early 60's

Kids dressed in their ski outfits waiting to participate in the ceremonies.

The kids marching in to create the lane with ski poles for the queen to walk up to the stage. All the kids would wear their ski outfits for this part of the ceremony.

Carnival Ball ceremonies, kids would hold ski poles up to form a corridor that the queen and escort would walk through on their way to the stage and queens throne. Not sure what year this was.

I'm not sure what part of the ceremonies this was. As you can see it was quite a formal occasion. I believe at some point all the kids changed clothes into their dressed up attire.

I believe these Carnival Princesses were pulling the new queen behind them toward the stage. At some point I think the past years queen would present the new queen with her crown. I remember at the awards ceremony is where the athletes who won awards were presented their award by the Carnival Queen and got a nice kiss on the cheek as part of their prize.

This must be part of the awards ceremony as you can see the what I believe are ski trophies in the back on a table.

Well this shows a guy placing the crown on the new queens head so maybe I was mistaken about the role of the past queen. I do think that the past and present queens were both on stage and the crown was removed from the past queen and placed on the new queens head.

The Remmington Clan Pineland Ski Club faithfuls.

L to R: Clarence, Sonny, Robert, Tommy, Alan. All active members of the Pineland Ski Club.

An alpine slalom event held on the hill of Spidell's house across from the old picnic area. I think this is Vicky Meisner on the course skiing.

The old ski jump located behind the Town Hall where we spent hours & hours. It was lighted so you could even ski at night. Boys competitions were held on this.

The bigger 40 meter ski jump hill was located down on airport road where even before my time they used to have horse races and a sort of Fair in the summer. There was also a 20 meter jump located next to the 40 meter one where a lot of High School events were held. Ski Jumping was still quite popular back then. This 40 meter hill was more for the adult competition. This usually drew quite a crowd too if the weather was good. The little hut you see in the picture sold food and drinks.

A cross country skiing event.

I think this is Becky Simmons Nickerson on the skis.

   Just before a competition.... Vicky Simmons Meisner on the left. Richie Davidson the tall one. I believe Billy Simmons next to Richie and myself on the far right. Look at the size of these alpine skis then as compared to today's skis and the size of us kids. I think back then the way you would tell what size ski you should use was determined by you reaching up over your head and when you bent your hand at the wrist the tips of your skis should touch the palm of your hand. Nowadays many would use a much smaller length ski and length is more determined by your skill level. Back then most of us only had 1 set of skis and today's competitors may have several different skis depending on the event and ski conditions.

Misc. Old Time Winter Photos

Not a good picture but I'm sure this is Junior Poor on what was one of the earlier model Ski Doos I think.

A sliding party. This is what our sleds looked like then. Today there are many designs and styles of sleds. I think we also had what we called "Flying Saucers" (metal aluminum discs) and toboggans. I believe the kids in the picture are from left to right- Tommy Remmington, Becky Simmons (Nickerson), and Peter Poor.

The pictures below will give you an idea of what I remember how much snow we used to get on an average every year during the winter. This years snow fall is close to what I remember it usually being. I remember a couple of years at least where the snow fall was much more than this. I don't know if this was because I was a child and it just seemed like it was more or that it really was a lot more snow fell in the winter back in the 50's and 60's.

David & Lorena Simmons House. (Clarence, Sonny, Robert, Alan, & Tom Remmington) on a warm spring day in March I think.

Dads Pride & Joy black Chevy Impala.

A. H. S. SKI TEAM 1959
Left - Right: Frank Morgan, Arthur Hutchins, Hugh Morton, Jack Ladd, Mike Feener,
Wayne Morton, Tommy Learned

Actually Ski Jumps- plural. I'm not sure what size they were. The one closest looks like it may have been about a 20 meter jump?? I don't remember these growing up. They must have been before my time.

Ski Jumping a dying sport? or just locally?

It seems like skiing has died away in the town of Andover. There used to be several ski jumps and many cross country trails. The ski jumps have gone away. Certainly you would have to say ski jumping in the U.S. has died for the most part.

The cross country trails are still there but they are not used much anymore. At one time there was a small ski area up by East B Hill with a rope tow and several runs. The annual ski carnival was held every year.

Back then I think skiing was about the only thing we had to occupy some of our time in the winter months. Now everyone has a snowmobile and video games etc. It seems that Snowboarding has captured the interests of the younger crowd more so than skiing. It really isn't just Andover. I see it all over.

     I want to thank Elliot Lang for sending this old Christmas Card that was from my Grandmother Florena Cole (Florena Cushing) to Marie Elliott (Marie Lang) about 100 years ago. I'm told they were good friends. I'm not sure of the exact date, the post mark is hard to read, but it was sent with a 2 cent stamp. I went online and it showed that the 2 cent stamp was used by the post office from 1885 to 1917. So needless to say it is old and from somewhere in that period I guess. Obviously Santa was a popular figure even back then.

We would also like to thank the Andover Historical Society for many of the pictures above.

Do you have any old pictures you would like me to add to these? If so just mail a copy of them attn. Bruce Simmons P.O. box 176 Andover, Maine 04216, or email them to me at spotsb@gmail.com