B A C K   T H E N

Haywood Post Office

Haywood Post Office, Haywood—the incorrect “Haymock” label to the contrary notwithstanding—Post Office, Masardis, Aroostook County. Masardis lies at the confluence of the St. Croix and Aroostook Rivers, which join to create an enhanced Aroostook flowing north to the St. John.

In 1895 the Bangor & Aroostook Railroad reached Masardis, greatly expanding agricultural and lumbering activities. A Houlton woman, Miss Clara Stimson, who had taken over her late father’s lumber business, shrewdly secured the deeds to three islands and nearly a mile of frontage on the Aroostook downstream (that is, to the north) of the village of Masardis at its junction with the Squapan River, where she established valuable log-holding booms and built a sawmill.

Miss Stimson’s mill was bought by brothers Charles and Avon Weeks, local lumbermen, who built a second mill. The Haywood Siding Post Office—Haywood Siding was later renamed Squapan Junction by the railroad—was originally the log cabin home of Charles and Gertrude Weeks. Gertrude became the postmistress.

At far left is a pile of heavy boom chain. A bateau oar stands at left of the doorway.

Text by William H. Bunting from Maine On Glass. Published by Tilbury House Publishers, 12 Starr St., Thomaston, Maine. 800-582-1899.

Maine On Glass and prints of the photographs are available through the Penobscot Marine Museum: PenobscotMarineMuseum.org.