Author Talk: Doug Hodgkin on “The Lewiston & Auburn Railroad Company 1872-2009″

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Past Event ....... May 10^th, 2010 — 7:00 pm

doug hodgkin Monday, May 10, 7 p.m. in Callahan Hall, local historian and author Douglas Hodgkin will speak on his new book The Lewiston and Auburn Railroad Company 1872-2009. Free. Copies of the book will be available for signing and purchase. For more information: 513-3135.

Further details:
Hodgkin’s book has been attracting considerable la railroad interest within the Twin Cities, according to LPL director Rick Speer, not only as a source of information on the founding and construction of the cities’ railroad, but also due to the vibrant picture it paints of the railway’s vital role as a cultural connector for Lewiston’s Franco-American community.

The railroad was used by ancestors of area residents who immigrated from the farms of Quebec to work in the mills. Their destination, the Grand Trunk Depot on Lincoln Street in Lewiston, still stands today.

In his book, Hodgkin points to how the railroad was a vehicle to transmit and maintain French Canadian traditions, including the proliferation of snowshoe clubs. He describes a scene from 1929 when a trainload of snowshoers arrived in Lewiston to attend the International Snowshoe Congress. On this occasion, the Grand Trunk Depot platform – as reported in the Lewiston Evening Journal – “teemed with life, music, radiant faces, joyous voices, color, color, color,” the last reference to the array of bright hues displayed in the dozens of different club uniforms present. The celebration was marred, according to the news story, only by the burns suffered by one visitor when his clothing caught fire on the train to Lewiston “due to having [his uniform] cleaned so recently.”

Hodgkin’s talk will be illustrated by a slide show of many of the historic photos from his book, including images of the Grand Trunk Depot as well as the old Lewiston Junction and Danville Junction stations, both long-ago demolished.

Admission is free to Monday’s event at LPL, where copies of Hodgkin’s book will be available for signing and purchase.

The library is located 200 Lisbon Street, at the corner of Pine Street in downtown Lewiston. For more information, contact 513-3135.

Posted: Monday, April 26th, 2010 in Lecture