By Dale Potter-Clark
A coffee brand that became world famous had its roots in central Maine.
James Solomon Sanborn was born in Wales, Maine, in 1835 and lived on Sanborn Road, Monmouth, as a child. He founded J.S. Sanborn Co. in Lewiston before 1870, selling spices, tea and coffee, then moved to Boston, where Caleb Chase owned a coffee roasting business.
The men partnered to form Chase & Sanborn Coffee and Tea Company in 1874.
They were the first to package ground coffee in sealed cans which became a phenomenon in New England and soon after from coast to coast. In 1893 they supplied all the coffee for the Chicago World’s Fair.
Business flourished, but Sanborn yearned for country living. In 1886 he bought Elmwood Farm, a 250-acre estate in Poland, where he summered and sold highbred horses. Empire Station was nearby where Poland Spring Hotel guests came and went by train. Sanborn convinced Maine Central Railroad to rename it the Elmwood Farm Station, giving his business name significant visibility with minimal effort and no cost. Many of his horses were sold to hotel clientele.
Within a year Sanborn added a two-story barn – some said the biggest and best in New England. Inside was a creamery, ice house, refrigerator, and a churn that could produce 40 pounds of butter. The cellar held manure vaults, pigpens, horse stalls and space for vegetables. An eight-horsepower engine provided power for saws, churns, cutting silage and pumping water. Another wing stored carriages and farm implements.
The second level held a workshop and sleeping quarters for the farm help. Over the next few years Sanborn expanded to include 500 acres, an apple orchard of 600 trees, a Colonial mansion; six stock barns; two farmhouses; two cottages; blacksmith and carpentry shops. Animals included registered Holstein cattle, sheep, swine and horses. Windmills provided power that fed enough spring water to supply every building.
Sanborn also added a quarter-mile trotting track and a 150 by 50-foot covered riding rink where his horses were trained, exercised and shown.
Sanborn sold registered stallions and brood mares. His prize was Gemare, a thoroughbred Arabian stallion that stood 16 hands high, and weighed 1,250 pounds. Few living horses held so many famous blood lines. Gemare was imported from France and Sanborn bought him for $4,000 (more than $100,000 today). From the time he bought Elmwood Farm in 1886 until his death in 1903, Sanborn built a reputation for producing superior road coach horses – claimed to be the best in America. He sold hundreds of stallions, brood mares, drivers and young stock to patrons from all over the U.S. and Canada. Not to be outdone, his registered Holstein cows took prizes from the Holstein-Friesian Association of America.
Unlike Chase & Sanborn, there is no sign of Elmwood Farm today, except for some foundation remnants.
Lifetime Poland resident Louise Roberts, 84, recalls the last days of Elmwood Farm. “It changed hands many times after Sanborn owned it” she said. “A dance hall was even there at one time before it finally burned and there is nothing left there now.”
— Dale Potter-Clark writes about local history and old families. She recently co-authored “The Founders and Evolution of Summer Resorts and Kids’ Camps on Four Lakes in Central Maine.”
PHOTO: The Elmwood Farm railroad station on Empire Road in East Poland. (Submitted photo)
