POLAND – The Keystone Mineral Springs has been entered in the National Register of Historic Places, according to Earle G. Shettleworth Jr., director of the Maine Historic Preservation Commission, whose staff prepared the nomination.

The designation indicates that the property has been documented, evaluated and considered worthy of preservation and protection as part of the nation’s cultural heritage.

The Keystone Mineral Springs water facilities in East Poland are a rare surviving example of the 19th and 20th century water bottling industry in Maine.

With the exception of the famous and ornate Spring House and Bottling Plant at nearby Poland Spring, the two buildings that comprise Keystone Mineral Springs are the only known examples of period water extraction facilities in Maine.

Keystone water was drawn and distributed almost continually from 1885 to the mid-1990s, utilizing the original spring house (c. 1885) and the bottling house, which was rebuilt after a fire in 1928.

Adding to the significance of the cultural and industrial resource is the large stock of bottling supplies (including original glass bottles and carboys), and packaging and distribution equipment dating to the early 20th century.

Taken together, Keystone Mineral Springs provides access to the early years of an important statewide industry, and, as such, it was placed in the National Register of Historic Places as a rare example of a 19th and early 20th century commercial water extraction and processing facility.