Lewiston’s iconic mill, today and 101 years ago
A lot has changed in Lewiston and Auburn over the years.
Mills have been constructed and destroyed.
Buildings have been razed and rebuilt.
Looking through the Gridley Barrows Collection on the Lewiston Public Library’s website is like stepping into a time machine. Most of the images were taken by Barrows in the 1970s and 1980s. Others are images he had copied from the Androscoggin Historical Society.
Today’s Double Take set of photos involves Bates Mill No. 5, under construction on April 23, 1913. On April 23, 2014, 101 years later, Sun Journal photographer Amber Waterman climbed on top of The Professional Building on Lisbon Street in Lewiston attempting to recreate the exact image.
The perspective is slightly off. It appears the 1913 image was taken from the vantage of a building that stood where the Centreville Parking Garage is today, but it’s difficult to tell.
The differences between 1913 and 2014 are noticeable. Only 13 saw-tooth roof peaks existed on Bates Mill No. 5 when the photo was taken in 1913, where today 18 stand. Mills in the background have either been torn down or razed by fire, and apartment buildings stand where the Hilton Garden Inn Auburn Riverwatch is today. Canal street in the foreground has changed substantially.
If you’d like to submit an old photo for this feature, contact photographer Amber Waterman at 689-2872 and at awaterman@sunjournal.com
Then and now
Go to sunjournal.com for an interactive composite of the two photos using a digital slider.
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- Construction on Bates Mill No. 5 taken April 23, 1913, from Lewiston looking toward Auburn.
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- Approximately the same view of Bates Mill No. 5 taken on April 23, 2014, from the roof of The Professional Building on Lisbon Street in Lewiston looking into Auburn.
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