The 9,600 square foot Merrill House was completed in 1902. A date on the chimney says 1791. when Ezekiel Merrill built the original homestead, a log cabin. Next came the farmhouse, and finally “The Big House” financed by Henry William Poor. The house looks much as it did in 1902 Rose Lincoln/Bethel Citizen

ANDOVER — In Andover, four places are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. They are: The Andover Public Library, The Merrill Poor House, Lovejoy Bridge and Andover Hook and Ladder Company Building, which was razed in 2021. (The Andover Hook and Ladder Co. and Andover Library were detailed in last week’s Bethel Citizen).

A sign on the wall to the Merrill House entrance. Rose Lincoln/Bethel Citizen

The Merrill Poor House

In 1976, Historian Frank Beard visited the “oldest standing frame house in Andover, the Merrill-Poor House.”

He wrote, “[it is] a fascinating example of a homestead which has evolved architecturally over a long period of time with its alterations reflecting the changing life styles of its owners. Begun in the 1790’s as an ambitious farmhouse, it did not reach its current state until the 1890’s as a summer retreat.

“The main house is a massive two and a half story gable roof dwelling. It stands on a granite foundation, is of frame construction with a clapboarded exterior, and has a large central chimney.

“The facade or west wall displays the symmetrical five bay design so typical of 18th and early 19th century New England architecture. On the first story the central bay contains a simple doorway which is fronted by a Queen Anne style portico … The front of the chimney bears a recessed panel with the inscription “E M 1791″, standing for Ezekial Merrill and the year in which he completed the homestead.”

Beard said the 18th century appearance of the main house at the Merrill-Poor Homestead is a Colonial Revival creation by the Boston architect Edward C. Cabot in 1890. In that remodeling Cabot created a large dining room running the entire width of the house. The remainder of the interior was refashioned into a maze of bedrooms which resembles a small summer hotel of the period.

Inside Merrill House on the National Register of Historic Places. submitted image

While the north side of the 1896 addition is devoted mainly to bedrooms, the structure’s primary function is to house a “Great Hall.” In “Yankee Family, a study of the Poor Family,” James R. McGovern describes this grand space as, “… a baronial hunting lodge 60 x 90 feet and another 90 feet in height at the apex of its cathedral ceiling. Family legend holds that Stanford White designed the room as a special favor to Will (Henry William Poor), who paid for its construction.

“The motif was Gothic with massive three inch thick oaken doors and huge wrought iron latches, numerous heavy wooden beams and an imposing 10-foot-high fireplace including a stone mantel 12 feet in length and weighing more than a ton. When the heavy oaken furniture, impressive library, moose heads and polar bear rugs were added, the effect was complete,” said McGovern.

He summarizes the architectural and social evolution of the Merrill-Poor House with the following observation: “A house which had once declared the needs of a successful American frontiersman now bespoke those of an Industrial lord. Will Poor, who often came to Merrill House to entertain his business and personal friends. Visitors were fascinated by its beauty then, just as they are today, Merrill House looking much as it did when Henry and Will Poor lived there.”

In his significance report for the National Register of Historic Places, Beard writes that beyond the architectural importance of the house and the fact that it is the, “first and oldest standing and largest frame house in Andover, the Merrill-Poor House stands as the one permanent anchor which held fast during the history of a remarkable family, a family which epitomizes the evolution of the devout puritan frontier ethic.”

The “remarkable family” includes financier John Poor (1808-1871) and financial analyst Henry Varnum Poor (1812-1905), the latter of whom was responsible for the transformation of the house into a summer estate in the late 19th century.

The 1867 Lovejoy Bridge in Andover is on the National Registry of Historic Places. Rose Lincoln/Bethel Citizen

Lovejoy Bridge

The State of Maine cares for Andover’s 1867 Lovejoy Bridge on Covered Bridge Road off route 5. Rose Lincoln/Bethel Citizen

Maine’s shortest covered bridge, the Lovejoy Bridge in South Andover is only 10 feet wide by 20 feet long. The height to the peak of the gabled roof is 22 feet, but overhead clearance is only 14 feet.

All important facts since vehicles still regularly drive over the bridge that was rated to support five tons in 1970 when it was added to the The National Registry of Historic Places (NRHP) . 

According to Maine Department of Transportation (DOT), in 1983 a heavy sand truck fell through the deck of the bridge while trying to cross the span. The bridge was reinforced in 1984 to carry local traffic.

The wooden structure built in either 1867, as inscribed on the bridge, or 1868, as recorded by the NRHP spans the Ellis River.

In 1970 the bridge was added to NRHP, in part for it’s Paddleford Truss design, “the basic engineering concept employed in the span of this bridge is best described as being Paddleford Truss construction or a modification of a Long Truss System,” wrote Historian John Briggs.

“This bridge was built in 1868, to serve as a connector between the West River Road from Rumford Point to Andover and the East River Road from Rumford Center. A small village grew up at this point on the Ellis River, the South Andover Village. There have been no records available which can establish whether or not this was the first bridge at this point.

“Owing to the fact that the South Andover Village predates the known bridge’s building date, 1868, it would be assumed that some mode of river crossing at this point was as necessary prior to 1868 as after and even today. The river narrows at this point and due to this short span between the banks could well have precluded a ferry and warranted a bridge or bridges prior to 1868,” wrote Briggs on the NRHP historical record.

According to Maine DOT the name comes from the Lovejoy house on the eastern side of the river.

In 1970, several Maine covered bridges were added to the NRHP. Nearby Sunday River Bridge in Newry and Lovejoy Covered Bridge in Andover are two of the distinguished 14 on the list.