Berlin Falls
The bridge at Berlin Falls around 1865-1876 (Image from New York Public Library)
Berlin Falls is the area of town located from the Heritage Park down to the Cleveland Bridge. The “upper falls” is where the H. Winslow & Company sawmill once stood (Heritage Park), that area was also called the Berlin Mills because H. Winslow & Company changed its name to Berlin Mills Company. The “lower falls” is where the International Paper mill once stood. The village of Berlin Falls sits around the lower falls. When the Mason Street dam is opened up, the “lower falls” can still be seen.
 Under the bridge at Berlin Falls around 1865-1876 (Image from New York Public Library)  This photo was taken somewhere near the falls anytime from the late 1860's to the late 1870's (Image from New York Public Library) |
 A view of the bridge (Image from New York Public Library)  An early painting of a man at the falls with the bridge in the background (Image from New York Public Library) |
A map of Berlin in 1861 (Image from sullboat.com)
Google Earth image of “Berlin Falls”
The Eastside
The Berlin Mills Company started selling some of its land near the depot by their mill on the east-side. By this time Mr. Gershon Bickford got involved. He built the first two houses on the east-side to kick off the settling of that side of town and they were sold right away. They were both two story, six room houses and sold for $1,200. In order to buy this though, one had to put 100 dollars down and then had to pay the balance in ten months. Before the Berlin Mills Company sold their land on the east-side, this area was called the “Berlin Mills Addition” and later as the first two buildings went up the newspaper called this side of town “Cottage City” but today the only nickname of this side of town is the east-side.
The Eastside train station, early 1890's.
Berlin Mills
Berlin Mills Sawmill, 1883 (Image from sullboat.com)
The Berlin Mills is the area of town where the Berlin Mills Company sawmill once sat (Heritage Park today). The sawmill sat right where the Berlin Falls begins.
Berlin Mills, 1884
Google Earth image of “Berlin Mills”
The Berlin Mills Park
A group of workers eating their lunch (Image from Poof Tardiff)
The park in Berlin Mills was a great place for the workers of the Riverside Mill and the Berlin Mills Company to sit down on their break and eat their lunch. This park and it’s stone benches still stands today across the street from the Heritage Park.
Green's Pond
An early drawing of the pond that once sat between Rid-aid and Irving’s on lower Pleasant Street
The Dead River Pond gets its name from the river that once flowed into the pond. It also had another name, Green’s Pond which comes from the Green family that owned most of buildings before the Northway Bank. This pond once sat between where Rid-aid and Irvings is today. Mr. Gershon Bickford purchased the rights to own the Dead River Pond (or Green’s Pond) from the Glen Manufacturing Company. Before this the Pond was used by the Glen Company as a way to get their logs to their mill. Mr. Bickford pulled the damn and drained the water. Mr. Bickford then had a canal dug from the Grand Trunk trestle, which is at the end of Granite Street. This canal went the length of the pond, carrying the water to Main Street. He then pulled the crib that held the water and used the logs and stones as a footing for Pleasant Street. The last thing Mr. Bickford did during his “Pond Project” was to make Pleasant Street reach Mechanic Street. (Image from Poof Tardiff)
Cascade Village
The "Shanty town" that sat in the area of Cascade Flats in 1903
Cascade is a village within the City of Berlin and the town of Gorham. It gets its name from an alpine waterfall to the north of the village. Cascade mill was built in 1903 and the builders of the mill settled around the construction area. During the mills construction, workers built small shanty shacks that are shown in the image on the left. After the mill was built, the immigrants, that were mostly Italian and a small amount of Polish men and women, built better homes on Cascade Flats and Cascade Hill.(Image from Poof Tardiff)
Google Earth image of “Cascade Village”
The Alpine Cascade, 1865-1876 (Image from New York Public Library)
