Faces from the Past – Scarborough High Students at the White School, c. 1921

Posted on September 26, 2025 by Don Taylor

In 1905, Scarborough built the White School at Oak Hill, a two-story building that became the town’s first true high school. The upper floor housed high school classes while the lower floor served grammar grades. For more than twenty years, this little schoolhouse educated Scarborough’s older students before the town constructed a dedicated high school on U.S. Route 1 in 1926. When the new building opened in 1927, the White School transitioned into Oak Hill Primary.

The photograph shown here captures a group of Scarborough High School students assembled in front of the White School, likely taken between 1918 and 1921. The young women wear long skirts, high-collared blouses, and lace details typical of the late 1910s and early 1920s. The young men are dressed in suits and ties, reflecting the formality of the era. Behind them, the clean lines and balanced windows of the White School provide a classic backdrop for this moment in Scarborough’s educational history.

This image offers us not only a glimpse of student life during that era, but also a reminder of how central the White School was in the lives of Scarborough families. Today, the building, at 225 US Route One, is home to Cumberland Tile Services and MackAirPro.

Photo showing students at Scarborough High School, circa 1920, sitting and standing in front of the White School (Oak Hill).
Scarborough High School Students – White School (Oak Hill)— used 1905–1926.
Do you recognize any of these faces?

People Tentatively Identified

NameLocationClass or Note
Elwood BesseyBack, middle of 3 in front of right door.Principal
Leon LaryBack row, third from right 
Norman Webster LaughtonBack row, far right.(died May 1921)
Arthur Pillsbury2nd Row, 4th from left,Tall boy in dark suit.
Gerald “Jerry” Pillsbury2nd row, 2nd from right –Lighter color suit, darker hair.
Martha PillsburyFront row, 6th from left,Light colored dress with sweater

This post written using the aid of AI (ChatGP) and edited using Grammarly.

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Remembering Scarborough’s Forgotten Neighbors

Posted on September 1, 2025 by Don Taylor
Site for future Dunstan Memorial.

The Scarborough Historical Society is undertaking a meaningful project to remember and honor the men, women, and children who lived and died at Scarborough’s Town Farm—also referred to as the Poor Farm and the Alms House.

Many of these townspeople passed away without family, friends, or the means to purchase a burial plot or headstone. Their remains were interred at Dunstan Cemetery beginning in the 1890s; some were remembered by name, while many others were lost to time.

Proposed Dunstan Memorial Inscription.

To ensure their lives are not forgotten, we are raising funds to place a permanent monument at Dunstan Cemetery. The stone will recognize and honor all those buried there, known and unknown, and serve as a reminder to future generations of this important chapter in our community’s history.

We invite you to join us in preserving this legacy. Donations of any size will help cover the costs of the monument and its installation. Checks may be made payable to the Scarborough Historical Society; please include a note, “For Dunstan Memorial Project,” on your check. Alternatively, donations can be made via credit or debit card through our PayPal link.

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Updates July 2025

Posted on August 1, 2025 by Don Taylor

Research

Annual Reports – Town of Scarborough

Added:


 

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Help Us Identify the Grammar School Class of 1937-38

Posted on July 20, 2025 by Don Taylor

A Photo Album Mystery at the Scarborough Historical Society

(Updated 21 July with two names.)
(Updated 22 July with two names.)
(Updated 26 July with four names.)
(Updated 3 August with five names.)
(Updated 5 August with three names.)
(Updated 12 September with four names.)

A recently donated photo album at the Scarborough Historical Society offers a rare look into the Oak Hill Grammar class of 1937-38. Inside, black-and-white images capture elementary students—faces full of hope and promise—yet not a single name can be found.

The album, a small yet significant piece of our town’s heritage, now presents a mystery: Who were these children?

This photo booklet from Oak Hill Grammar, a cornerstone of Scarborough’s educational past of the 1930s, features 29 thumbnail portraits.

Why does it matter to identify these students? Every name is a story, a connection to the broader tapestry of Scarborough’s history. A name added to a face is a family reconnected, a memory restored. These children may be remembered by relatives or friends still in our community.

We invite your help in restoring these identities. If you or someone you know have family archives from that era, please reach out. You may recognize a familiar face, a piece of clothing. Sharing these images with older family members could spark memories or stories that help us name these students. Any detail, no matter how small, may unlock an important piece of Scarborough’s past.

Image 1 of 5
Top Row: Berlge Burnell, Caroline Cunningham, Jane Courtney –
Bottom Row: Kathleen Courtnay, Linwood Dyer, George Davis
Image 2 of 5
Top Row: Warren Delaware, Catherine Field, Lewis Grant –
Bottom Row: Weenie Garvis, Marjorie Googins, Robert Googins.
Image 3 of 5
Top Row: Wade Harmon, Lloyd Clifford Leary, William Merrill –
Bottom Row: Shirley Mills, Virginia Nelson, Virginia Nelson.
Image 4 of 5
Image 4 of 5
Top Row: Ella Nelson, P Granville Pence, Harold Richardson “scoot” –
Bottom Row: Barbara Royal, Patty Stevens, Leanne Shaw.
Image 5 of 5
Image 5 of 5
Top Row: Margurite Skillings, N/A, Virginia Turner –
Bottom Row: Anna Wright, Robert Wood, T. Everett Withee.

If you can confirm any of these photo identifications, please contact the Scarborough Historical Society. Let’s work together to ensure that these young faces from the “Class of 1937-38” are remembered as individuals and not lost to history.

Error: Contact form not found.

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How to Find 1700s Scarborough Birth Records: A Guide to the Maine Historical and Genealogical Recorder

Posted on July 16, 2025 by Don Taylor

Introduction

Scarborough’s 18th-century birth records can be challenging to locate, but many have been preserved thanks to the work of early genealogists. This post explains where to find these transcribed Scarborough records in the Maine Historical and Genealogical Recorder, how to access them online, and tips for searching them effectively.

Why Use the Recorder?

Original town records from the 1700s can be scattered or hard to read. Fortunately, historian S. M. Watson transcribed many early Scarborough births and published them in the late 1800s. Today, these volumes are digitized, OCR-scanned, and freely available on the Internet Archive.

Where to Look

Scarborough birth records appear in three volumes:

• Volume V (1888) — Scarborough Town Records – Births, copied by S. M. Watson. See pages 56–60, 114–121, 134–138, and 214–220. Available at: https://archive.org/details/mainehistoricalg05port/page/n55/mode/2up

• Volume VI (1889) — Scarborough Town Records – Births, copied by S. M. Watson. See pages 302–310, 367–377, and 396–406. Available at: https://archive.org/details/mainehistoricalg06port/page/n301/mode/2up

• Volume VII (1893) — Scarborough Town Records – Births, copied by S. M. Watson. See pages 46–51. Available at: https://archive.org/details/mainehistoricalg07port/page/n45/mode/2up

How to Search

Use the “Search Inside” box (usually in the top left corner of the Internet Archive page) to search for surnames. For example:

– A search for “Harmon” in Volume V brings up 27 matches.
– The first result is in the index.
– The fourth result (page 58) shows that Elizabeth Harmon, daughter of James and Elizabeth, was born November 28, 1764. Isaac, their son, was born March 31, 1770.
– Page 60 shows that John and Mary Harmon had eight children from 1747 to 1761.

This method saves time and can help you quickly find ancestors in these historic records.

Genealogy Tip

Always cross-check transcriptions with any available original records to confirm accuracy.

Thanks to S. M. Watson’s dedication, these volumes remain a valuable resource for anyone researching Scarborough’s earliest families.

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