This post provides data from the Maine Yearbooks or Maine Registers for the years 1871, 1876, 1879, 1881 and 1887. Through the four storyboards posted one can see the names of businesses and community leaders. The map of Carroll published in an Atlas of 1875 provides us with the names of the residents and the locations…

The Carroll Trotting Park Association was formed in 1871 by State of Maine legislative action. From the Center’s  research it appears that Maine’s agricultural societies and trotting parks were created by such action. Carroll is a neighboring town to Springfield, Maine, a community that hosted an agricultural fair and harness racing in the 19th century. The Springfield Fair…

In an 1872 map of Saco and Biddeford, Pepperell Park on Beach Street in Saco is featured as Saco’s trotting park. Today Pepperell Park is one of Saco’s city parks including a school.

“Having completed a brief historical sketch of horse history from the beginning, and many events connected therewith, we are now ready to consider the American Trotting Horse, as the culmination of what has been written. Thus far we have met with much pretentious nonsense, claiming to be history and written by men who never gave the subject…