Robert W. Armour
Waterville, 1870s
Armour was born ca. 1826 in England. He traveled from Liverpool aboard the Harvest Queen, arriving in New York City on September 5, 1857. He worked as a shoemaker as late as 1870 before moving from Trenton to Waterville, where he began his brewing venture.
Armour brewed small and hop beers from his location on Common Street, across from Waterville’s City Hall, for approximately five years. He also sold cigars, fruit, and candies. In 1880, he quit the brewing venture to go back to shoemaking. A record from 1893 lists him as a boot repairer in Lewiston. He passed away on November 17, 1898, in Lewiston.
Armour’s brewing venture was located across from Waterville’s city hall (Caldwell & Halfpenny’s Atlas of Kennebec County, Maine, 1879).
Locations are true to 19th-century street addresses, not current numbering.
Sources
Will Anderson, The Great State of Maine Beer Book (Portland: Anderson & Sons’ Publishing Co., 1996) 32.
Lewiston City Directory, 1893
Maine Business Directory, 1876
Maine State Archives 1892-1907
New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957
U. S. Census, 1860, 1870, 1880