Daily Living
During the Jazz Age of 1920s, Surry had some specialized schools, including a dancing school and a singing school. Its cultural development continued with the advent of The Surry Theatre in 1928, which later became The Surry Playhouse, perhaps foreshadowing the renowned Surry Opera Company established in the 1970s.
By 1930 Surry's population had dropped to 488, likely impacted by The Great Depression.
Emery O. Bonsey, Newbury Neck, ca. 1910
Surry Historical Society
Around the same time, the development of a modern highway system brought significant change to the little town of Surry. As Cush Lane noted, when he was a child, it took two days to reach Surry from Boston. His family used to travel in a Model T Ford on the dirt road that was US Route 1 from Falmouth Foreside. If it rained, the clay roads were as slippery as snowy roads. With good conditions, they could take the ferry across the Penobscot River from Prospect to Buckport, just upriver of Fort Knox. Otherwise they had to travel all the way to Bangor and down US Route 1A to Surry. When the Waldo-Hancock Bridge opened in 1931, this marvel of engineering provided a much easier mode of transportation at a time when more and more “people from away” were discovering the rustic delights of coastal Maine towns such as Surry.
Fires
First fire truck, Surry, 1947
Surry Historical Society
Surry has experienced many bad fires, including a disastrous forest fire in 1822, but one of the the most dramatic fires occurred in 1939 when the old Grange Hall burned at the site of the present Grange Hall and then, of course, the Bar Harbor fires in 1947 resulted in deep concern on the part of the Surry citizens whose community was as tinder dry as Mount Desert Island. Fortunately Surry had no major problems, but the citizens who had been so worried that the creation of the Surry Fire Department, which had been controversial at earlier town meetings, solidly supported the formation of the department on March 12, 1947.
World War II
Before December 7, 1941, most Surry citizens had no idea where Pearl Harbor was located, but as with thousands of others across the country, they all joined in the war effort. Many enlisted; others were drafted. Still others went to work in shipyards in Bath and South Portland and to other states.
With a population of approximately 500, Surry contributed forty people (38 males, 2 females) to the World War II cause. One man, Wilbur McKeown, a 2nd Class Petty Officer, was killed by Japanese bombers at the battle of Savo Island, August 28,1942, while serving on the USS Quincy, a Navy cruiser.
Surry had been preparing for war as early as 1940, as local citizens raised money with dinners at the Grange Hall to assist Finland in their fight against Russia's invasion. Local rescue teams were trained to handle injuries that might occur from an invasion or bombing A look out station, with the code name Esther 74, was erected at Morgan's Bay. Surry volunteers maintained all night vigils in search of German boats and submarines.
As with all wars, there were some profitable areas. Young boys searched the woods and fields for all metal and rubber tires. In those days, there was no municipal landfill. Instead homeowners dumped rubbish in back of their houses. Searching those individual dumps would frequently result in a gold mine find of old metal, bottles, cans and rubber tires. These items were taken to Willard Kane's store where he weighed and stored them after paying the going price for the same. By the end of World War II, the woods and fields of Surry were free of these polluting items.
When the war ended in August 1945, there was little celebration in Surry because there were so few people around. Besides those in the military service, many were working in the shipyards in South Portland, Bath and Connecticut. One or two cars drove around the village tooting their horns. That was about it.
