The first sardine factory in Maine was opened on February 9, 1876 in Eastport. The Wolff & Reesing Cannery was the first in America to can sardine, before that, sardine were imported from Europe.

It was the Franco-Prussian War that cut off the supply of sardines in America and giving the opportunity to begin the American industry. After the Wolff & Reesing Cannery opened it paved the way for more canneries’ to open in Lubec, Maine and other Maine coastal areas. The ‘heyday’ for canning sardine in Maine was between was 1877 to 1899.

The last sardine cannery in Maine, and the U.S., closed its doors in April of 2010. It was the Stinson Seafood Plant in Prospect Harbor. They had been open for 100 years but technological advances and outsourcing brought about their demise.

 

 

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