Franklin Cram, New Brunswick Railway
Though perhaps not many familiar with the history of the Town have heard very much of Frank Cram, he ranks with Robert Gardiner as one of the chief movers in the development of St. Andrews as a tourist town. A sort of miniature William Van Horne--a poor American boy who through intelligence, hard work and ambition rose through the ranks of the railway system to General Manager, Cram conceived the idea of the Land Company and a tourist destination as a way of paying for much needed repairs to the New Brunswick Railway, which had been running downhill for decades. He is was who invited Sir William Van Horne here for his first visit, a visit which led eventually to the construction of Covenhoven on Minister's Island, now a National Historic Site, and who also invited Robert Armstrong of the Saint John Globe to set up the St. Andrews Beacon newspaper here, to which we owe an unprecidently lively and informative account of Town life at the turn of the century. Cram resigned his position as General Manager of the New Brunwick Railway after its absorbtion into the CPR in 1890, citing more work for less pay, and took over as General Manager of the new Bangor and Aroostook Railway. But he remained a faithful summer sojourner in St. Andrews for many years after that, and did not give up his formal ties with the Land Company, of which he was President for a time. Cram and his sons after him became prominent in Maine politics. He died in 1952.
- Frank Cram
- Robert Gardiner
- The St. Andrews Land Company
- See also Sir William Van Horne