The Maine Lobsterman Statue is located in a cobblestone plaza on the corner of Temple and Middle Streets in Portland Maine. Victor Kahill of Portland was commissioned to create the statue with Maine’s participation in the 1939 New York World’s Fair as a commemoration of Mainers who have dedicated their lives to fishing. It occupied a prominent place in the Maine section of the Hall Of States at the World’s Fair.
Victor Kahill was originally an immigrant born in Beirut Lebanon. The model for the statue was H. Elroy “Snoody” Johnson, a Bailey Island resident and lifelong fisherman. Johnson was born in 1894 and would frequently visit the State House to participate in discussions about fishing policies.
The state of Maine could not afford a bronze statue so Kahill painted his plaster model a bronze color. Later, the state would cast three bronze replicas of the statue that were placed in:
- Portland’s Canal Plaza
- Johnson’s home town of Bailey’s Island (paid for my it’s residents)
- Washington DC along the Southwest Waterfront (placed in 1983)
