FEATURE | A Trip Down Biddeford’s Memory Lane

A classic 1958 high school football game; an appreciation for the Dutremble family name, compelling headlines from the now deceased Journal Tribune. Join us for a fun look at the history that guides Biddeford today

By RANDY SEAVER | Editor

It is not lost on Chuck Cote of Biddeford that he has an almost inherent obligation to preserve and archive a growing and impressive inventory of local memorabilia.

Cote’s collection — now stored and maintained in a room located on the second floor of the Biddeford Community Center — showcases the glory days of the now closed St. Louis High School and Biddeford’s somewhat gritty and storied political past.

Chuck Cote is the youngest of Bob Cote’s six children.

Chuck’s father — the family patriarch – came as close as anyone could come to being ordained as a legend throughout Biddeford’s tight-knit neighborhoods.

Bob Cote was a renowned football hero, a man who was quick on his feet, tough as nails and expected his players on Thornton Academy’s football team to leave nothing on the field.

Despite reams and stacks of historical records — documents and fading photos — Chuck Cote is especially fond of a picture taken of his father with then Senator John F. Kennedy in 1953.

**LOCAL LEGEND BOB COTE** | Recognition from a future president

In that photo, Bob Cote was being recognized as an outstanding football player during his time at Boston College.

“He got a four-year scholarship,” Chuck Cote says of his father. “He got that award for his scholarship, leadership and football ability.”

Chuck is almost nonchalant about the photo of his father with the future president,

“It’s kind of a cool family photo, I suppose,” Chuck says, shrugging his shoulders. But it soon becomes quickly obvious that Chuck is – in fact – quite proud of that photo and his father’s legacy.”

And that sense of pride – that desire to preserve history – goes well beyond Chuck Cote’s family. In fact, the amateur museum he has created is not just about football or about Bob Cote’s time as a beloved football coach at Thornton Academy, from 1970 to 1989.

Chuck is also putting in a lot of effort to keep alive the legacy of Biddeford’s St. Louis High School, a former and beloved parochial school that was closed in 1970.

Today, all that remains of St. Louis High School is the building’s brick and mortar that is now part of the expanded and modernized St. James School on Graham Street.

“A lot of people were really sad when St. Louis had to close,” Chuck says. “The people who went to school there – and all the great athletes who played there – were very proud.”

There was not just an intense rivalry between Saco’s Thornton Academy and Biddeford High School, there was – perhaps – an even more intense rivalry between the St. Louis Eagles and the Biddeford Tigers, Chuck explains.

HEADLINES FROM HISTORY

Beyond sports memorabilia, Chuck Cote’s historical archives include piles of parched copies of the Journal Tribune, which was formerly known as the Biddeford Daily Journal between 1884 and 1959.

Until it was shuttered in 2019, the Journal Tribune was considered by most residents to be Biddeford’s “paper of record,” a daily publication that served the city for a little more than 135 years.

In its heyday, the Journal Tribune won numerous awards from the Maine Press Association and other organizations for its comprehensive, hard-hitting news coverage and feature stories that embodied Biddeford’s spirit, culture and people.

You can still find the “Journal Building” on Adams Street, across from the rear entrance of Biddeford City Hall. That building was designed by legendary architect John Calvin Stevens.

In later years – long after the newspaper moved to more modern quarters on Alfred Street (Maine Dept. of Health & Human Services) – a small restaurant and pub known as “The Press Room” became a favorite haunt of local politicians.

Legend has it, that more deals were done and more local ordinances were created at the Press Room than in the City Council chambers across the street.

As Chuck shows us his collection of old newspapers, one particular 1977 headline jumps out at us.

‘It’s Dutremble in a Landslide”

If you don’t understand the historical significance of that headline, it’s quite likely that you have not lived in Biddeford for more than five or 10 years.

________________

THE DUTREMBLE LEGACY

Lucien ‘Babe’ Dutremble was one of the city’s most loved, respect and honored local politicians. Babe’s son Dennis “Duke” Dutremble later served as president of the Maine State Senate and came within striking distance of winning a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives as the Democratic nominee.

Duke says he refused to “go negative” in that 1994 race against Republican James Longley and that’s what cost him the election by roughly four percentage points.

Meanwhile, Babe Dutremble – the family patriarch –grew up and witnessed his own father – Honore “Henri” Dutremble a Biddeford police officer – murdered in the street on April 8, 1932.

Today, Officer Dutremble’s name lives on — one of three names used to dedicate the Biddeford Police Department building’s name on Alfred Street (former home of the Central Theater).

Several notable politicians – including former mayor Alan Casavant and retired Judge and former mayor Michael Cantara — still recall Babe Dutremble’s influence and political muscle.

“I ran in a primary race against Babe and – of course – I lost,” Cantara laughed during a December 2023 interview with this reporter.

“What was I thinking? (Laughs) I decided to run for the Legislature in the early 1980s. At that time, I was living on State Street.

“I ran in a primary race against Babe,
and – of course – I lost,”
— Former Judge Michael Cantara

“Of course — throughout that campaign — he [Dutremble] couldn’t have been any kinder to me.

“What was so strange and incredible to me is that I lost only by 16 or 18 votes. I can’t remember exactly, but it was slim enough to invoke the city charter’s requirement for a recount, which was presided over by Luc Angers, the city clerk at the time.

“They were all paper ballots back then and the recount took place at the police department. The result didn’t change, but I thought that was probably the end on my political career.”

Babe Dutremble served as both a mayor and as a state representative, setting the stage for other local politicians like Alan Casavant who was serving as a representative in the Maine Legislature when he decided to challenge – and beat –former mayor Joanne Twomey in 2011.

DISCLOSURE | I served as Casavant’s campaign manager in that 2011 campaign while working as a Portland-based political consultant. We won that race by 63 percent.

Casavant and other aspiring politicians all knew the path to political success in Biddeford — during the early 1970s — required running on Dutremble’s “ticket” as a member of his slate.

“If you wanted to serve on the city council in those days, you sort of had to ride Babe’s coattails,” Casavant laughed during a prior interview.

______________

Lucien ‘Babe’ Dutremble was inducted into the Biddeford Cultural & Heritage Center’s Hall of Fame last year.

During the induction ceremony, Dutremble was described in the following way:

“Strongly influenced by the death of his father and the strength of his mother, he spent his life working for the benefit of others. A man loved by his community and never losing an election, he made the city a better place in which to live.”

I JUST LIKE DOING IT

Chuck Cote has invested hundreds and hundreds of hours and his own money in working to collect, archive and preserve his hometown’s historical legacy.

**CHUCK COTE** | Turning the pages of time (*Seaver photo*)

_______________

We asked Cote why he is making such an investment in the process.

“I don’t know,” he says, shrugging his shoulders. “I just like doing it.”

Chuck, 60, grew up in Biddeford but graduated from Thornton Academy – across the Saco River – in 1984.

“It was the only way that I could play football on my father’s team,” he explains. “Was it awkward going to Thornton as a Biddeford kid? A little. But no one in Saco seemed to mind. We had a great football team.”

Today, Cote runs two Facebook groups that he uses to fuel his passion for finding and collecting Biddeford memorabilia, including Desi’s Biddeford Scrapbook Collection.

Cote said his father was a history teacher, and say he also enjoys studying history and economics.

“I wanted to be a teacher, but it doesn’t pay enough,” Cote laughed.

Although he is working with others – including some financial support from the St. Louis Alumni Association – to digitize the historical records, he describes his current collection as “the internet of the 1970s, ‘60s, and ‘50s.”

“If I didn’t do this, some of this stuff would have been lost,” Cote said.

Cote becomes animated when talking things such as the classic, gut-wrenching 1958 football game between St. Louis and Thornton Academy, 27 -26.

“My mom worked as a weaver in the mills,” Cote explained. “It’s all part of our history. It’s what connects us as a community.”