About

Adelbert F. Orr was born in Alton on 1872/12/6 and attended school in Pea Cove and Old Town. After some time out of state, he returned to Old Town around 1900 and started a lunch room, which closed after a few years. In May 1904, he took over Charles F. Rhodes' photography business "over N.H.A. Gammon's Harness Store," which was then 113 Main Street and located at what is now the northern half of lot 25-009, which has 227 Main Street for its street address. He continued this business until 1922, when he switched to a career in physical therapy. After studies in Washington DC, he worked for nine years in St. John. In 1933, he is listed as a naturopath at his mother's address in Old Town and starting in 1935, he is listed in Bar Harbor as "naturopath, physiotherapist and chiropractor". he died in Bar Harbor on 1940/5/13. He is buried at Mount Hope Cemetery in Bangor.

Documented assignments include that of designated photographer on the University of Maine "farming special" train trip in 1906 (see Smith, History of the University of Maine, pp.222-3 on the trip and for some of his photos), photographic documentation of the various life stages of the salmon for the National Bureau of Fisheries in 1915, and photographer for the Maine National Guard Companies mustering in Augusta and elsewhere in 1917. He also made many, often copyrighted, portraits of (usually) well-known members of the Penobscot nation.

At least three (printed) photographs of Orr are known. One can be found in the booklet Old Town and its Environs (1906), the second one was printed in the Portland Sunday Telegraph (19191207), p.21, and the third was included with his obituary in the Penobscot Times