President: Donna Cousens Conley
Vice President: Byron Dyer
Secretary: Rowena Walton
Treasurer: Nancy Joy Curran

Directors
Alwyn Waite - James Burrill
Beverly Sinclair Marion - Mike Sanphy

Immediate Past President
Rob Smith

The doors of the Westbrook Historical Society are open to the general public every Tuesday and Saturday morning, 9:00 AM to noon. Capable volunteer staff is present at that time to help visitors with their interests and their needs.

The building has a ramp in the back and a chair lift to the second floor. Arrangements for special openings may be made by calling the office at 207-854-5588 or e-mailing us at info@westbrookhistoricalsociety.org.

In April 1975, the Westbrook City Council Planning and Development Committee announced a meeting for anyone who was interested in forming a historical society. Then Alderman-at-large Roger Knight, chairman of the committee, said the meeting was called in response to concerns that there was no place in the city to preserve historical relics and artifacts and there was no organization charged with this interest and responsibility.

Thus, the Westbrook Historical Society was formed. The Society was housed in the old Westbrook High School on Main Street where a fine collection of artifacts and ephemera began to be collected and displayed.

In 2001, the Society was moved to a larger facility on the second floor of the Stephen W. Manchester Post 62 at 17 Dunn Street where the collection has continued to grow.

Donna Conley was elected president

At the annual meeting and election held on June 4, 2008, Donna Cousens Conley was re-elected to another two year term as president of Westbrook Historical Society.

Donna was born in Portland and lived in the Riverside-Warren Avenue area until she was 11 when her family, consisting of parents Annie & Russell Cousens and sister Pat, moved to Westbrook. She graduated from Westbrook High School in 1958 and made a “great trek” to Baltimore, Maryland where she entered The Johns Hopkins Hospital School of Nursing, graduating in 1961. After driving across the country with a classmate and working in San Francisco for two years, Donna returned to Westbrook and began a thirty-six-year nursing career at the Maine Medical Center. Donna married Norm Conley of Portland in 1966. They have a daughter, Patricia and a son, Marc and 3 granddaughters.

After their retirements in 2000, Donna started to fulfill some of her “retirement goals” by becoming active in the Westbrook Historical Society, the Buxton Historical Society (where her ancestors had lived) and the Maine Old Cemeteries Association. “I never cared for history in school,” she said, “but working at the historical societies, doing my genealogy, and transcribing old cemetery stones, have given me a deeper appreciation and respect for the past.”

Bruce Allen – Phil Curran – James Burrill; Ex-officio - Nancy Joy Curran

Location:
The Westbrook Historical Society is located one block off the intersection of Main Street and Dunn Street in Westbrook on the 2nd floor of the American Legion Building, Stephen W. Manchester Post 62.

Presented in MAP format with the ability to request directions. An interesting way to visualize the building and its location is to click on SATellite on the Google Map. Then magnify the view by 2 to 4 clicks - and adjust the center of the map.