Harry Cochrane (1860–1946)
Literature (stage curtain), Children’s Room, 2nd Floor
Harold Hayman Cochrane, was born in Augusta, ME, son of Major James Henry and Ellen M. (Berry) Cochrane. Raised in Monmouth, he was a naturally gifted artist, architect, musician, author, and poet. His early career began as a “crayon artist” in a photography studio in Gardiner in the 1880s. In the well-lit studio, on the corner of Water and Bridge Streets, he created life-sized renderings from photographs as well as in-person sittings. In 1887, he began working on large-scale interior works, from free-hand ornamentation, to theater curtains, to huge murals. In his lifetime, he worked throughout Maine, New England, and beyond. Among the best known of his over 400 commissions for public buildings, are the interior of Cumston Hall in Monmouth and the Kora Temple in Lewiston.
