Robert E. Peary

1856-1920. Robert E. Peary attended Portland High School and Bowdoin College graduating in 1877 with a civil engineering degree. He worked as the town surveyor in Fryeburg. Peary later moved to Washington D.C. working for the Coast and Geodetic Survey and eventually joined the U.S. Navy and Civil Engineers Corps. In the 1890's Peary made several trips to Greenland. Peary and his guides were the first to reach the North Pole on April 6, 1909. After retiring from the Navy in 1911, Peary summered on Eagle Island, which is now a state park, off the coast of Freeport.

http://www.bowdoin.edu/arctic-museum/biographies/peary.shtml

 

Photo credit: Courtesy of The Peary-MacMillan Artic Museum, Bowdoin College