Description: Lawler purchased the building in 1923. The other half of the building was occupied by the Robinson Brother's Automobile Accessories salesroom
The Gilley and Salisbury plumbing shop was at first built by George H. Gilley on his lot near his home on the Main Road and was used there as a plumber's shop for some years. Then it was moved to its present situation and in 1929 it was moved to the rear of the lot and the show rooms and upstairs living apartment were built. Mr. Gilley's grandson, Wendell H. Gilley, now carried on the business. Gilley Plumbing was a part of the Gilley family for at least three generations. Maud Holmes Gilley ran the business with her son Wendell after the death of her husband, Frank Gilley, in 1920.
Description: The Gilley and Salisbury plumbing shop was at first built by George H. Gilley on his lot near his home on the Main Road and was used there as a plumber's shop for some years. Then it was moved to its present situation and in 1929 it was moved to the rear of the lot and the show rooms and upstairs living apartment were built. Mr. Gilley's grandson, Wendell H. Gilley, now carried on the business. Gilley Plumbing was a part of the Gilley family for at least three generations. Maud Holmes Gilley ran the business with her son Wendell after the death of her husband, Frank Gilley, in 1920. [show more]
Ronald Dean Rich's boat shop. Ronald was the son of Clifton Melbourne Rich and the brother of Robert "Bobby" Rich and Roger Clifton Rich, all other skilled boat builders.
Description: Ronald Dean Rich's boat shop. Ronald was the son of Clifton Melbourne Rich and the brother of Robert "Bobby" Rich and Roger Clifton Rich, all other skilled boat builders.
Started as a contracting business in 1949, Archie McEachern bought out his uncle Jasper Hutchins in 1957 and transitioned the business to a lumber and hardware supply. The store expanded to multiple locations and was taken over by Archie's son, Les.
Description: Started as a contracting business in 1949, Archie McEachern bought out his uncle Jasper Hutchins in 1957 and transitioned the business to a lumber and hardware supply. The store expanded to multiple locations and was taken over by Archie's son, Les.
John C. Ralph’s Studio has a complicated history. The J.C. Ralph Studio and Store, on Main Street in Southwest Harbor, proclaimed itself, "Eyeglasses and Spectacles - Jeweler and Optician." "Jeweler John C. Ralph moved from Bar Harbor to Southwest Harbor in 1888 to open a jewelry window in J.T.R. Freeman's store. Over the course of his 22-year tenure in Southwest Harbor, this ambitious man established many businesses...As described in the newspaper, Ralph never walked when he could run." -“Mount Desert Island - Somesville, Southwest Harbor, and Northeast Harbor” by Earle G. Shettleworth Jr. and Lydia B. Vandenbergh - Images of America Series, p. 57 – 2001. “John D. Lurvey purchased the lot and built thereon a small building which he used as a storehouse for coffins which he made, as he was a skilled carpenter and cabinet maker. Later this building was used as a public library and was twice moved; once to the northern end of the lot and again to the place now occupied by the Lawton Variety store, where it was used as a drug store, a jeweler’s store, a barber shop and the post office. John C. Ralph kept the post office there and enlarged the building.” - “Traditions and Records of Southwest Harbor and Somesville, Mount Desert Island, Maine” by Mrs. Seth S. Thornton, p. 148 – 1938.
Description: John C. Ralph’s Studio has a complicated history. The J.C. Ralph Studio and Store, on Main Street in Southwest Harbor, proclaimed itself, "Eyeglasses and Spectacles - Jeweler and Optician." "Jeweler John C. Ralph moved from Bar Harbor to Southwest Harbor in 1888 to open a jewelry window in J.T.R. Freeman's store. Over the course of his 22-year tenure in Southwest Harbor, this ambitious man established many businesses...As described in the newspaper, Ralph never walked when he could run." -“Mount Desert Island - Somesville, Southwest Harbor, and Northeast Harbor” by Earle G. Shettleworth Jr. and Lydia B. Vandenbergh - Images of America Series, p. 57 – 2001. “John D. Lurvey purchased the lot and built thereon a small building which he used as a storehouse for coffins which he made, as he was a skilled carpenter and cabinet maker. Later this building was used as a public library and was twice moved; once to the northern end of the lot and again to the place now occupied by the Lawton Variety store, where it was used as a drug store, a jeweler’s store, a barber shop and the post office. John C. Ralph kept the post office there and enlarged the building.” - “Traditions and Records of Southwest Harbor and Somesville, Mount Desert Island, Maine” by Mrs. Seth S. Thornton, p. 148 – 1938. [show more]
After earning an associate's degree from a college in northern Maine, Stanley returned to Southwest Harbor. Not sure what occupation he wanted to pursue, he decided to try to build a boat. So he earned the money he needed to buy wood and other construction materials and, during the winter of 1951-1952, he built a 28-foot lobster boat. The boat turned out well and a local person bought it. This led to orders for other boats. "I've been building (boats) ever since," he said. Stanley learned how to build boats not by apprenticing himself to another boatbuilder but mainly by keenly observing and using boats and by observing the activities of several professional boatbuilders who specialized in the Mt. Desert Island version of the Maine lobster boat.
Description: After earning an associate's degree from a college in northern Maine, Stanley returned to Southwest Harbor. Not sure what occupation he wanted to pursue, he decided to try to build a boat. So he earned the money he needed to buy wood and other construction materials and, during the winter of 1951-1952, he built a 28-foot lobster boat. The boat turned out well and a local person bought it. This led to orders for other boats. "I've been building (boats) ever since," he said. Stanley learned how to build boats not by apprenticing himself to another boatbuilder but mainly by keenly observing and using boats and by observing the activities of several professional boatbuilders who specialized in the Mt. Desert Island version of the Maine lobster boat. [show more]
The business started when Jimmy moved an old building he had been using to house chickens from his property on Clark Point Road, to the end of Clark Point and began to sell lobsters from it. He then expanded it in to a lunch room and installed gas pumps out front.
Description: The business started when Jimmy moved an old building he had been using to house chickens from his property on Clark Point Road, to the end of Clark Point and began to sell lobsters from it. He then expanded it in to a lunch room and installed gas pumps out front.
"There were several brickyards on the island. Deacon Clark made bricks from clay on his land and between the houses of Richard Carroll and F. A. Birlem on the Clark Point Road the depression from which the clay was taken may yet be seen." - “Traditions and Records of Southwest Harbor and Somesville, Mount Desert Island, Maine” by Mrs. Seth S. Thornton, 1938, p. 89. According to Ralph Stanley the clay was dug from the stream coming down the hill between what are now two properties and the bricks were made across the road on the shore. – Ralph Stanley 2015.
Description: "There were several brickyards on the island. Deacon Clark made bricks from clay on his land and between the houses of Richard Carroll and F. A. Birlem on the Clark Point Road the depression from which the clay was taken may yet be seen." - “Traditions and Records of Southwest Harbor and Somesville, Mount Desert Island, Maine” by Mrs. Seth S. Thornton, 1938, p. 89. According to Ralph Stanley the clay was dug from the stream coming down the hill between what are now two properties and the bricks were made across the road on the shore. – Ralph Stanley 2015. [show more]
In the 21st Century we may think of ice as something that comes out of the doors of our refrigerator or a nice skating surface in an indoor rink, but, in the 18th and early 19th centuries the ice business produced a very necessary product and employed many people. See: “Ice Harvesting Sampler” DVD, produced by Northeast Historic Film, Black & White, NTSC, 33 minutes - 1994. This “compilation of newsreel and amateur footage of ice harvesting operations in Maine includes ice-house interiors with massive ice blocks being maneuvered at high speed, and horse teams delivering ice to brownstones in Boston.” “America’s Icemen: An Illustrative History of the United States Natural Ice Industry 1665-1925” by Joseph C. Jones Jr., published by Jobeco Books, 1984. “The American Ice Harvests: A Historical Study in Technology, 1800-1918” by Richard O. Cummings, published by the University of Calfornia Press, 1949.
Description: In the 21st Century we may think of ice as something that comes out of the doors of our refrigerator or a nice skating surface in an indoor rink, but, in the 18th and early 19th centuries the ice business produced a very necessary product and employed many people. See: “Ice Harvesting Sampler” DVD, produced by Northeast Historic Film, Black & White, NTSC, 33 minutes - 1994. This “compilation of newsreel and amateur footage of ice harvesting operations in Maine includes ice-house interiors with massive ice blocks being maneuvered at high speed, and horse teams delivering ice to brownstones in Boston.” “America’s Icemen: An Illustrative History of the United States Natural Ice Industry 1665-1925” by Joseph C. Jones Jr., published by Jobeco Books, 1984. “The American Ice Harvests: A Historical Study in Technology, 1800-1918” by Richard O. Cummings, published by the University of Calfornia Press, 1949. [show more]