Howard Ernest Robinson (1896-1972) purchased site for the garage from Isaac F. Stanley in 1924. Howard built a garage there in 1928. He sold the garage and property to Earl Gordon (1893-1964) and Leslie Frank White (1891-1967) in 1929. They established the Gordon & White Garage. The Gordon & White garage, on Main Street in Southwest Harbor, was an Esso station and sold Fords, Mercurys and Kiekhaefer Mercury outboard motors. The gas pumps were removed in 1985 by the new owner, Tom Landers, who renamed the business Landers Ford.
Description: Howard Ernest Robinson (1896-1972) purchased site for the garage from Isaac F. Stanley in 1924. Howard built a garage there in 1928. He sold the garage and property to Earl Gordon (1893-1964) and Leslie Frank White (1891-1967) in 1929. They established the Gordon & White Garage. The Gordon & White garage, on Main Street in Southwest Harbor, was an Esso station and sold Fords, Mercurys and Kiekhaefer Mercury outboard motors. The gas pumps were removed in 1985 by the new owner, Tom Landers, who renamed the business Landers Ford. [show more]
The store, on Clark Point Road, was T.W. Jackson & Son, an IGA store. “R.B. Jackson [Richard Benson Jackson (1893-1959)] is having a building erected on his lot lately purchased from P.L. Sargent. A filling station and other conveniences will be established there, and the extensive grounds opened as a parking place. This will be a great convenience to the customers of the Jackson market.” – The Ellsworth American, Wednesday, April 15, 1936. "In the 1930s and 40s, Jackson's Market of Southwest Harbor sent a boat and operated a weekly market on the old steamboat wharf [on Little Cranberry Island] during the summer. In addition to meat and vegetables, a youthful stamp collector could find a small envelope of stamps inside each package of Brookfield butter." - “A History of Little Cranberry Island, Maine” by Hugh L. Dwelley, published by Isleford Historical Society, 1990, p. 114. In 2017, Christina's Gallery & Past Treasures, was located in the building once occupied by the Jackson Market.
Description: The store, on Clark Point Road, was T.W. Jackson & Son, an IGA store. “R.B. Jackson [Richard Benson Jackson (1893-1959)] is having a building erected on his lot lately purchased from P.L. Sargent. A filling station and other conveniences will be established there, and the extensive grounds opened as a parking place. This will be a great convenience to the customers of the Jackson market.” – The Ellsworth American, Wednesday, April 15, 1936. "In the 1930s and 40s, Jackson's Market of Southwest Harbor sent a boat and operated a weekly market on the old steamboat wharf [on Little Cranberry Island] during the summer. In addition to meat and vegetables, a youthful stamp collector could find a small envelope of stamps inside each package of Brookfield butter." - “A History of Little Cranberry Island, Maine” by Hugh L. Dwelley, published by Isleford Historical Society, 1990, p. 114. In 2017, Christina's Gallery & Past Treasures, was located in the building once occupied by the Jackson Market. [show more]
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]
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.
In 1914 Jesse Newell Mills and his sister, Cora Enola Mills opened a hardware and grocery store, the J.N. Mills Cash Store, on Clark Point in the second old Clark & Parker store at 172 Clark Point Road, Southwest Harbor, Maine across the road from what would later be the site of the J.N. Mills Co., Inc. fuel oil business.
Description: In 1914 Jesse Newell Mills and his sister, Cora Enola Mills opened a hardware and grocery store, the J.N. Mills Cash Store, on Clark Point in the second old Clark & Parker store at 172 Clark Point Road, Southwest Harbor, Maine across the road from what would later be the site of the J.N. Mills Co., Inc. fuel oil business.
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]
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.
In 1940 Southwest Harbor Motor Co. was the only AAA filling station in Southwest Harbor. Their phone number was 51-2. The brick building was converted to offices to rent in 1986-1987. The U.S. Post Office opened in the building on June 2, 1987. Ralph Warren Stanley (1929-2021) attended school in the elementary school on the present ellipse (behind the Gilley Plumbing building on the left of this photograph) before it was moved across the street to become a fire station and now [2011] the police station/town office. When the bank was housed at the Southwest Harbor Motor Co. Ralph would take his penny bank there to be unlocked and have the money deposited in his bank account. The lady in the bank would show him the big safe where is money would be kept. – Ralph Warren Stanley 01/17/11 Marion E. Newman (1890-1976), Mrs. Frederick Walter Wescott at the time, owned a yellow Stutz Bearcat that was destroyed in the fire. Marion was known for having invested in Coca Cola stock and holding on to it when others thought it worthless and sold their stock. – Ralph Warren Stanley, 03/31/14
Description: In 1940 Southwest Harbor Motor Co. was the only AAA filling station in Southwest Harbor. Their phone number was 51-2. The brick building was converted to offices to rent in 1986-1987. The U.S. Post Office opened in the building on June 2, 1987. Ralph Warren Stanley (1929-2021) attended school in the elementary school on the present ellipse (behind the Gilley Plumbing building on the left of this photograph) before it was moved across the street to become a fire station and now [2011] the police station/town office. When the bank was housed at the Southwest Harbor Motor Co. Ralph would take his penny bank there to be unlocked and have the money deposited in his bank account. The lady in the bank would show him the big safe where is money would be kept. – Ralph Warren Stanley 01/17/11 Marion E. Newman (1890-1976), Mrs. Frederick Walter Wescott at the time, owned a yellow Stutz Bearcat that was destroyed in the fire. Marion was known for having invested in Coca Cola stock and holding on to it when others thought it worthless and sold their stock. – Ralph Warren Stanley, 03/31/14 [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]
Rich & Grindle Boatbuilders was founded in December 1946 when Roger Clifton Rich (1913-1996) and Ralph Merrill Grindle (1915-2005) formed a partnership to build boats in Roger's barn at Tracy Cove on Clark Point Road. The barn was next to Roger's house at 50 Clark Point Road.
Description: Rich & Grindle Boatbuilders was founded in December 1946 when Roger Clifton Rich (1913-1996) and Ralph Merrill Grindle (1915-2005) formed a partnership to build boats in Roger's barn at Tracy Cove on Clark Point Road. The barn was next to Roger's house at 50 Clark Point Road.
Dr. Lemont’s first Drug Store was on the second floor of the large barn of Deacon Henry Higgins Clark’s original house. The house was by that time the Island House Hotel before it was greatly enlarged in 1885.
Description: Dr. Lemont’s first Drug Store was on the second floor of the large barn of Deacon Henry Higgins Clark’s original house. The house was by that time the Island House Hotel before it was greatly enlarged in 1885.