This information is taken directly from a brochure prepared by the Quoddy Maritime Museum in 2001. This brochure, The Eastport Walk-About, which also include maps and pictures is available at the Quoddy Maritime Museum, 70 Washington Street. (NR) denotes listing on National Register of Historic Places.
R.M. Tuttle Building (NR) 71 Water Street, 1887, Italianate. R.M. Tuttle operated a grocery store at this location prior to the 1886 fire and had the store rebuilt after the fire. John Foster has his lawyer office here. The Frontier Block was made up of Corthell & Gardiner, E.S. Martin, R.M. Tuttle and the Spates Brothers. |
Spates Brothers (NR) 69 Water Street, 1887, Italianate. The Spates brothers operated a stove and tin store at the corner of Water Street and Central Wharf. With R.M. Tuttle, they had Howard & Nickerson, building contractors, build their stores to match each other with two floors on Water Street and three floors on Central Wharf. This is the location of the Eastport Gallery. From their second floor deck you get a breathtaking vista of the entire harbor. With some imagination you can see the schooners entering and leaving with a variety of passengers and cargoes. |
Witherell Block (NR) 48, 50 Water Street, 1887, Italianate. In 1887 this block was rebuilt with two stores. F.A. Holmes & Co. boot and shoe store was on one side of the block and Stephen Sherlock's dry goods and boot store on the other side. Later F.A. and M.C. Holmes would own the block and combine the stores. |
A.B. Davis (NR) 44 Water Street. In 1887 Miss Abbie Davis contracted J. McPherson, of St. John, to rebuild her millinery shop with brick. She also sold gloves and women's fancy goods. She was one of the few women to own and run her own business, by herself, in Eastport. |
Sentinel Building (NR) 42 Water Street, 1887, Italianate. The Eastport Sentinel, Eastport's long running newspaper, from 1819 to 1953, was rebuilt for business at this location and operated the newspaper on the third floor for many years. In 1888, Henry Reynolds operated a bookstore that also sold cigars, newspapers and books on the first floor while Frank Higgins ran a billiards room on the second floor. (Today S.L. Wadsworth's and Son has a hardware store in this building. Samuel B. Wadsworth, son of General Peleg Wadsworth of Revolutionary War fame and uncle of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, the poet, opened a store in Eastport in 1818. The family has carried on the merchantile tradition in Eastport through six generations and many natural disasters, running a ship chandlery and hardware store. Wadsworth's is recognized as the Nation's oldest ship chandlery and Maine's oldest retail business. In addition to hardware and chandlery, they carry an interesting variety of nautical gifts.) |
Beckett Block (NR) 34, 40 Water Street, 1887, Italianate. This was A.W. Beckett's confectionery store, with its ovens in a separate building in back. He was noted for making candy. The I.O.O.F. had their lodge on the second floor. Today there is an antique shop and Frank's Pizzaria. |
Masonic Block (NR) 32 Water Street, 1887, Italianate. Rebuilt by the Masons after the 1886 fire, the first floor was for many years a variety and dry goods store operated by M.S. Mildon, who would later become one of the mayors of Eastport. The Masons held their lodge on the second and third floors until moving in the 1980s. While dining at the La Sardina Loca look up to see remains of the variety store. The Eastport Art Center with an entrance on Dana Street occupies the upstairs. The Masons have a new home at the end of Water Street on South Street. |
Hayscale Block (NR) 51, 53 Water Street, 1887, Italianate. John and James Hinkley, of Hinkley & Co., had their stove and tin ware store on the first floor. On the second floor the dentist, Herbert Hodgkins, had his office. B. Mooney & Sons who built most of the brick buildings at this time were the builders of this building. From the front doors and the back decks this appears to be two separate stores but there is a doorway near the rear that connects the two. The center door goes to a stairway leading to two second floor apartments. |
Eastport Savings Bank (NR) 41 Water Street. Although built primarily as a bank, this building has housed millinery shops, the Eastport Bottling co., apartments, the police station and the city rooms. The Eastport Savings Bank was on the second floor and Miss Lizzie Bell's dressmaking shop was on the third floor. |
Frontier National Bank (NR) 30 Water Street. The history of the Frontier Bank goes back to 1836 when it was at the foot of Washington Street and was considered a state bank. In 1882 the Frontier National Bank built its brick building at the corner of Dana and Water Streets. Although the exterior survived the 1886 fire the roof and interior were destroyed. Today it houses the Eastport Police Department. At the close of the year, the cities of Calais and Eastport, on the eastern frontier, were thrown into a feverish state of excitement, it having been ascertained that certain lawless persons, having their headquarters in St. John (New Brunswick, Canada, ed.), threatened an invasion of those places and other towns on the border. From well authenticated information the plan of operations was to capture the steamer New England, rob the banks in Calais and Eastport, and commit other lawless depredations. This information on being communicated to Hon. Joseph Granger, Mayor of the former city, every preparation was made to give the invaders a warm reception. Company I, State Guards, First Division, numbering about sixty men, most of whom had seen nine months' service, under the command of Captain B. M. Flint, were immediately ordered out by Mayor Granger, and posted at important positions. Two rifled 6-pounders were placed in position to command the several entrances to the city from New Brunswick. The same night a guard of armed men was stationed in the Frontier Bank, Eastport. An armed force also patrolled the streets. The promptness and vigilance of the authorities and citizens of Calais and Eastport in meeting this emergency thwarted the whole plan of the invaders, and their lawless invasion was abandoned. Since then, a patrol guard has been maintained in the former city, detailed for this duty from Company I, by permission of the State authorities, it being considered necessary to be on the alert against a renewal of any hostile intentions. Annual Report of the Adjutant General of the State of Maine for the year ending December 31, 1863, Pp. 43-44. |
Peavey Memorial Library (NR) 26 Water Street, Romanesque Revival. Frank Peavey donated the money for the library in 1893, in memory of his father. The library was designed by architects Rotch and Tilden of Boston. Frank built up a wheat brokerage and grain elevator business that was still operating in the 1960s. |
The Jacob Shackford House 4 Key Street. Was a Federal style house on Water Street prior to the 1886 fire and was later turned 90 degrees and moved to its present location on Key Street. Captain Jacob Shackford was both a sea captain and a ship builder. In the 1850s he built four brigs in a few years, one of which rode out the devastating gale in 1854. He was a partner with his brother Captain William Shackford and the Honorable Lorenzo Sabine. |
Eastport, Maine: Easternmost City in the U.S.A.
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