Yarmouth, Maine

The First Falls

Lower Falls and the building which is now 1 Main Street, viewed from what is now Grist Mill Park

The Native Americans called the First Falls Pumgustuk, which means head of tide. (The town's early firefighters were called Pumgustuk Fire Company. Their eponymous pumper was purchased in 1856 and retired in 1928.)^[10] In addition to the 1674 sawmill (which became Walter Gendall's Casco Mill in 1681),^[11] this was the site of the first grist mill — Lower Grist Mills — built in 1813 and whose foundations support the overlook of today's Grist Mill Park. The mill, which was in business for 36 years, ground wheat and corn into flour using power generated by the water turbines set in the fast-flowing river below. Between 1870 and 1885, it was the site of Ansel Lothrop Loring's second mill, named Yarmouth Flour Mill. His first mill, up at the Fourth Falls, burned down in 1870.

A circa-1870 view of Yarmouth harbor, taken from where Yankee Marina — off Lafayette Street — is now, looking directly north to the East Main Street bridge

In 1720, Gilbert Winslow erected a saw mill on Atwell's Creek (which became known colloquially as Folly Creek, due to this venture, which was expected to fail). The creek was "a considerable watercourse then"^[11]; now, it is nothing more than a tidal inlet.

The first mill to go up on the western (Main Street hill) side of the river was Samuel Seabury & Jacob Mitchell's grist mill in 1729.^[11]

The first bridge carrying East Main Street was erected, above the falls, in 1748. It was rebuilt in 1800 "below the dam."^[11] By 1874, it was flanked by a grist mill, saw mill, a store and a carpenter's shop that took care of the needs of ships built in the harbor on the other side of the bridge. In 1911, Yarmouth Manufacturing Company's electric power plant was built on the site of J.L. Craig's sawmill. Later businesses on this side included a fishing, hunting and camping equipment store and Industrial Wood Products. In the present-day building, at 1 Main Street, are F.M. Beck, C.A. White & Associates and Maine Environmental Laboratory.

The Second Falls

An old cotton mill, Sparhawk Mill, on Bridge Street, looking north-east. It is now home to several small businesses. The original structure was built in the 1840s but was rebuilt after a fire

A variety of mills have used power from the Second Falls. A cotton rag paper mill, run by Dorchester, Massachusetts, natives William Hawes and George and Henry Cox, operated on the falls (western) side of the bridge and the eastern side of the river from 1816 until 1821, at which point it was purchased by William Reed Stockbridge (b. 1782, d. 1850)^[12] and Calvin Stockbridge (b. 1784, d. 1833), who successfully operated it for twenty years as W.R. & C. Stockbridge paper company.^[13]

In 1836 it was incorporated as Yarmouth Paper Manufacturing Company, but when advancements in machinery and processes arrived, competition became too difficult and the mill closed. On its site, Philip Kimball later operated a mahogany mill.^[11]

The first mill of note to stand where the current Sparhawk Mill looms large was North Yarmouth Manufacturing Company. It was founded in 1847 by Eleazer Burbank (b. 1793, d. 1867).^[14][15] The mill produced cotton yarn and cloth. Built in 1840, the brick-made mill replaced a wooden mill dating to 1817.

In 1855, the top half of the mill was rebuilt after a fire, but also to accommodate the Royal River Manufacturing Company, which was incorporated in 1857. It was one of the leading industries in Yarmouth, spinning coarse and fine yarn and seamless grain bags, of which it produced up to 1,000 per day. The mill was under the management of brothers Francis Orville Libby (b. 1814, d. 1873) and Hosea J. Libby (b. 1831, d. 1894) until Barnabas Freeman (b. 1814, d. 1894)^[16] took over in 1869.^[13] Two years later, Freeman joined forces with Lorenzo L. Shaw (b. 1825, d. 1907)^[17][18] to start up a cotton mill. After Freeman retired in 1888, Shaw ran the mill on his own until his death in 1907, during which time the mill's tower was completed.^[13]

An iron bridge was in place around 1900, replacing an earlier 1846 structure.

Mill workers' housing, Bridge Street

Boarding houses, which still exist today, were built on the crest of the northern Bridge Street hill, providing accommodation for weavers, seamstresses and bobbin boys.

In 1953, Yale Cordage,^[19] owned by Oliver Sherman Yale (b. 1911, d. 1988),^[20][21] occupied it. They remained tenants for the next 39 years, until 1992, when the decision was made to divide the mill's interior up into multiple business for extra revenue. The mill got its current name in the early 1950s, when Old Sparhawk Mills Company moved into the building from South Portland. The building is now owned by Sparhawk Group. While their headquarters are in the mill, they have regional offices in Faneuil Hall, Boston, and in New York City.

The mills electric turbines still function, having been revitalized in 1986.

The Third Falls

Forest Paper Company (left) and Camp Hammond (right), viewed from the top of the Meeting House on Hillside Street, looking east over Main Street's intersection with Elm Street

Forest Paper Company, looking northwest to Elm Street

An upstream view to the Third Falls

Remnants of mill foundations at the falls

The Third (or Baker) Falls were, by far, the most industrious of the four. The first buildings — Jeremiah Baker's grist mill, a carding mill and a nail mill — went up in 1805 between Bridge Street and East Elm Street on the east side of the river. On the western side of the river was a scythe and axe factory owned by Joseph C. Batchelder (b. 1812, d. 1889).^[22] Benjamin Gooch's (b. 1784, d. 1858)^[23] fulling mill followed in 1830, but it later moved to the Fourth Falls.^[11]

The Yarmouth Paper Company, which produced paper pulp, was built in 1864. The main access road to it was an extended version of today's Mill Street, off Main Street. The original building burned in 1870. Two years later, a soda pulp mill — named C.D. Brown Paper Company^[24] — was built, to which Samuel Dennis Warren (b. 1817, d. 1888)^[25][26] and George Warren Hammond (b. 1833, d. 1908)^[27] bought the rights in 1874 and renamed it the Forest Paper Company. Beginning with a single wooden building, the facility expanded to ten buildings covering as many acres, including a span over the river to Factory Island. Two bridges to it were also constructed. In 1909, it was the largest such mill in the world, employing 275 people. The mill used 15,000 cords of poplar each year, which meant mounds of logs were constantly in view beside Mill Street. Six railroad spurs extended from the tracks running behind Main Street to the Forest Paper Company, traversing today's Royal River Park. Rail cars delivered logs, coal, soda and chlorine to the mill and carried pulp away. The mill closed in 1923, when import restrictions on pulp were lifted and Swedish pulp became a cheaper option. The mill burned in 1931, leaving charred remains on the site until the development of the Royal River Park in the early 1980s. In 1971, the Marine Corps Reserve tore down the old factory, before a Navy demolition team used fourteen cases of dynamite to raze the remains. Most of the remaining debris was crushed and used as fill for the park but several remnants of the building are still visible today.

The Fourth Falls

Also known as Upper Falls or Gooch's Falls.

An iron refinery, the Forest Forge, occupied a spot nearby as early as 1753. After its demise, a large double sawmill was built on the dam by a company composed of Gooches, Pratts, Sargents, Cutters and Bakers, which was a prosperous establishment for many years.^[11]

Patches of snow still dotted the ground when 20-year-old Maren Madsen arrived by train at Yarmouth Junction in May 1892.

She had just returned from visiting family in her native Denmark. At the depot north of town, she set out walking along the tracks, suitcase in hand, her eyes locked on the smokestacks of the sprawling Forest Paper Co. mill complex on the Royal River.

Just above Fourth Falls, she crossed the narrow planks of the train trestle on her hands and knees, fearful of the deep water swirling below. She was eager to get back to work and see old friends.

— Maren Madsen Christensen, From Jutland’s Brown Heather to the Land Across the Sea.^[28] Christensen died in 1965, aged about 93. She is buried in Yarmouth's Riverside Cemetery alongside her husband, Christian (b. 1869, d. 1936),^[29] and two of their four children — son Einar (b. 1898, d. 1986)^[30] and his wife Hulda (d. 1990)^[31] and Gloria (d. 1904).^[14] Another, daughter Marie, is buried in Walnut Hill Cemetery in North Yarmouth alongside her husband, Ernest Hayes Allen. Another daughter, Thora (b. 1901, d. 1981), married Sidney Maurice Hamilton. They are at rest in Evergreen Cemetery in Portland.

The Yarmouth History Center, run by Yarmouth Historical Society, is located beside the train trestle above, having moved from the third floor of the Merrill Memorial Library in 2013.^[32]

Here at the northern end of the Royal River Park once stood Charles H. Weston's machine shop and foundry, which, from 1876 to 1892, manufactured equipment for cotton and woolen mills, turbine water wheels, steam engines and a wide variety of machinery for customers all over the world. (In 1887, Weston was one of the incorporators of Pumgustuk Water Company. This became Yarmouth Water Company in 1895, and Yarmouth Water District in 1923.)^[33][34] The stone wall inside the History Center is original to the Water District building. A water tower with a tank capacity of a quarter of a million gallons was erected off West Elm Street. It was replaced in 1964 with a million-gallon standpipe.^[34]

Later, a large building housed, in turn, a tannery, three shoe-manufacturing companies and a poultry-processing plant. These business took advantage of the Fourth Falls' water supply directly behind the building to provide power.

Joseph Hodsdon (b. 1836, d. 1901)^[35] arrived in Yarmouth in 1880 and took over the Farris tannery. Hodsdon Brothers & Company (1880–1901) made ladies' and misses' boots and shoes. The Sportocasin Company occupied it between 1923 and 1927. Fifty employees made shoes with completely twistable soles to follow a golfer's foot in any direction. The company was later bought by the Morrison and Bennett Shoe Company and reorganized as the Abbott Company. That company manufactured the ski shoes used on Commander Richard E. Byrd's first Antarctic expedition.^[13]

Glick Brothers Poultry Processing Plant began in 1940. In 1952, it was the largest employer in Yarmouth, having sixty people on its payroll.^[13] The business closed in 1965.^[13]

Lower Falls

An early barber shop and (in the left side of the same building) what became George Soule's ice cream shop and pool hall. Vining's deli is beside it to the east. This is around where the building at 82 Main Street now stands, just short of Staples Hill, where the East Main Street and Marina Road split occurs

Goffs hardware store, at the eastern end of Main Street (Route 115), closed in 2015 after 46 years in business

The intersection of Main and Portland Streets, looking west. The site of Susan Kinghorn's millinery is now a Rosemont Market & Bakery. The steeple belongs to the First Parish Congregational Church

19th- and 20th-century business that existed on Main Street in Yarmouth's Lower Falls (also Falls Village or The Falls) section included (roughly from east to west):^[63]

• W.N. Richards & Co. (owned by William Richards (b. 1819, d. 1892));^[74] later Vining's delicatessen and, beside it to the west, George Soule's ice cream shop and pool hall (across from present-day Svetlana)
• The current 90 Main Street: Coombs (later Barbour's hardware store; and Goffs hardware, 1969–2015)
• Manley E. Bishop's (b. 1875, d. 1964)^[75] grocery store stood to the east of the present-day Goffs building
• Englishman James Parsons' grocery store, "a two-story building standing on the lot adjoining that where stood for so many years the little old post office".^[24] Parsons married the daughter of Jeremiah Baker Sr. It was here that "dignified citizens like Doctor Bates, L.L. Shaw and Barnabas Freeman often assembled for an evening's chat"^[24]
• Post office. The first postmaster was Payne Elwell in 1793. He was succeeded in 1803 by Samuel P. Russell, David Drinkwater in 1804, John Hale in 1810, Daniel Mitchell in 1816, James C. Hill (b. 1792, d. 1864)^[76] in 1834, Jacob Gray Loring (b. 1800, d. 1856)^[77] in 1842 and Reuben Cutter (b. 1800, d. 1864)^[78] in 1845. When the town split occurred, the office name was changed in 1852 to Yarmouth from North Yarmouth. Reuben Cutter resumed the role, and was followed by Otis Briggs Pratt in 1861 and Nicholas Drinkwater in 1866. Lucy V. Groves was appointed in 1868, becoming the first woman named or elected to an official position in the town of Yarmouth. Lucy Q. Cutter (b. 1844, d. 1904)^[79] succeeded her in 1887, Melville C. Merrill in 1898, Frank Howard Drinkwater (b. 1877, d. 1976)^[80] in 1911, Frank O. Wellcome (b. 1862, d. 1943)^[81] in 1914 and Ernest C. Libby in 1936.^[11]
• Cornelius Shaw's Cash Market (1899). Shaw lived from 1864 to 1939^[82]
• Captain Thomas Chase Store; later Leon Doughty's (b. 1862, d. 1925)^[83] stove and hardware store, L.A. Doughty & Co. (1895–1929); now Snip 'N Clip Hair Designs, still with the windows that were installed in 1932). Doughty later moved across the street, into the building later occupied by L.R. Doherty's hardware store, Barbour's and Goffs, when his business expanded
• William Freeman's hairdressing salon (located above Doughty's before its move)
• Cyrus Curtis' Saturday Evening Post publishers
• The millinery shop of Susan Kinghorn (b. 1883, d. 1956)^[84] (located at the eastern corner of Main and Portland Streets in the building now occupied by Rosemont Market); between 1942 and 1953 [Harold B.] Allen's Variety Store, then Daken's, Romie's, Lindahl's, Donatelli's Pizza, Denucci's Pizza (briefly) and Connor's

Originally (c. 1850) Rufus York's general store, this brick building, at 108 Main Street, is now home to Runge's Oriental Rugs

• Elder Rufus York's (b. 1820, d. 1894)^[85] general store (located in the brick building now occupied by Runge's Oriental Rug store at the western corner of Main and Portland Streets; later William H. Rowe's, then Melville Merrill's (b. 1834, d. 1911), then Frank W. Bucknam's (b. 1869, d. 1942)^[86] Pharmacy (1894–1900). Bucknam was appointed as Maine's Commissioner of Pharmacy in 1906. He entered the drug business as an apprentice with Leone R. Cook. After running his own store for six years, he purchased a store in Skowhegan. His new business was destroyed by fire in 1904, but he was back in business in a temporary store within 36 hours. He eventually found a new home beneath the Oxford Hotel at 78 Water Street. This building too burned down, in 1908.^[87][88] The Yarmouth building became Roger Vaughan's Rexall Pharmacy from 1945 to 1963. Vaughan's original sign was restored to the Portland Street corner of the building in 2014 but was taken down the following year)

In 1874, the Lower Falls near the harbor was crowded with the homes of sea captains, merchants and shipbuilders.^[89]

In 1903, the post office established a route around town for the rural free delivery of mail. Hired was Joshua Adams Drinkwater (b. 1860, d. 1951)^[90] as the town's first letter carrier. Early in the morning he would leave Princes Point, pick up the mail at Lower Falls, and then deliver letters to the northern edge of town, including Sligo and Mountfort Roads. Around noon, he would pick up the afternoon sack for the town's western and coastal farms. Each day, as he passed his farm on Princes Point Road, he would change horses and eat lunch with his wife, Harriet (b. 1856, d. 1929).^[91][92] They had a daughter, Elizabeth (b. 1902, d. 1977).^[93] Speaking of horses, an ornate, circular horse trough resembling a water fountain existed at the intersection of Main and Portland Streets in the early 1900s;^[94] it now stands behind the Merrill Memorial Library.

The parsonage for the Universalist church was the building now occupied by Plumb-It, to the east of Snip 'N Clip.^[95] On the other side of the Universalist church, just to the east of where Old Sloop (later known as Union Hall) once stood, is a house that was formerly the home of Edward J. Stubbs, one of Yarmouth's most prolific and successful shipbuilders.^[96]

Lyman Walker (b. 1814, d. 1906) and his son, Lyman Fessenden Walker (b. 1832, d. 1920), owned a general wood and coal business in the lower village.^[97]

A lithograph from 1851, depicting the area of Main Street serviced by York Street, shows the home of George Woods and, next door, the Yarmouth Institute, which he established as direct competition with North Yarmouth Academy. Although it attracted students from as far afield as Cuba, his institute lacked an endowment and closed after five years. Woods sold the building to Paul Blanchard in 1853. It was torn down in 1930. In 1859, while serving in his new role as chancellor of the University of Pittsburgh, a lawsuit involving his dispute with NYA precipitated the split in Yarmouth's First Parish Church.^[98]

In an 1875 photograph of the northern end of Portland Street, with the Universalist church in the background, Englishman Captain Henry Newton's (b. 1816, d. 1873) house is visible on the right.^[99] Dr. William Parsons (b. circa 1777, d. 1811)^[100] and Gad Hitchcock (b. 1820, d. 1896)^[101] previously lived there. Leon Gorman (b. 1934, d. 2015),^[102] the grandson of Leon Leonwood Bean, also lived here until his death at the age of 80. He was, at the time of his passing, the wealthiest person living in the state of Maine, having had a reported net worth of $860 million.^[103][104]

Halfway along this northern section of Portland Street is a three-story Federal-style building that was once a tavern, built, around 1810, by Colonel Seth Mitchell (b. 1770). Early in the 20th century, Ralph Redfern (b 1877, d. 1942)^[105] used the property for a dairy that became known as Old Tavern Farm.^[99]

Brickyard Hollow

Brickyard Hollow, before it was filled in. Photo taken from where the Route 1 overpass is today, looking northwest

The section of town between the Upper Village and Lower Falls was known as Brickyard Hollow, named for Samuel Baker's brickyard, which was located across the street from the Masonic Hall (now the restaurant Gather). John Coombs (b. 1830, d. 1913)^[106] donated land for the Casco Lodge, which was completed in 1878.^[13]

A muddy valley up until the beginning of the 20th century, the Hollow was eventually reclaimed as a civic center by laying down a two-foot layer of black ash, from Forest Paper Company, to level it out. After constructing two new schools, the Merrill Memorial Library and a war memorial, town officials also decided to rename the area Centervale in order to improve its image. The name did not last, however.^[107]

This house, at 261 Main Street, was built in 1879 as the home of Sylvanus Cushing Blanchard. Camp Hammond is visible in the background on the left. The carriage house on the right is now the parking lot of InterMed

In 1879, the building at 261 Main Street (across from Hancock Lumber) was built for Sylvanus Cushing Blanchard. Later owners of the house include Joseph Hodsdon, proprietor of Hodsdon Shoe Company, and Doctor Fiore Agesilao Parisi (d. 1965).

In 1890, Yarmouth built a large new school building on the site of the present, 1975-built town hall and police station. Grades 5 to 8 were on the first floor; the high school occupied the upper level.^[108] A three-story high school was constructed next to this in 1900. When all of the high-school students were sent to North Yarmouth Academy in 1930, the building became another elementary school. In 1974, both buildings were demolished to make way for the current construction.^[108]

In 1904, the town's Civil War veterans sought permission to place a soldiers monument in front of the new schools. With funds lacking, it was put off until after World War I (during which 106 Yarmouth residents served),^[13] when the project was completed in tandem with a board of trade plan to erect a bandstand. The resulting octagon structure, in the Doric order, was adorned by a plaque to the veterans. The words "Memorial To Men of Yarmouth in War Service" appeared just below the roof line. The structure was inadequately maintained, however, and had to be removed when rotting boards resulted in injuries.^[109]

Brickyard Hollow, around where the town hall now stands, looking east towards NYA

Although most of the land built on in the Hollow was for public buildings, one new home was constructed. In 1889, Dr. Herbert Merrill had a dental practice in the rear of his house, which has since been moved closer to the Rowe School.^[110] It is the building now occupied by InSight Eyecare on the InterMed campus.

In 1903, Joseph Edward Merrill (b. 1832, d. 1909)^[111] donated the funds to build a new library. The architect was Alexander Longfellow, a nephew of the poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Also involved in the library's construction was John Coombs, father of George and Albert. Despite the occasional flood, town offices were eventually established in the library's basement.^[112] The flooding was partly caused by the blockage of Cleaves Brook (where today's police station is) — which formerly drained the whole center of town — when Brickyard Hollow was filled in.

Directly across the street from the library stood the Dumphy house and barn. These were auctioned off in 1921, creating more public space in Centervale.^[113]

In 1929, a new centralized post office was built to the east of the present-day Anderson-Mayberry American Legion Hall (named for servicemen Edgar Anderson (b. 1891, d. 1918)^[114] and Edwin Mayberry (b. 1895, d. 1918),^[115] who died from the Spanish flu while based at Fort Devens).^[63] On the left side of this building was the Fidelity Trust Company. The bank failed early in the Great Depression of the 1930s.^[116] To the east of the post office stood the Knights of Pythias Hall.^[116] It became the Pastime Theatre in the 1920s, then Yarmouth Theatre between 1942 and 1956. Harriman's IGA Foodliner moved here in the late 20th century from its Main and West Elm Streets location. A KeyBank (formerly Casco Bank) and the parking lot for NYA's Priscilla Savage Middle School now stand in its place.

During the middle of the 20th century, in the plaza across Cleaves Street that formerly housed a 7-Eleven and, until 2017, Anthony's Dry Cleaners & Laundromat was the Dairy Joy ice-creamery, in front, and the Korner Kitchen (formerly the Snack Shack) behind it.

Across the street, at the intersection of Main and School Streets (in the building filled by People's United Bank), the post office occupied its final location before its move to Forest Falls Drive.

On January 2, 2009, twenty-six businesses located at 500 Route 1 were destroyed in an arson attack. The entire block, located near to the point at which Route 1 passes over Main Street, was pulled down shortly thereafter. Damage was estimated to be between $2 million and $4 million. Everett Stickney, of Exeter, New Hampshire, was convicted of starting the fire, along with another one in York, Maine, later that evening.^[117] On November 12, 2009, Stickney was sentenced to an eleven-and-a-half-year prison term and ordered to pay $3.7 million in compensation.^[118] The building was replaced in 2008 and several businesses have moved in.

Upper Village

Andy's Handy Store, at the corner of Main and East Elm Streets in the Upper Village, looking east from Latchstring Park in 2008. Known locally as Handy Andy's, it was the location of the first phone call between Yarmouth and Portland^[119]

The same view in 1947

In contrast to today, people who lived near "the Corner" of Elm and Main Streets in the 19th century would not think of shopping at the Lower Falls end of the latter thoroughfare. For over 150 years, much of the retail activity in the Upper Village occurred in the area of these old brick stores. Some of the oldest buildings on Main Street are those on its southern side, clustered between the Catholic and Baptist churches.^[120] The Daniel Wallis house at 330 Main Street, for example, was built around 1810.^[120] Around the middle of the 19th century, Captain Cushing Prince, Jr. (b. 1786, d. 1869)^[14] moved here from his historic house on Greely Road.^[120]

Businesses and residences in the Upper Village and the area around the intersection of Main and Elm Street, which officially became known as Yarmouthville in 1882, included (roughly from west to east):

This brick building, built in 1862 by Samuel Fogg and Ansel Loring, used to house (from left to right) Marston's dry goods store and Leone R. Cook's apothecary

The southern side of Main Street, looking southeast from Main and East Elm Streets. The building on the right, formerly Sam York's grocery store, no longer exists

A 1947 view

A 2018 view

East Elm Street, from its junction with Main Street. The horse trough in view here now stands at the intersection of Main and Center Streets

• In the mid-to-late 1870s, diagonally across from where Handy Andy's now is, was Jeremiah Mitchell's "Temperance House"^[121] tavern. Mitchell died in 1869, aged about 31. The inn's location later became the site of Wilfred W. Dunn's (b. 1861, d. 1955)^[122] house, then, between 1959 and 1972, Norton's Texaco gas station. It is now Latchstring Park^[123]
• After his death in 1811, the family of Dr. William Parsons moved into a colonial home, built around 1790 by its first occupant, Ebenezer ("Uncle Eben") Corliss (b. 1764, d. 1853),^[124] where the single-story building now stands at the corner of Main and West Elm Streets. The house was torn down in 1950.^[125] The existing building, although since widened, formerly housed a pool hall, then Harriman's IGA Foodliner
• Sam York's (b. 1863, d. 1922)^[126] grocery store (located to the east of the Parsons residence in the late 1800s; both now gone)^[125]
• Edgar Read Smith's (b. 1863, d. 1925) grocery store, which became Turner's Television sales and service business
• Adelaide Abbott's (b. 1875, d. 1913)^[127] millinery shop (located to the east of York's)^[125]
• Post office (located to the east of Abbott's),^[125] opened in May 1882. Its first postmistress was W.L. Haskell, followed by Joseph Raynes (b. 1843, d. 1939)^[128] in 1886. He remained in the position for 28 years, leaving the post in 1914 to Beecher True Lane (b. 1878, d. 1960).^[129] Anna Tibbetts Douglass (b. 1881, d. 1833)^[130] followed in 1919. This branch was closed in 1928, and a village carrier system begun at the central office^[11]
• George H. Jefford's harness shop (located to the east of the post office)^[125]
• Isaac Johnson's barbershop (located above Jefford's)^[125]
• At the corner of Main and East Elm Streets stood a nail mill in 1807. (East Elm Street was known for a period as Mill Street, before today's was given its name.) In 1891, what was then Nathaniel Foster's (b. 1781, d. 1853)^[131] Pottery was torn down, after about fifty years in existence, and a new building was constructed. Since then, more than thirty different business or owners have set up here, including, between 1906 and 1935, Arthur and Harry Storer's hardware store, Storer Bros.^[132]
• John Ambrose Griffin's (b. 1838, d. 1905)^[133] hardware store^[134]
• Joel Brooks' (b. 1799, d. 1874)^[135] pottery (today's 40 East Elm Street, which was then named Gooches' Lane), was in business between 1851 and 1888
• Andy's Handy Store – named for original proprietor, Leland "Andy" Anderson (b. 1904, d. 1987).^[136] In 1935, Anderson combined the two wooden buildings of Griffin's and an adjacent grocery store (which sold produce "at Portland prices").^[134] Now named "Handy's", it became occupied by OTTO Pizza in 2014^[137]
• William Marston's dry goods store (founded in 1859; closed circa 1968)^[138]
• Located next door to Marston's was Leone R. Cook's apothecary, where Frank Bucknam was an apprentice^[138]
• Harold Roy "Snap" (b. 1892, d. 1971)^[139] (and his father, Clarence "Pop", b. 1869, d. 1960)^[140] Moxcey's barbershop was located at the corner of Main and Center Streets, across from the Baptist church^[141] Ernest C. Libby (b. 1879, d. 1946) was an employee with the Moxceys for thirteen years before opening his own barber shop on Center Street
• To the right of the barbershop was Claude Kingsley's (b. 1889, d. 1974) candy distribution business
• Larry's Barber Shop appeared on Center Street later
• 20 Center Street is the home of Winslow Station, which served as the town's only fire station from 1953 until the mid-1990s. The building, which was constructed in 1930, is dedicated to Carl H. Winslow, who was the fire chief for forty years^[142]
• Another barber shop, beside the Baptist church, was owned by Charlie Reinsborough (b. 1909, d. 1993)^[14]
• Doctor Nat Barker (b. 1878, d. 1967)^[143] and his wife, Catherine (b. 1890, d. 1977),^[144] lived on the corner of South Street in the 1930s and 1940s^[141]
• Coombs Bros. (Albert, b. 1866, d. 1953,^[145] and George, b. 1856, d. 1923)^[146][14] candy and grocery store (located in the building between Railroad Crossing and South Street in a different construction than what is standing today). Bert set up the town's telephone service in 1895.^[13] In 1909, he established a Ford dealership on South Street,^[72] which was laid out in 1848 as part of Yarmouth's first modern housing development.^[147] Farm land was given over to house lots and sold to merchants and sea captains, such as Ansel Loring and Perez Blanchard.^[14][147] Frederick Gore (d. 1930),^[14] manager of the Forest Paper Company, lived at the corner of South and Cumberland Streets (in what is now 67 South Street) with his wife, Angie (d. 1939).^[14][147] Elmer Ring's (b. 1906, d. 1995)^[148][14] "washerette" later stood in the Coombs location, and it was he who changed the roofline and façade of the building (he also ran a hardware store, a heating and plumbing service, and a coal yard). His brother was Norman Ring (b. 1909, d. 2003)^[149]
• Captain Eben York's (b. 1874, d. 1944)^[150][14] mansion at 326 Main Street (now occupied by the Parish Office of the Sacred Heart Catholic Church next door). Father Joseph Quinn held services in the barn until it burned in 1913^[151]
• Where Peachy's Smoothie Cafe stands today at 301 Main Street was, from 1905 until 1913, Bernstein's Department Store. Robert Bernstein, born in Germany, saw his business burn down in July 1913^[13]
• St. Lawrence House – a hotel built, where the Mobil gas station near Camp Hammond stands today, to take advantage of the Atlantic and St. Lawrence Railroads coming through town. Circa 1872, it was renamed the Baker House, after its owner Jeremiah Baker (b. ca 1791, d. 1859; he previously lived at what is now 35 East Main Street, overlooking his shipyard). It was the first of several name changes, including Royal River Hotel (when owned by O.E. Lowell in the late 19th century),^[97] U.S. House, Westcustogo House and Yarmouth Hotel.^[13] The expected tourists never materialized, and the hotel burned down in 1926^[138] Grange Hall stood behind the hotel. Lowell Hall was in the second story of the stable.
• J.O. Durgan's daguerreotype salon (located just to the east of the hotel; later Gad Hitchcock's coffin and casket showroom)
• Alson Brawn's (b. 1896, d. 1993)^[152] jewelry shop (at what was then 73 Main Street; formerly Sidney Bennett's (b. 1847, d. 1901)^[153] Yarmouth Market, now Hancock Lumber)^[141]

An elm tree in front of Marston's store had a bulletin board nailed to it, upon which local residents posted, as early as 1817, public notices, circus posters and satirical comments about town affairs.^[138] Like almost all of Yarmouth's elms, it became afflicted by Dutch elm disease and was cut down in 1980.^[138]

A hospital, run by Mrs Gilbert, was on the site now occupied by Coastal Manor nursing home on West Main Street.

Prior to the Presumpscot River being bridged at Martin's Point in Falmouth Foreside, West Elm Street was a direct route to Portland and, hence, a key stagecoach stop and why it was also known as the "Portland road" (also, during a period, Chapel Street). A large barn was built beside Mitchell's tavern to house horses.^[123] The house of Richmond Cutter (d. 1857)^[14] still stands at the southern corner of Church and West Elm Streets.^[123]

Two doors further south from Cutter's house, a Methodist church was built on West Elm Street in 1898 to mark a revival of the religion. The church was disbanded thirty years later.^[123] The building, now painted yellow, has now been converted into a residence.

A Catholic church was built on Cumberland Street in 1879. The location was chosen out of fear that it would be vandalized if it was built on Main Street, for Yarmouth was a prevalently Protestant town at the time. The structure still stands as a private home, but turned sideways to the street.^[151]

A large wooden building located near the old brick schools at the intersection of West Main Street and Sligo Road served as the town hall between 1833 and 1910. It was here that the 1849 debates took place that led to Yarmouth's secession from North Yarmouth.^[154]

The school buildings mentioned above were in use throughout the 1980s. In 1847, teacher William Osgood had 74 students; as such, a second school was built beside the original soon after.^[155]

Further out on West Main Street is an imposing Italianate mansion that was built for Captain Reuben Merrill (b. 1818, d. 1875) in 1858.^[155] Merrill, who was married to Hannah Elizabeth Blanchard (b. 1822) and had four children, was killed while aboard his clipper Champlain when it ran aground near the Farallon Islands, San Francisco.^[155] After making sure his crew was safely aboard lifeboats, Merrill was hit by a piece of falling rigging, fell overboard and drowned. Neither Merrill's body nor the ship's haul of railroad iron was ever recovered. His eldest son and first mate, Osborne (b. 1849), witnessed his father's death and never went to sea again, bringing to an end the family's seafaring ways. In April 2011, his three-story, 15-room mansion at 233 West Main became the headquarters of Maine Preservation.^[156]

Broad Cove

Headstone of Reverend Tristram Gilman, located near the southern entrance to the Ledge Cemetery

The area surrounding Broad Cove, at Yarmouth's southern extremity, contains several historic homes amongst newer builds. Gilman Road, which was laid out in 1780 to give access to Larrabee's Landing, is named for the Reverend Tristram Gilman (b. 1735, d. 1809),^[157][158] a New Hampshire native who was the fourth pastor of the nearby Old Ledge Church for forty years – from 1769 until his death. He was the original 1771 occupant of the Gilman Manse house at 463 Lafayette Street, later the home of Merrill Haskell (b. 1834, d. 1885).^[159]

Captain Francis E. Young (b. 1829, d. 1856)^[160] lived between the two cemeteries. He is buried in the Ledge Cemetery.

The garrison number 60, built circa 1730 and directly opposite the Pioneer Cemetery, was the former home of the Ledge Church's first minister, Reverend Ammi Ruhamah Cutter (b. 1705, d. 1746).^[161] (Cutter was succeeded in the role by Englishman Nicholas Loring (b. 1711, d. 1763), who is buried in the Ledge cemetery.) Perez B. Loring (b. 1811, d. 1889)^[162] lived there in the mid-19th century. Between 1940 and 2001, it was home to Charles and Anita Stickney,^[163] who purchased it from Henry P. Frank.^[11]

Moving east, crossing Princes Point Road, eight historic homes exist in the stretch leading up to Cousins Island. The first house on the left (number 146) is formerly that of Captain Joseph Drinkwater (b. 1802, d. 1867)^[164] and his wife, Anna (b. 1805, d. 1892).^[165] Next, on the right, is 161, once the home of Samuel Allen Prince (b. 1820, d. 1907).^[166] Further down, on the left at 210, opposite the entrance to the Fels-Groves Preserve, is a circa-1817 brick house once inhabited by Captain Reuben Prince (b. 1792, d. 1870) and his wife, Deborah Prince (nee Drinkwater; b. 1794, d. 1878), the parents of neighbor Samuel Allen. Upon Reuben's death, the house passed to his son, Harlan (b. 1837, d. 1899),^[167] and remained in his family until his death. Arthur and Josie Fels bought the homestead in 1907.

Larrabee's Landing

Three homes exist around the Gilman and Larrabee's Landing Road triangle. First, on the left, is formerly that of Mrs. Drinkwater. Next, beyond Burbank Lane, is the former home of Mrs. Bucknam. The original part of the house, on Larrabee's Landing Road, dates from 1835 and is believed to have been built by William Bucknam (b. 1844, d. 1914)^[168] for his mother. It later became the home of New Hampshire natives Nelson (b. 1863, d. 1937)^[169] and Fannie Burbank (b. 1874, d. 1927),^[170] for whom Burbank Lane was built. They owned and operated Burbank Farm from 1913 to 1936. The house of Charles Bucknam (b. 1813, d. 1884)^[171] is the final home before Royall Point Road.

The only house originally on Royall Point Road was the farmhouse at the current number 70. Nearby was where Captain Walter Gendall (d. 1688),^[172] an Englishman,^[11] was shot while taking supplies to his troops building a fort on the eastern side of the river. There was a wharf which served the farm.

At the end of Barn Road, which is off Highland Farms Road (formerly Vaill Point Road), is Parker Point's (formerly Mann's Point), named for Yarmouth's first inn owner, James Parker (b. 1689, d. 1732).^[173][174] This was home to one of the garrisons set up to protect against Native Indian attacks.

Princes Point

The 1831-built home on the eastern side of Princes Point Road, a couple of hundred yards before the Morton Road intersection, is the former residence of Captain Nicholas Drinkwater, Sr. (b. 1794, d. 1847).^[175]

Mrs. Snell lived at the southeastern corner of the Old Town Landing Road and Morton Road intersection. Morton Road is named for Harry Newbert Morton (b. 1896, d. 1985),^[176] who built the first house on the street.^[177] Morton, a lobsterman, moved to Yarmouth in 1929 and remained there until his death at the age of 89.

A 1944 map shows Bucknam Point Road and the unnamed road slightly to the west that Umpire Way connects to. These are both off Morton Road.^[178]

In the early 1880s, Princes Point began to develop as a summer colony. For several years it had become a favorite camping spot for the villagers and the inhabitants of the inland parts of the town who came here for clam bakes and picnics. The town road ended at the John Drinkwater (b. 1795, d. 1864)^[179] barn, and here a large gate opened into the pasture which included the two points now known as Princes and Sunset Points. Captain Rotheus Drinkwater (b. 1791, d. 1866)^[180] also had a home a stone's throw away. Captain John Cleaves (b. 1843, d. 1908)^[181] fenced off a spot on his farm, at today's number 581, for the same purpose.^[11]

The first cottage was built in 1884. It was later known as Battery Point Cottage. Others soon built nearby, including Doctor Herbert A. Merrill, Leone R. Cook, George H. Jeffords, Thomas and Nellie Johnston and Wilfred W. Dunn. The first to take up a lot on the western promontory now known as Sunset Point was Samuel O. Carruthers.^[11]

In 1894 a wharf was built, and the steamer Madeline made two trips daily from Portland, stopping off at the Cumberland and Falmouth Foresides. The short-lived electric railroad running the same route forced the discontinuation of the service.^[11]

In 1899, a four-story hotel of about thirty rooms, named Gem of the Bay, was built on Princes Point by Cornelius Harris (b. 1846, d. 1920).^[182][11] It was destroyed by fire in October 1900 after two seasons in business.^[13]

Drinkwater Point

Named for Captain Theophilus Drinkwater (b. 1792, d. 1872),^[183] whose house stood at the southern end of the road bearing his name. Captain James Munroe Bucknam's (b. 1818, d. 1905)^[184] 115-acre farm^[185] extended west to where Bucknam Point Road is today.

Seaborne Drive and Channel Point Road appeared on a 1944 map of the town, as did the Homewood Inn development.^[178]