This week we’ll explore the life of Capt. Elbridge Matthews, his business in Knightville, and the fire that led to the founding of the Knightville Hose Company.

Elbridge Matthews was born in 1840 in Boothbay, the son of a farmer and grandson of a sea captain. At a young age, Elbridge took to the sea, working first as a cabin boy on a sailing vessel. As many young men did, he worked his way up and, by the age of 22, was already commanding his own vessel.

According to his obituary in the Evening Express: “As commander of the vessel he had visited many of the important ports of the world, crossing the line in different parts of the Atlantic and Pacific and Indian Oceans 88 times. He sailed the seas as master mariner for 24 consecutive years, never having the misfortune to be shipwrecked. His most thrilling experience, however, was during a return voyage from South America when his ship was in collision with a steamer some 400 miles from New York City. This accident happened in the dead of night and the ship was in grave danger of sinking, but Captain Matthews managed affairs so skillfully that by making temporary repairs despite the desertion of his crew in this emergency, and succeeded in reaching New York Harbor with his ship and its valuable cargo.”

He married Lovesta Hodgdon in 1863 and together they had five children: Fred, Chester, Jenny, a son Leslie (who died in infancy), and Florence “Lovesta.” The family lived in Boothbay for many years, but in 1873, Elbridge bought a plot of land on Mechanic Street (now known as Revere Street) in the town of Deering (now Portland). Within a few years, although he was still often away at sea, he built a home and moved his family there.

After his wife Lovesta died in 1883, Elbridge married Florence Hodgdon (Lovesta’s niece) in 1884. They had a daughter Marion, born in 1886.

After the birth of his daughter Marion, Elbridge Matthews decided to retire from his life as a sea captain and find a new land-based occupation. He found that in the Knightville neighborhood of Cape Elizabeth (now called South Portland). In July, 1887, Elbridge bought the existing business, and two-story building (on lot No. 38) on the corner of Cottage Road and E Street, from Jesse Dyer, Jr.

Dyer had been operating a hay and grain business on the first floor of the building since 1878. Matthews took over the store and rented out the apartment on the second floor for additional income. He also utilized the grist mill at Mill Creek, until that mill was destroyed by fire in December, 1892.

Elbridge Matthews would soon bring in a partner, Elbridge Huston, and, now under the name of Matthews & Huston, they also operated two grain stores in Portland; one on Woodford Street (the section then known as Spring Street) and another at 221 Kennebec St.

On March 5, 1894, the grain store building in Knightville was destroyed by fire, along with the Oasis Hall (also sometimes known as the Golden Cross Hall). The cause of the fire was believed to have been related to the statewide election that had just taken place. As results came in, the majority of towns were reporting Republican victories and some of those celebrating were doing so around bonfires. It was believed that sparks from a victory bonfire drifted into the stable that was attached to the Matthews grain store. The fire spread quickly from the stable and soon enveloped the building. The family living on the second floor was not harmed, but two horses in the stable were unable to be reached and they died.

The massive fire spread to adjacent properties.

The building just to the left of the grain store, the Oasis Hall at 20 E St., was soon in flames. Members of the local lodge of the Red Men were meeting inside and they narrowly escaped before the building was consumed. The E Street School and a residence just adjacent to the Oasis Hall also caught fire, but those buildings were saved. The S.S. Lightbody drug store across the street from the grain store had a large pane of glass crack, reportedly from the heat of the fire.

After the debris was cleared away, plans were drawn and two new buildings were quickly erected. An article in the Portland Daily Press on May 21, 1894, gives a description of the two new buildings: “The two fine buildings being erected side by side in Knightville, the one the Matthews business and tenement block, for the storage and sale of flour and grain below, and for tenants above, and the other the new Golden Cross hall, for the accommodation of all the village secret and social orders, will, when completed, be two as large and substantial wooden structures as the town affords. The whole interior of the Matthews building will be sheathed with hard pine, except a space 14 feet square, set apart for office room. This is already finished with birch floor, whitewood ceiling and walls, and heavy cypress cornice. It will be furnished with desks and chairs in walnut and oak. A mammoth oriel window in the second story is a prominent feature of the elaborately finished front of this building. The new Golden Cross hall will be far better and larger than the one destroyed by fire. The second floor is sustained by several heavy steel beams, 20 inches deep. While this ensures absolute safety to the various orders that meet on this floor, it leaves the lower hall free from pillars and like hindrances to fairs, dances and other social gatherings. The ornate Lutheran windows, looking out upon Main [Ocean] street, light the third or upper hall in this building. Knightville may well feel proud of these improved additions to the village.”

In his newly-constructed 90 x 50-foot building on the corner, Elbridge Matthews continued his hay and grain store in Knightville. He sold the property in November, 1898, the same year in which he had his large new residence built on Pleasant Street in Portland. He remained in partnership with Huston for a time.

Throughout his life, Elbridge was very much involved in the life of the Deering neighborhood in Portland. He served as an alderman and was a member of a number of fraternal groups, including the Odd Fellows, Red Men, and the Masons. He died in 1917 and is buried in the Matthews family plot at Evergreen Cemetery.

The grain store in Knightville continued to operate after Matthews sold it. By early 1900, Jesse Dyer, Jr. had come out of retirement and was operating the store once again, but by August, the property was purchased by Willis and David Moulton and Edward C. Reynolds, all members of the South Portland Republican Club. About a month later, they partitioned the first floor into two storefronts. Jesse Dyer retired and they hired C.B. Mills to run the grain store on one side (Mills had been a long-time store manager at the Matthews grain store, but he had more recently been operating his own hay and grain business nearby). They leased out the other half of the first floor to Shanning & Gardiner (stove and tinware dealers).

A few other tenants operated businesses from that storefront, including George Calderwood who operated a grocery there for a time in the early 1910s. In 1928, a new brick building with limestone trim was erected, designed by John P. Thomas of Portland, for a bank branch of Fidelity Trust.

Another interesting piece of South Portland history is linked to that 1894 fire in Knightville.

Residents were understandably shaken after such a large fire that had threatened surrounding homes. On March 22, members of the neighborhood met to discuss the creation of a hose company so that they would have firefighting equipment and a faster response in the event of a future fire. At the meeting, they voted to establish the Knightville Volunteer Hose Company No. 4, with James K. Turner to serve as its captain (the brother of Clarence Turner, the blacksmith).

Subscription papers were circulated and signed, and money raised to purchase a carriage, hose reel and 700 feet of hose. They stored the carriage and equipment in Capt. Webb’s stable at first, but decided that they should have their own hose house in which to store it. The town of Cape Elizabeth donated a lot of land on Church Street (now known as Thomas Street) where the town jail was located. The jail was moved to the back of the lot and the members of the hose company donated their labor to construct the building. They had the hose house framed out that summer. It took three years to fully complete the building, as they raised funds for materials. The last part of the construction was the addition of a hose tower where they could hang and dry out their hoses after a fire.

If you have photographs or other information to share about South Portland’s past, we would love to hear from you. South Portland Historical Society can be reached at 207-767-7299, by email at sphistory04106@gmail.com, or by mail at 55 Bug Light Park, South Portland, ME 04106. The society’s Cushing’s Point Museum at Bug Light Park has opened for the 2023 season. The museum is open Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Kathryn Onos DiPhilippo is executive director of the South Portland Historical Society. She can be reached at sphistory04106@gmail.com.

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