Amato’s seems like a permanent fixture on the corner of Broadway and Evans Street; however, they built and opened that store in 1982 – not all that long ago. That corner was long home to other businesses. The railroad tracks that still run across Broadway are the main reason for the long-running commercial nature of that intersection.

The Portland, Saco and Portsmouth Railroad began running through there in 1842 and a passenger depot was built shortly thereafter. The passenger depot was located roughly in the area where Domino’s pizza is today, across the street from the corner lot we are looking at. With passengers boarding and disembarking from the train, it was the perfect spot for running a small grocery or mercantile.

Also, due to the railroad stopping at this intersection, this was the site of the first post office in Cape Elizabeth. It was established in 1853 and Jesse Dyer, Jr. was appointed the first postmaster; prior to that, Cape residents had to go to Portland to pick up their mail.

Jesse Dyer, Jr. was a grocer and ran the post office out of his store, but we are unsure of its exact location. Around 1853, there was one store on the east side of the tracks, next to the train depot; another store was located on the west side of the tracks, near the current location of China Xpress.

The corner lot where Amato’s is today was subdivided from a larger parcel. Nathaniel Bowe had purchased a large plot of land around Barberry Creek in 1858 as an investment, then sold that “gore” lot on the corner to John L. Frazier in 1859 (“gore” is a term meaning an irregular-shaped lot). The lot then changed hands numerous times – Frazier sold it to L.D.M. Sweat for $50 in August, 1860; Sweat then flipped it, selling it four days later to Eben Nutter for $55; then Eben flipped it again, selling it to Jesse Dyer, Jr. in April, 1861, for $60.

The first building on that corner that we have an image of was built by Jesse Dyer, Jr. Sometime after he bought the land in 1861, he erected the building, then sold the house and lot to Freeman Evans in 1865 for $3,500. The home was designed with a full daylight basement for the operation of a store, with the living quarters above.

Freeman Evans and his wife, Eliza Bryant, lived in the home and ran the store downstairs. The store and home faced the road that became known as Evans Street, but which had previously been known as “the road from Fort Preble to Stroudwater,” or the Barberry Creek Road, or sometimes the Barren Hill Road (although that was troublesome as Highland Avenue was known as Barren Hill Road).

There is some fame linked to the old house because the famous Arctic explorer, Robert E. Peary, and his mother once lived with Freeman and Eliza Evans. Robert’s parents were Charles Nutter Peary and Mary Wiley Peary. If you remember in a prior column, when Eben Nutter had moved to Cresson, Pennsylvania, just before the Civil War, a whole group of people had gone down there with him. This included his brother Henry Nutter and his family, and also Charles and Mary Peary (Mary was the sister of Eben Nutter’s wife Martha Wiley). Mary Peary gave birth to their son Robert in Pennsylvania, but Charles unfortunately died, leaving Mary a widow.

When the Nutters moved back to Maine, so did Mary Peary with her son, Robert. They lived for a short time on Scamman Street, then moved into the home above the Freeman Evans store, as Freeman’s wife Eliza was her cousin.

In addition to operating the store, Freeman Evans served as the postmaster from 1866 to 1867, and again from 1869 to 1875. He operated his store until around 1885, then retired. He and Eliza continued to live in the home upstairs, while the store downstairs was run by others. Around 1886-1887, Knapp, Jenness & Company operated the store (Sewall Knapp and Augustus Jenness were already operating a store just down the street on Elm Street, but they brought in a financial partner, Albert Small, and operated this second store on Evans Street).

In 1888, Augustus Jenness left the business in order to open his own store in Portland; Sewall Knapp brought his brothers into the business and they continued to operate as Knapp Bros. & Company, but they did decide to close the Evans Street store and focus on their original store on Elm Street.

The Evans Street store appears to have been vacant for a few years, then a young grocer, William E. Dyer, reopened the store and ran it from roughly 1893 to 1897. Will had learned the business by clerking at Knapp Bros. on Elm Street. Around 1897-1898, he closed the store here and opened a new grocery business on the corner of Summer Street (Broadway) and Kelsey Street. Will Dyer was very well known for that grocery which he ran for over four decades.

After Will Dyer moved his grocery business, the Evans Street store again appears to have been left vacant for several years. In 1905, Eliza Evans (a widow since Freeman Evans’ death in 1896) sold the building to Frank C. Sawyer. Frank and his wife Mary moved into the home, but did not immediately do anything with the vacant storefront downstairs.

Around 1907, Frank Sawyer leased the store space to Joseph Foster and Howard Latham, who opened their “Foster & Latham” grocery. It appears to have been very short-lived, however, as Joseph Foster left the partnership in November. Howard Latham continued on his own for a short time, but by 1908, Frank Sawyer had taken over the store and had begun operating as a grocer himself. Frank ran the store there for almost a decade, then closed it and opened a meat market at 516 Ocean St. in the late 1910s. He moved again and operated from 460 Ocean St. in the early 1920s. While he was running stores in those two South Portland Heights locations, he and Mary still lived in the home on Evans Street.

Around 1923, Frank Sawyer moved his business back to the basement level of his home on Evans Street, which now had a mail delivery address of 552 Summer St. (same house). The last change in address for the home and store was around 1928, when Summer Street was renamed as Broadway and renumbered; the new building address was 1108 Broadway, but again it was the same building.

It appears that Frank Sawyer suffered a serious loss after the Great Depression hit in 1929. Around 1930, his business shut down and the store was listed as vacant. This was common amongst storekeepers across America because the business model in those early times was to extend credit to your customers by allowing them to “run a tab” and then just pay up monthly or on some regular basis.

When the Depression hit, most people didn’t have the ability to pay their bills, leaving store owners extremely vulnerable as they needed the money to obtain more product. Many grocers failed. Looking at Frank Sawyer, after showing the store closed and no occupation around 1930, he is listed in the early- to mid-1930s, working as a peddler. It looks like he started distributing meats and provisions on a smaller basis until he was able to get his store back in operation again, which happened around 1936. Once reopened, Sawyer ran that store until his death in 1945.

After Frank Sawyer died, his wife Mary first leased the storefront to Cleon P. Hicks in 1946 and he opened Hicks IGA. Mary sold the property to Hicks in 1947. This was the last grocery to operate from that site. Hicks IGA was in operation from 1946 to 1958. Hicks then moved his store to Falmouth and sold the property to Tremarco Corporation in April, 1958.

Tremarco (which later merged with and into Gulf Oil Corporation in 1973) tore down the old home/store building at 1108 Broadway and erected a gas station on that corner. The gas station was managed by many different operators over the years, including Mulhern and Sampson in 1960, Dean’s Gulf in 1961, Ivan’s Gulf (Ivan Perkins) in 1961, Richard Feyler’s Gulf in 1962-1963, Elvin Sawyer’s Gulf in 1964, and Charles Dyer’s Gulf in 1965.

Warren Kimball operated Kimball’s Gulf at that location from roughly 1966-1976; he then opened Kimball’s Garage at 70 Park Ave. (an auto service garage that is still in operation, now run by Warren’s son, John Kimball). There were at least three additional gas stations – Mark-Man Gulf, Pleasantdale Gulf, and Ray-Mac Gulf – before Gulf Oil sold the gas station property to Dominic Reali in 1982.

The Reali family had the current store constructed in 1982 as another location of Amato’s Italian Sandwich Shop.

Can you help? Do you have a photograph of the gas station at Broadway and Evans Street? If so, please contact the South Portland Historical Society by email at sphistory04106@gmail.com, by phone at 207-767-7299, or by mail at 55 Bug Light Park, South Portland, ME 04106.

Summer in Maine Auction

It’s that time of year again – the South Portland Historical Society will open bidding on its Summer in Maine Auction on Saturday, June 24. The auction features fun things to do and places to go in Maine in the summer.

A complete list of items and bidding sheets will be set up, silent-auction style, at the society’s museum at Bug Light Park, open Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Bidding will move outside on the Fourth of July where bidding will conclude at the Independence Day Classic Car Show at Bug Light Park. The auction will close just after the reading of the Declaration of Independence at noon.

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

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