For many years, the social center of the Pleasantdale neighborhood was a building known as Whitehall at 894 Broadway (formerly known as 344 Summer St.). The impressive building was in use from 1903 to 1949. After a fire in 1949, the building was razed. The site today is the location of a rather nondescript building, occupied by a chiropractor. Let’s take a look at the earlier building and the many people affiliated with it over the years.

It was William J. “Deak” White, a carpenter, who had his “White hall” built in 1903. Deak and his wife Marietta raised four children, all born in South Portland: Lizzie, Harold, Eleanor and Caroline. White purchased the land from the Fickett family; the lot had previously been part of the George H. Fickett homestead and farm. The original Fickett farmhouse still stands at 904 Broadway, on the corner of South Kelsey Street (most recently occupied by Mainly Grains Bakers).

Whitehall was one of the largest buildings in the city in 1903. Use of the building changed over time. There was a bowling alley in the basement. The first floor had a large room in the front operated as a soda fountain/variety store with a pool room in the back.

For several years, the post office substation No. 11 was located in the building, and a barber had a chair set up in the corner of the pool hall (Gene Roberts was the barber for many years, followed by Bob Stewart). Upstairs was a large hall and meeting space where many local organizations would hold their meetings and events. The Pleasantdale Grange made its home in the upper level of the building. The upstairs space was a popular spot for people and organizations to use for dances and musical events. There was also a book lending library inside, and a gas pump outside.

Deak White operated the store, bowling alley, pool hall, and dance hall from 1903 until 1917. He then went back to his carpentry business and leased the building out to different operators for several years.

Around October, 1917, through 1919, George S. Soule took over as the proprietor of Whitehall. It was then run by Samuel Zolov from 1919 to 1920; Zolov immigrated to the U.S. from Russia when he was 20 years old, and operated grocery stores in Portland for over 50 years.

In the summer of 1920, Deak White leased the building to Ernest Durost. Ernest and his wife Margaret had been serving as the superintendent and matron of the City Home on Anthoine Street since 1907; they had been responsible for the care and maintenance of the house and farm, and they cared for the residents living there.

According to an article in the Portland Evening Express on July 14, 1920, Durost “has resigned the position, to take effect September 12 after which time he will give his entire attention to the management of Whitehall which he has leased. Mr. Durost is busy clearing out several rooms in the hall preparatory to giving the place a thorough cleaning and overhauling. It will be refurnished and put in first class shape. New stock will arrive tomorrow and it will be good news to the tenants of the building that the sanitary arrangements have been looked after and that Mr. Durost will have personal supervision over the hall in the future.”

Durost and his wife moved into an apartment in the rear of the building and began handling the operation of the facility. Deak White sold the building to Ernest Durost in 1922. While Durost was operating Whitehall, he added tennis courts on a lot next door as yet another activity to be enjoyed.

In the memoirs of Pete Taylor, he remembered it well:

“Whitehall was the gathering place for activities in Pleasantdale. It was a large three-story building and was owned by Ernest Durost, a pleasant, likeable man. The front of the store had a soda fountain on one side and the other sides were lined with glass cases stocked with cigars, cigarettes, candy, and sundry articles. The store was manned by Ernest’s wife, when he was busy elsewhere. In back of the store was a poolroom with four pool tables. Ernest supervised that area and allowed no gambling or bad behavior. He would allow no one under 16 in the room and collected the charges of 5 cents a game. When I first came to Pleasantdale there was a barber’s chair in one corner of the pool room. Gene Roberts was the barber and he later opened the shop in back of Bragdon’s store (where Campbell’s Market is now located). Haircuts were 25 cents. In the basement, there were two bowling alleys and my friends and I spent many happy hours here. Bowling was 15 cents a string. Sometimes we would act as ‘pin setters’ as automation was unheard of. For this we would be paid 3 cents a string.

“Above the store was a large hall where the Grange, Knights of Pythias, Pythian Sisters, and other organizations met. Many dances and social events took place here. One of the first shows I can remember was a ‘Punch and Judy’ show which was a yearly event, operated by a traveling puppeteer.”

Whitehall was also lovingly remembered by Blaine Davis in his column in the Portland Press Herald:

“Whitehall was a meeting place for young and old. Fraternal groups in medieval costume, the Grange, women’s clubs, the Boy Scouts, the Community Club, all met there in pleasant neighborly mingling. The Saturday night dances became so popular they attracted girls and boys from all over the city. Grammar schools staged their plays on the rough-planked old platform at one end of the dance hall, many a seven and eight-year-old made halting debuts in piano recitals…Until we were 14, the billiard hall in the rear of the ground floor was forbidden territory but from six upwards we had the privilege of visiting it about once every month for haircuts. Gene Roberts, long since gone, had a chair in a corner of the billiard room and we used to pick Saturdays deliberately as haircut day because we knew we’d always have to wait for a turn in the chair and thus could enjoy the visit longer.”

Many men in the neighborhood would go to Gene Roberts for a shave each day. According to Blaine Davis, “Gene’s rack of shaving cups was almost as much of an attraction when we first went there as was the fascinating games of dead pool, rotation, eight-ball and bottle pool the veteran cue artists were playing. There were cups, tastefully decorated with gold leaf and each bearing the name of its owner and often the insignia of a lodge to which he belonged.”

Ernest Durost was named head of South Portland’s Poor Department in 1942 so he left to manage the City Home on Anthoine Street once again. He brought in Paul E. King to manage Whitehall. Ernest Durost died in May, 1943, however, and his wife Margaret ended up selling the Whitehall property to Fremont B. Suddy that October.

Fremont Suddy ran Whitehall through 1949. On Dec. 4, 1949, a fire damaged the roof and attic of Whitehall. It was believed that a cigarette was likely the cause. There was a woman living in the apartment at the rear of the building with her two sons, but Suddy (who discovered the fire) was able to get them up and out of the building.

The fire department was able to save the structure, but with the damage to the roof, and the smoke and water damage to other parts of the building, Whitehall was left in an unusable condition. Rather than fix all of the damage, Suddy sold the building to Harris Realty in 1950 and Harris leased it to Cities Service.

The building was razed and a gas station was built on the site. The grand opening of Ray’s Cities Service gas station took place in March, 1951. There were many different gas station operators over the years. When I grew up in Pleasantdale, my brother Dave had a job pumping gas there when it was known as Humphrey’s Farm Store in the late 1970s. In the 1980s through the mid-1990s, the Big Apple operated from the site.

South Portland Historical Society offers a free Online Museum with over 16,000 images available for viewing with a keyword search. You can find it at https://sphistory.pastperfectonline.com and, if you appreciate what we do, feel free to make a donation by using the donation button on the home page. 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.

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

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