Goodwin’s Red & White Super Market is still remembered by many local residents. The long-running store was located in a building at the Mountain View Apartments housing complex. The building was acquired by the city of South Portland in 1968 and used for many years as the South Portland recreation center. It was eventually torn down to make way for our current-day Community Center.

Let’s take a look at the origins of this old store and its proprietor, Fred Goodwin.

Mountain View Apartments was a wartime project of the Federal Public Housing Authority. The complex was designed to house shipyard workers and their families, and opened in June of 1943. Mountain View covered 32.2 acres – the area that today is the site of South Portland High School and the Community Center.

Mountain View consisted of 382 apartments (222 apartments for families and 160 “living-bedroom” units for couples) which, at full occupancy, had an estimated capacity for 1,400 people.

The complex was located on a bus line and had its own community building (on the corner of Evans Street and Nutter Road, where the municipal pool is located today). The community building had almost 18,000 square feet of floor space and included a gymnasium, auditorium, billiard room, meeting rooms, lounge and more.

With two densely-populated housing complexes (Mountain View Apartments and the adjacent Broadview Park that had opened in February, 1943, along Alfred Street) there was great need for a local grocery store. In September, 1943, architectural drawings were designed by Boston architects Cram and Ferguson, for the Federal Public Housing Authority, for the construction of a store next to the Mountain View community building.

Fred Goodwin would open his store in that building in 1944.

Charles Frederick “Fred” Goodwin was born in Ingersoll, Ontario, Canada, in 1912. He grew up in Livermore Falls, attending local schools there and graduated from Livermore Falls High School in 1931; he was both class president and valedictorian. He attended the University of Maine for one year. About 1934, he moved to Perkinsville, Vermont, where he owned and operated the Goodwin Brothers general store with his brother Ernest.

Fred Goodwin married Margaret Donald in 1935. They had two sons, Nelson and C. Fred Jr., both born while the Goodwins lived in Vermont.

The Goodwin family moved here about 1943 and Fred opened his store in February, 1944. His store was independently owned, but he affiliated himself with the Red & White Stores collaborative which provided him access to Red & White-branded products at competitive prices.

Soon after the opening of his store, the Mountain View Apartment complex closed in September, 1944, due to the heating system proving to be inadequate for Maine winters. Many of the tenants relocated to the Broadview Park housing complex along Alfred Street, so they were still within walking distance of the store.

When he first opened, Fred called the store Goodwin Bros., just as his store in Vermont was called; however, within a few years, he was just using the name Goodwin’s Super Market. Goodwin’s was a good-sized store offering a wide variety of foods including groceries, frozen foods, produce and dairy products. It also featured both a meat counter and fish counter – meats and fresh fish were cut to order for customers.

While the property had been owned by the federal government when Goodwin opened the store in 1944, after the war ended, the property was put up for sale and Goodwin purchased it in 1947.

In 1951, Fred increased his space considerably with an expansion on the left rear of the original store. According to a story in the Portland Evening Express in June, 1951, “The new wing carries a complete line of paints, hardware, cooking utensils, nylons and toys. The market has been constructed in a way to allow customers to go through the grocery department into the new wing, and is believed to be the first store of its type in Maine…Both units feature a variety of nationally known products, and in its seven years of business it has grown into one of the city’s largest shopping centers.”

Goodwin’s Super Market remained in operation until 1968 when Fred Goodwin retired. The contents of the store were auctioned off in May and then he sold the property to the city of South Portland in September. The city then used the building as its recreation center for many years. Many of us still remember that rec center building with the municipal pool in a separate building behind and to the left.

Fred Goodwin died in 1996 and he is buried with his wife Margaret at the Black Point Cemetery in Scarborough.

In November, 1998, voters approved a referendum to build a new Community Center, attached to the municipal pool. Construction began in 1999 and took about a year to complete. As the final touches were being made to the new building, the old recreation center (the former Goodwin’s store) was demolished to allow for a larger parking lot along the Nelson Road entrance.

The grand opening of the Community Center took place in October, 2000.

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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