Nathan A. Cushman, founder of the Cushman Baking Company, at left with three of his sons – Kenneth, Richard and Sylvester. Contributed / South Portland Historical Society

There are still many older residents in South Portland who have fond memories of Cushman’s Bakery with their great bread, rolls, doughnuts, pies and more. For younger generations, however, they may have never heard of this once-giant bakery in New England. I recently read an interesting biography, “Nathan A. Cushman; a rugged individualist,” and it had me thinking of how many ties Cushman’s had to the South Portland community. We had two Cushman’s retail stores – one at 199 Ocean St. and the other at 435 Cottage Road. Nathan A. Cushman built and lived in the home at 2 Bay Road. His oldest son, Sylvester, lived at 20 Drew Road in Danforth Cove; that home was built for him circa 1938. Nathan’s youngest son Kenneth lived at 593 Preble St. in the mid-1930s, then around 1938 had a house constructed at 40 Ledge Road (known then as 40 Ocean Road) in Loveitts Field. Let’s take a look at Cushman Baking Company and the family that founded it.

Nathan Cushman had this home at 2 Bay Road constructed around 1948 and lived there in his later years. A summer cottage previously occupied the site. Contributed / South Portland Historical Society

Nathan A. Cushman was born in Illinois in 1869. His older brothers had moved to New York to work for their uncle, H.B. Cushman, who had established a thriving bakery business in Manhattan. At age 17, seeing his successful brothers, Nathan wanted to go to New York, too, but he was expected to stay and work on the farm until he was 21. To get his father to agree to his New York adventure, he promised that he would send half of his pay home until he turned 21.

The H.B. Cushman bakery did a terrific business and the company expanded by having each Cushman family member eventually set off to run another Cushman bakery on their own. During the time when he owned his first bakery, Nathan began dating Annie Beattie, who worked in his store. They married in 1895. While living in New York, they had four sons – E. Sylvester, Richard, Harold and Kenneth. Nathan would end up operating an even larger store in New York, taking up a whole city block, consisting of a combination bakery and butcher shop.

After a couple of family vacations to Maine, it was time for a change. Already a wealthy man in the early 1900s, and at the instigation of his sister who owned Little Wood Island, Nathan purchased Burnt Coat Island. This 20-acre island in Casco Bay is very near Sebasco Estates in Phippsburg. Around 1909, while still owning a bakery in New York, Nathan moved his family to Portland and got to work on the island, clearing a lot, building a house, a road, a wharf – most of it all done by manual labor. He would transport supplies by boat from Portland.

The Cushman’s Baking Company plant at 107 Elm St. in Portland. Contributed / South Portland Historical Society

During these years, he was also planning to open a Portland bakery. He bought up an old railroad depot, the rundown Eagle Hotel and a few other buildings, and had a large factory building constructed at 105-107 Elm St., at the corner of Kennebec Street, in Portland. The business began operation in December 1914.

He had a few issues at the start of the business. While New Yorkers liked to eat hard rolls for breakfast, customers here were not used to that, so he had to switch to soft rolls and biscuits. He also found out that people here like doughnuts for breakfast, so he added those as well. Perhaps the biggest change was related to how he got paid. With the New York business, his customers were quick to pay; here in the Portland area, not so much. So he changed his whole system of delivery. Instead of employing delivery people, he decided to make them all independent contractors. His delivery men were responsible for their own vehicles and they would buy product at a 30% discount, which gave them better incentive to work harder to develop their own businesses so that they could make more money. For a hard worker, being employed as a Cushman’s delivery man typically meant earning more than delivering for another company. Nathan also introduced profit-sharing for his employees in years when the company had made a profit.

This card would be placed in the window, letting the Cushman’s Bakery deliveryman know that you wanted him to stop to take your order or deliver product. Contributed / South Portland Historical Society

All four of Nathan’s sons would play an active role at Cushman Baking and Nathan’s other companies. While Nathan was the president and owner of Cushman’s, his eldest son Sylvester was first vice president and general manager, Kenneth was vice president, Richard was treasurer and Harold was a director. Nathan’s brother-in-law Joseph McKane was a director and worked as the production manager.

Kenneth Cushman, in his memoir, described the business in the 1920s: “It is easy to see how the original plant soon became too small. The assimilation of surrounding homes and perhaps six additions to the plant took place. Finally, the closing of the road to the next block and the acquisition of the National Biscuit plant made the Cushman bakery extend for two blocks.

“Along with the additions, new types of bread-ovens supplanted the old hearth ovens. New large dough mixers and a new doughnut room with equipment were added. Sliced bread was introduced – a most welcome invention. A completely automatic cookie and English muffin setup was installed, which was the last word at the time.

“Finally, bagged flour was replaced by a tank-car system that blew the flour into large bins. It was different from the early days, when N.A. himself helped unload the flour. He never asked an employee to do a menial job he would not do himself. Yet he never wanted to be behind the times, and we were always among the first to adopt new methods. He was not hidebound, and was always ready and flexible for new ideas.”

Nathan Cushman had many other ventures. In 1920, he purchased Oakhurst Dairy. That came about after one of his very successful delivery men, Stanley T. Bennett, was offered a management position at the then-small Oakhurst Dairy on Woodford Street. A few months later, the owner of that company informed him that he could no longer afford to employ him and said he would love to sell his business. Stan Bennett went straight to Nathan Cushman who agreed to buy the business and established Stan as its manager. He incorporated the business as Oakhurst Dairy Company in December 1921 and within a year had constructed a new factory building on Forest Avenue.

In 1927, Cushman opened another large, successful bakery in Lynn, Massachusetts, and his son Harold moved to Massachusetts to run that plant. Another endeavor that occupied much of Nathan Cushman’s time was his development of Sebasco Estates in Phippsburg, Maine. He purchased the land in 1920 and summered there with his family for many years. They built a cottage from trees on the property, built the fireplace with stones from the beach, and then started adding more – a tennis court built with clay that they harvested from the cove, a swimming pool and then a nine-hole golf course. In 1930, they officially opened the Sebasco Lodge hotel and Shore Acres Golf Course, which was run by son Richard and his wife Ruth.

Nathan Cushman died in 1952. His sons sold their controlling interest in the Portland bakery in 1962; Cushman Baking would eventually cease operation in 1969.

Kathryn Onos DiPhilippo is the executive director of the South Portland Historical Society. The historical society offers a free Online Museum with nearly 17,000 images available for viewing with a keyword search. You can find it at 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 hope you will reach out to us. 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.