Marr & Fisher

Back in 1884 Charles J. Marr, originally of Southport, and William H. Fisher, originally of Bremen but with Boothbay roots, formed the clothing business of Marr & Fisher. Marr, who had worked in New York City as an accountant not long before, chose to join Fisher in the Harbor area as a likely place to pursue a more lucrative business. Marr & Fisher first located in the 1883 building that housed Carbone's (now The Village Market) and stayed there for many years. Early in 1887 Fisher decided to sell out his share and move to Arizona; he eventually ended up in San Diego, California. Judge George Kenniston replaced Fisher as Marr's partner until 1890. Thereafter, C. J. Marr was the sole owner.

The Gregory Block

The Gregory Block was built about 1901 at the general intersection of Commercial, Townsend, Oak, and McKown streets by Dr. George Gregory, who had his office on the second floor. Also on that floor was (I believe) dentist Dr. Edward Sprague, who came to the Harbor in 1899 and practiced dentistry until his death 54 years later. Soon after the brick Gregory Block was built, C. J. Marr's clothing business moved southwest a little to that block in fall 1902. In the first decade of the 1900s, the street floor was devoted to Marr's clothing store with a tailor and apartments on the third floor.

The wooden building just east was owned by George Gregory, and it housed the bank and custom house, a location convenient for Marr who was the customs agent. Above the custom house was a dance hall initially. For a period, Marr also had a shoe store in the adjoining wooden building, perhaps after 1906 when the big bank building was built across the intersection. The bank and the custom house then moved into that new building at the corner of Oak Street and Townsend Avenue. Dr. George's ownership of both the brick and adjoining wooden building resulted in the Register articles being a little confusing about who was in which building. I'm unsure which building dentist Dr. Sprague and Dr. George Gregory's son, family doctor Phil Gregory, occupied. Perhaps someone can straighten me out on that. Dr. Phil opened his office in one of them above the street floor in 1939. I went to a dentist on the second floor of the brick building when I was a teenager in the 1960s, a number of years after Dr. Sprague was gone.

C. J. Marr

Getting back to C. J. Marr, he was also a long-time selectman, instrumental in the Harbor's getting a water system, a member of four local fraternal orders, on the board of the banks, the yacht club, and the library. A 1901 Boothbay Register profile of Marr's clothing business described the ready made clothing as the equal of custom made—"new and nobby." Featured were boots and shoes, "up-to-date" hats and caps, "white and fancy shirts, novelties in neckwear, collars and cuffs" and more in the era of celluloid collars. Marr also carried bags and trunks and was the agent for the Globe Steam Laundry of Portland.

Much of Marr's time was devoted to the customs office after 1898, so a F. H. Albee managed the clothing store. However I'm not convinced the custom office demanded that much attention. I remember Asa Tupper telling me about the slow, intermittent pace of that popular destination and how it became a hangout for Harbor men. When Marr retired from the position in 1925, the Register article mentioned that "his genial and friendly manner attracted a host of friends sometimes referred to as the 'Sewing Circle,' and after the order of the 'Tall Stove Club.'"

In 1925, C. J. Marr's children joined the business, forming a family corporation, and they, Leslie, Russell, and Marion, remained owners. In 1930 son Leslie took a course at an orthopedic training school to better accommodate the boot and shoe trade. After World War II, Kenneth Pinkham ran the store for the Marrs briefly to 1948, when it finally went out of the Marr family after 64 years. In 1948 Chester Kingsley, a retired State medical technologist, bought the business, but he soon died.

Paine's

In 1949 Louis Elmer Paine bought the clothing store from the Kingsley estate and leased the street floor from the Gregorys, renaming it Paine's Clothing Store. Fifteen years later in 1964, Louis Paine bought the Gregory Block, including the custom house building from Dr. George Gregory's heirs. In 1964 Dr. Phil Gregory still maintained his office in the block, but he intended to move to the clinic next to St. Andrews Hospital. Louis Paine retained the brick building but sold off the custom house building to Tom Potter. I well remember Tom's wife Ruth Potter and Helene Sprague, daughter-in-law of Dr. Sprague, running the Custom House gift shop for many years. I thought it had the most attractive offerings in town, and it still has an exceptional inventory under Sandy Bugbee.

After 23 years of ownership, Louis and Gwen Paine sold the business to their son Travis Paine in 1972. Travis and Judy Paine ran the business for 33 years, until June 2005 when they sold to Sewall Maddocks Jr. The Marrs had the clothing store for 64 years, the Paines for 56; perhaps Sewall and Betty Jeanne Maddocks will continue to carry on that long tradition of a year-round store carrying fine sports clothes as well as hardy work clothes.