Interior Views of the Businesses in Kezar Falls - Part Two

Kezar Falls National Bank

The Kezar Falls National Bank was started by George Towle and Allen Garner in 1910.  In 1937 the top floor of the building was destroyed by fire and was rebuilt without it as shown in the photograph on the right.  The bank occupied the first floor except for a small store at west end and continued until it merged with Maine National Bank in 1972.  It merged again with Fleet Bank and then Bangor Savings Bank in 1996.  Bangor Savings sold the building and moved to Cornish.  The interior views here were taken when the bank was renovated after the 1937 fire.  Today most of the building is unoccupied.  The Bank Vice-President/Cashier, Orman Stanley, is behind the counter.  

  You may recognize the table on the right below.  It is now in the History House and holds our guest book!

Norton Hardware

            Norton Hardware was located in a very old building on Federal Road in Kezar Falls Village diagonally opposite the Kezar Falls bank building.  It was there in the mid-1800’s as Sutton Edgecomb’s grocery and hardware store.  It changed hands several times until Will Norton bought it in 1908.  Neil Hamilton and Clarence Sawyer took over the store in 1932.  At that time it expanded to include a small Five & Dime store at one end and Frank Shaw’s Barber Shop on the west side. The Hamiltons had an apartment on the second floor.  Roger Stanley and Charles Mitchell purchased the property about 1957 and ran a hardware and propane business here. They rented two apartments on the second floor and a laundromat took over the barbershop on the west end.  In 1989 a fire destroyed all but the floor and front wall on the first floor.  It was rebuilt as a one story building.  Greg Shick purchased the building in 2000.  It was sold again in 2013 and continues as “Kezar Falls Hardware” today.   The exterior picture below was taken circa 1940’s.   The interior picture was probably taken in the mid to late-1930’s and shows Clarence Sawyer and Neil Hamilton.  

Frank Shaw’s Barbershop

            Also shown in the Norton Hardware photo is the barber shop ran by Frank Shaw.  Notice the barber pole by the small addition on the right side of the picture.  The interior picture here shows Frank Shaw in the center, the other barber is unidentified.  Any ideas?  Frank died in 1952 at the age of 61.

Interior Views of Businesses in Kezar Falls, Maine - Part One

 There are many exterior pictures of businesses of Kezar Falls in the collection at History House.  However, the few with interior views add an interesting dimension and better illustrate what those businesses  looked like at that time.  Here are two of them.

Ridlon Brothers Store

According to the 1880 map of Porter this store which is located at the corner of Bridge Street and River Street in Kezar Falls Village was E. T. Edgecomb’s dry goods and grain store.  Brothers Walter and Benjamin Ridlon bought it in 1904 and the family continued to run it until 1962.  The exterior picture was obviously an early view of the building.  The first interior view was circa 1930’s and the larger one was taken in the 1950’s.  Sometime in the 1950’s a fire destroyed the second floor but the building was repaired and continued.  Today it is occupied by The Village Laundry.  

Myron Ridlon’s Drugstore

            Myron Ridlon built his drug store in 1923 a short distance beyond the Ridlon Brothers store on Bridge Street.  It is still the last building before the bridge.  The pharmacy and ice cream parlor were on the first floor and there was an apartment upstairs.  “Ridlon’s Drugstore” operated until 1966.  In 1967 his nephew, Myron Locke re-opened the building as a variety store and snack bar that operated until 1977.  Later it housed a bakery, fabric shop and an addition was added with large windows overlooking the Ossipee River for a beauty shop.  Today it houses apartments and the beauty shop, “Riverside Reflections”.   The picture below circa 1930’s.

 In this view of the drugstore, the soda fountain is on the left with tables for ice cream parlor patrons. The pharmacy is along the back and magazines and comic books were on the rack at the right. Typical drugstore toiletries were to the right beyond the magazine rack.  Myron Ridlon is shown here with his clerk, Iva Cutting.   This photograph is circa 1950.

A Letter from Uncle Ted...

Jose W. Fenderson was born in Parsonsfield March 30, 1914 and died January 20, 2013 at the age of 98.  He was the only child of Frank D. and Laura (Jose) Fenderson.  Frank Fenderson was a well-known lawyer in the area.  Jose graduated from Hebron Academy, attended Cornell Law School and served in the U.S. Navy during World War II.  He passed the Maine Bar exam in 1941 and practiced law in Sanford for many years.  He never married.  The following letter from his Uncle Ted was sent to him March 18, 1925 when he was 11 years old.  It included these delightful drawings and reads as follows:

 

                                                3-18-25

Dear Jose

    You tell your father that I am going

to try and get up to see

him in a week or so.

    I want to see you drive

those oxen too.  I am pretty

proud of you for doing so

many things.  I guess you can

drive them a lot better than

I can draw them.

Love to you all

Uncle Ted