Early Penobscot Avenue Businesses

             In the 1920’s, Penobscot Avenue was a busy place. Other locally owned businesses and services could be found on other close-by downtown streets. Everything you needed, from coal to heat your home, school clothes for your children, a spinal adjustment…it all could be found along Penobscot Avenue or nearby.  The following tells of a few of those businesses. Information is from the April 16, 1924 issue of The Old Town Enterprise.

            F. O. Daisey & Company were dealers in coal and wood and had a large business in Millinocket & surrounding towns. At that time, Daisey employed 20-25 men whose main job was the cutting of firewood in the woods where Daisey had acquired stumpage rights. Deliveries of the firewood were made by teams of horses or trucks. They advertised their customers “get satisfactory fuel and service and at critical times, especially during coal shortages.”

            Millinocket Bottling Company were bottlers of soda water, mineral water and non-intoxicating beverages. The proprietor was Mr. F. A. Boynton. They manufactured their soft drinks in Millinocket and were known for their ginger ale which was claimed to be one of the most superior products of its kind made in Maine. Five to six hundred cases of the company’s products were made each week. The business was located where the corner Variety Store is currently on the corner Central & Aroostook Ave. The museum has several bottles and a bottle crate.

            Have a toothache? A visit to Dr. D. H. Brown (graduate of Brown Dental School) who opened his office in the early 1920’s. “The office is a strictly modern affair, equipped with a well- arranged laboratory and the very latest appointments (equipment/furnishings). In a short time, Brown has built up a very satisfactory practice.”

            Charles Rush opened an early car dealership. His building was fireproof and had a forty vehicle capacity and an up-to-date machine shop “in charge of mechanics who are thoroughly familiar with the mechanism of Ford as well as all other makes of cars.” The dealership sold Goodyear tires which were said to “have a long life and mileage.” This business was located across from the park on the site of current Wabanaki building.

            Proclaimed as the first store in Millinocket (first one was on the mill site). James A. Kimball Trading Post (by current traffic light, park area). Kimball’s offered everything to their customers from “an assortment of staple and fancy groceries” that included “bottled, jar and canned goods; the large meat room attached is scrupulously neat and sanitary and where the choicest cuts can be had for the asking.” They also stocked “flour, hay, grain and feed. In another department may be found dry and fancy goods, and includes a splendid line of ginghams, percales, sheetings, white goods of all kinds, night dresses, pajamas, hosiery of all kinds, towels. etc.” A shoe department on the second floor had a full line of men’s, women’s and children’s boots and shoes. William O’Connell was the manager. Kimball’s had “established a reputation for giving a full dollar’s worth for every one hundred cents spent with them.”

            The “good old days” when everything you needed was available locally!