The House at 4 Hill Street

Garrett Schenck, one of the founders of Great Northern Paper Company and its first president, had a home built in Millinocket. Most of the company’s presidents and founders did not reside in Millinocket. The Schenck house at 4 Hill St. still stands although in recent years, it has housed some businesses. The house has an interesting story as told in the Dorothy Laverty book So You Live In Millinocket?

The Schenck home was built in 1907 with its foundation made of pieces of mill grindstones set in concrete. Inside the home was a large brick fireplace (in living room) and a second fireplace (dining room) which were built by mill Italian stonemasons. The front porch had five white pillars, a floor of brick and later a stone wall was placed across the front yard…all built by the stonemasons. The house had an open front porch and a master bedroom with half being a sleeping porch…both Mrs. Schenck’s ideas. The long living room had six windows on the west wall and a sunroom with a fountain at the south end.

During WWI, Mrs. Schenck allowed the Red Cross to headquarter in the family living room. Local women came daily to knit mittens, scarfs, helmets and more by hand, stitching or using treadle sewing machines. In early 1918, the Schenck family left Millinocket for Madison where Garrett Schenck took over running the Madison mill.

Another family lived in the house briefly and then GNP crews started a reconstruction of the house. Some windows were removed to make it warmer, the roof was raised to allow for four corner bedrooms, a bath and dressing room, a hall, sewing room and stairs to the attic. Downstairs, the east side of the house had a kitchen, pantry and den. The dining room separated the kitchen from the living room. The front hall and stairs were between the living room and den. A small hall closet held dusters, a box of veils and gauntlet gloves (all items worn by early automobile drivers and passengers)!

Mrs. Schenck created a spectacular garden at 4 Hill Street! There was a trellis with native wildflowers transplanted from nearby woods. A wide expanse of lawn sprouted spring flowers, and maple and poplar trees grew along the fence. The center of the lawn had a flowering apple tree and a rustic summerhouse stood in the center of the lawn. It was like the city gardens she remembered from her early life! There was even a small pond with a cedar bridge. She started a vegetable garden and added a wire fence covered with grape vines!

How do we know so much about this house? Dorothy (Bowler) Laverty, author of the book this information is from, lived in that house with her parents and sister after the reconstruction was done. Dot’s father, Frank Bowler was GNP’s head of the engineering department. The Bowler family had been living with Dr. Bryant, but the doctor was planning to open a hospital in his home, so the Bowlers needed to move. The Bowlers would live at 4 Hill Street for 30 years, though Dorothy moved out later when she married. 

The book, So You Live in Millinocket? It is available at museum (softcover, $10). It has several photos of the garden and also describes other types of housing in Millinocket prior to the 1990’s.)