The Morgan Block
Have readers ever noticed that visible older portions of some Penobscot Avenue buildings appear to be made of some type of cement block? The following is about one those buildings and its owner, Charles Morgan.
Several years ago, the museum received a three-page handwritten account of the Charles Morgan Block and written by Morgan’s daughter Ruth. She stated that her dad quit school at 16, worked in the woods until age 19, and planned to go to work in the mill. However, he was inducted into the army, went through boot training and was about to be sent overseas when the war ended.
Morgan then decided to be a carpenter. Charles helped build several homes, including one on State Street for he and his new wife. His brother was an undertaker, and Charles became interested in becoming one himself. He studied embalming in Boston, returned to Millinocket and worked as an assistant at Bragdon’s Funeral Home.
Charles wanted to build a cement block building large enough for the family to live on the 2nd floor and have an embalming business and casket display on the first floor with a garage underneath for his hearse and a little Model A sedan.
While working in the mill, he made a “wooden block form that would make several at a time & he would wait until they were well set or cured.” Daughter Ruth’s description of the business says, “The main room had rows of caskets of all makes lined on each side. He had a small room at one side where he carried out his embalming work. He had an assistant lady, Kit Montgomery, who did the work of dressing the women, combing their hair, and any make-up put on if needed. He had a large book of casket coverings with sample cloths.”
Ruth’s writing describes one of her childhood memories of living above the funeral home. “Many the night I’ve carried up wood from the cellar having to walk thru the long line of caskets & you can bet I didn’t linger any along the way!”
Ruth also described an incident that occurred in years later when a new owner of the building was tearing down a partition in the former funeral home, “workers found a monument slab that had been used as a brace against one of the uprights. Upon inquiring from a family member, it was remembered that dad had needed a type of brace and happened to have the slab which had been ordered for a family and they hadn’t bought it.”
If you drive down Penobscot Avenue today, look near the rear of the current Tanous & Snow building, you might see some of those original Morgan made blocks!
Ruth’s writing also mentions the cemetery. She stated, “When the town was first built, the cemetery was in the park (not a park at that time). Just two graves were there when the town decided to locate a larger piece of ground where the present cemetery is. As a result, dad took up those two graves and buried them in the new cemetery. One was a man named James Ostler and the other was a little girl unknown. Both graves can be found near the entrance gate of the old section.”
Comments