A few months ago, I shared with you some photographs I’d taken over the years showing Wiscasset’s not too distant past. Here are a few more taken by me in the late 1970s and early 1980s. We’ll start on Route One with the wood-framed building some of you might remember that served as home to the Bass Shoe Factory Outlet. This building was moved off the property in the early 1980s following construction of a small strip mall known now as Wiscasset Marketplace.

The Bass Outlet served as the anchor store for two other factory outlets, Kidsport and the Yankee Shopper. A few years later the mall was expanded and more stores added. I don’t recall who bought the white building in the picture, or where it was moved to. What I can tell you is before it was leased to the G.H. Bass Shoe company for an outlet, it had been home to a pharmacy. Bradley Ranta, who has since died, was the pharmacist. This was a time when Wiscasset had two pharmacies; the other one, Whitfield’s Drug Store, was located downtown on Main Street and owned and operated by Bill Whitfield of Wiscasset. The Ranta family later purchased Whitfield’s Drug Store vacating the Route One building. After Mr. Ranta retired, the pharmacy became a part of the former Pendleton’s Village Market, a grocery store located next door, and now home to, In the Clover, a boutique.  

Pendleton’s Village Market and Whitfield’s Drug Store are shown in the picture of Main Street taken in the summer of 1979 when parking was still permitted along Main Street. On the corner you’ll see a sign directing customers to The Milk Shed; that was an ice cream parlor that became celebrated for letting customers top off their sundaes with as much butterscotch, chocolate, hot fudge sauce, whipped cream, caramel, strawberries, etc. as they wanted. The Milk Shed’s owners were Fred and Lois Hart who resided in the former Wiscasset Inn, aka, the Stacy House that's the white brick building located between Middle and Federal streets. The Milk Shed, once attached to the inn, was moved to the grounds beside the inn. Along with ice cream the Harts sold cold sandwiches and soft drinks. They opened in 1969 with the promise customers could, “Make Your Own Sundae!” The Harts ran the business successfully for 10 years then leased it for a few summers before it eventually closed. The Harts have long since gone to meet their maker and the Stacy House has been converted to apartments. The building where The Milk Shed was located, vacant now for over 30 years, still bears its name above the side windows. The picture shows a line of vintage metal milk cans along the front walk.

The photograph of the old warehouse was taken in March 1979 from the old Wiscasset bridge. For decades this rambling three-story building fronting the Sheepscot River served the former Wiscasset Lumber Company owned and operated by the three Sherman brothers, Walter, Gerry and Stanton Sherman. It had originally been home to the Turner Center, a creamery which opened in 1905 and shipped its ice cream and dairy products over Maine Central Railroad. After the Turner Center closed in the 1940s the Shermans bought the property. The railroad siding where the freight cars were loaded with dairy and later lumber products was removed when the warehouse was torn down. In the picture you’ll see a sign advertising The House ’N Barn. This was a store that sold yarn and knitting supplies on Federal Street behind the Sunken Garden; the shop was in the front of house, which is now home to Red Bull Antiques. Choppy Tarbox and her husband Roland owned The House ’N Barn. The front porch, which has since been removed, was where the judges would sit to watch Wiscasset’s annual Fourth of July parade. Today, the Creamery or Main Street Pier, home to Sprague’s Lobster and other attractions, is located on the site of the former Wiscasset Lumber Company/Turner Center warehouse.

Another picture shows the reconstruction of Wiscasset High School’s athletic field and parking lot. In the background is the white steeple of the Church of the Nazarene. As you can see from the picture, this project in early 1980s was quite an undertaking involving a good deal of earth work. It culminated in a new parking area and driveway along with reconfigured baseball and softball fields.

Also included is a picture from the early 1980s of Ken’s Auto Body and Norm’s Used Cars on the corner of Routes One and 144. Ken Sherman owned and operated the auto body shop abd his son Norman had just opened his used car business when this picture was taken. Norm’s Used Cars, considerably larger, is still going strong today. 

For me old photographs are like windows to the past allowing us to connect with a different time. They are unique because each picture tells its own story, one that invites us to remember, reflect, and re-imagine the present.

Phil Di Vece earned a B.A. in journalism studies from Colorado State University and an M.A. in journalism at the University of South Florida. He is the author of three Wiscasset books and is a frequent news contributor to the Boothbay Register-Wiscasset Newspaper. He resides in Wiscasset. Contact him at pdivece@roadrunner.com