This photo was probably taken soon after the store was built about 1887. The back part had not been added at this time. At the far left of the photograph one of the twin rusticator cottages, either the A. B. Farnham Cottage or the W. P. Dickey Cottage, is visible.
Description: This photo was probably taken soon after the store was built about 1887. The back part had not been added at this time. At the far left of the photograph one of the twin rusticator cottages, either the A. B. Farnham Cottage or the W. P. Dickey Cottage, is visible.
Description: Lawler purchased the building in 1923. The other half of the building was occupied by the Robinson Brother's Automobile Accessories salesroom
Started as a contracting business in 1949, Archie McEachern bought out his uncle Jasper Hutchins in 1957 and transitioned the business to a lumber and hardware supply. The store expanded to multiple locations and was taken over by Archie's son, Les.
Description: Started as a contracting business in 1949, Archie McEachern bought out his uncle Jasper Hutchins in 1957 and transitioned the business to a lumber and hardware supply. The store expanded to multiple locations and was taken over by Archie's son, Les.
John C. Ralph’s Studio has a complicated history. The J.C. Ralph Studio and Store, on Main Street in Southwest Harbor, proclaimed itself, "Eyeglasses and Spectacles - Jeweler and Optician." "Jeweler John C. Ralph moved from Bar Harbor to Southwest Harbor in 1888 to open a jewelry window in J.T.R. Freeman's store. Over the course of his 22-year tenure in Southwest Harbor, this ambitious man established many businesses...As described in the newspaper, Ralph never walked when he could run." -“Mount Desert Island - Somesville, Southwest Harbor, and Northeast Harbor” by Earle G. Shettleworth Jr. and Lydia B. Vandenbergh - Images of America Series, p. 57 – 2001. “John D. Lurvey purchased the lot and built thereon a small building which he used as a storehouse for coffins which he made, as he was a skilled carpenter and cabinet maker. Later this building was used as a public library and was twice moved; once to the northern end of the lot and again to the place now occupied by the Lawton Variety store, where it was used as a drug store, a jeweler’s store, a barber shop and the post office. John C. Ralph kept the post office there and enlarged the building.” - “Traditions and Records of Southwest Harbor and Somesville, Mount Desert Island, Maine” by Mrs. Seth S. Thornton, p. 148 – 1938.
Description: John C. Ralph’s Studio has a complicated history. The J.C. Ralph Studio and Store, on Main Street in Southwest Harbor, proclaimed itself, "Eyeglasses and Spectacles - Jeweler and Optician." "Jeweler John C. Ralph moved from Bar Harbor to Southwest Harbor in 1888 to open a jewelry window in J.T.R. Freeman's store. Over the course of his 22-year tenure in Southwest Harbor, this ambitious man established many businesses...As described in the newspaper, Ralph never walked when he could run." -“Mount Desert Island - Somesville, Southwest Harbor, and Northeast Harbor” by Earle G. Shettleworth Jr. and Lydia B. Vandenbergh - Images of America Series, p. 57 – 2001. “John D. Lurvey purchased the lot and built thereon a small building which he used as a storehouse for coffins which he made, as he was a skilled carpenter and cabinet maker. Later this building was used as a public library and was twice moved; once to the northern end of the lot and again to the place now occupied by the Lawton Variety store, where it was used as a drug store, a jeweler’s store, a barber shop and the post office. John C. Ralph kept the post office there and enlarged the building.” - “Traditions and Records of Southwest Harbor and Somesville, Mount Desert Island, Maine” by Mrs. Seth S. Thornton, p. 148 – 1938. [show more]