Maine's Progressive Business 2012

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Maine’s Progressive Business

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Maine’s Progressive Business

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2 | BANGOR DAILY NEWS | Friday | January 13, 2012

John T. Cyr & Sons: 100 Years of School Buses & Coaches

Left: A Cyr truck with its driver, and a Cyr charter bus in the background. Middle: Four buses in use by Cyr in the 1940s at the French Island location. Right: This 1942 picture shows one of the company’s limousines at the garage on French Island.

By David M. Fitzpatrick BANGOR DAILY NEWS

Whatever John Thomas Cyr’s ambitions were when he moved from Caribou to Old Town around 1903, we know what happened after he arrived. He worked for several years at Jordan Lumber Company, and in 1912, at age 51, he founded a company with his son that is still going strong a century later.

John T. Cyr & Sons began as a livery stable with 32 horses in Old Town, but after World War I he shifted his focus to a delivery and taxi service. It was May 21, 1912 when his son, Joseph, first applied for a truck license through the city of Old Town.

His horse-drawn carriages served as everything from mail transports to coaches to hearses.

In 1922, he bought his first cars: Studebakers, to transport Old Town schoolchildren — the company’s first bus contract.

That year, he also began offering freight service. His first major freight customer: Old Town Canoe Company, hauling supplies from the railyards in and canoes out.

John and his son Joe both died in 1934, leaving Joe’s younger brother, Albert, in charge. Soon his brother Harvey, by trade a teacher and principal in Grand Isle, Maine, joined him. The brothers added a bus service by 1939 that ran from Old Town to Great Works, Milford, and Bradley, and by 1945 expanded the run to Eddington, North Brewer, and Bangor. The run then backtracked up the Brewer side because, at the time, Bangor Hydro, which ran buses back then, had exclusive public-bus rights to the other side of the river.

During World War II, the company contributed to the war effort when it contracted with the military to transport German prisoners of war to detention camps in remote regions of Aroostook, Penobscot, and Piscataquis Counties. Later, they bussed those prisoners back so they could return home.

named Cyr Bus Tours its Operator of the Year. But while the new acquisition was profitable, by 2007 Joe and Mike realized they preferred to stay in the Old Town area. They soon sold the South Portland business — to a man who had actually approached them hoping to sell his business to Cyr.

Three Generations In the early 1950s, a fire destroyed the French Island garage, and the company lost all of its eight buses — the first night all the buses had been put in the garage. But the company only lost one day of bus service; the next day, Bean & Conquest in Bangor was quickly able to provide four buses to the company, which rebuilt and kept going.

Harvey’s son Joseph, named after Harvey’s older brother, had come along in 1940. By age 10, young Joe was working for his father; by 15, with his Uncle Albert having already passed in 1952, he was driving school buses (this was normal and legal then; even into the 1970s, half of the dozen school-bus drivers at Cyr were high-school students). After graduating from Old Town High School in 1959, he went to college for two and a half years, first at Farmington Teachers College and then at Husson. But when the company’s bookkeeper, Harvey’s cousin, died suddenly, Joe joined the family business, where he worked as a mechanic, bookkeeper, secretary, and payroll clerk.

The ubiquity of automobiles in the 1960s saw the end of the public bus service. And when Joe took over the company in 1967 following Harvey’s death, he discontinued the trucking business to focus on buses. At that time, the company had 13 buses, two

Today and the Future Today, the company consists of two major divisions: John T. Cyr & Sons, which operates school buses; and Cyr Bus Lines, which operates motor coaches in and outside of Maine.

The company employs 235 people and has over 250 vehicles, including 200 school buses for 18 school departments and 21 coaches doing 4,000 charter trips and tours. Last year, the company traveled 3.1 million miles and burned 500,000 gallons of fuel.

Cyr does 95 percent of its own vehicle service, from tuneups to minor mechanical work to major engine and transmission rebuilds to body work.

And it’s still a family business.

Joe is at the helm, and his son Mike runs the motor-coach division and takes care of the company’s computer needs. Joe’s brother Peter Cyr handles body work, and Joe’s daughter Becky Whitmore is the company bookkeeper.

Joe has two grandsons: Becky’s 8-month-old, Ian, and Mike’s 12year-old — named John T. Cyr. Joe hopes the family’s interest in the business will continue.

Joe said it’s hard to guess what John T. Cyr would think of the operation today, because he never knew his grandfather. But “My father — his stomach would growl, because it would be too much; he was a worrier,” he recalled. “My grandfather probably would be the same way. It’s grown... we’re a pretty big business.”

And the future? “We’ve taken growth as it’s come,” Joe said.

“We haven’t gone looking a lot. I think we’re just going to go on as we’re going.”

BDN PHOTO BY DAVID M. FITZPATRICK

The Cyr family with one of its new coaches, which is emblazoned with “Serving you since 1912.” From left is Ruby Whitmore; her mother Becky Whitmore (Joe’s daughter), bookkeeper; Joe Cyr, president; Mike Cyr (Joe’s son), Charter Manager; Pete Cyr (Joe’s brother), body man.

trucks, and 14 employees.

In 1970, another fire struck the French Island garage, possibly started by welding. It wasn’t as bad as the early-1950s fire, and the company wasn’t slowed.

In the wake of the 1970s energy crisis, Joe tried to revive the Old Town-Eddington-Bangor run, but it didn’t fly — although a shuttle service at the University of Maine in Orono did for a time.

But the company’s serious growth began in 1976, when it won the contract to bus Brewer schoolchildren, the first major account outside the Old Town area. The company landed the Bangor contract a few years later, and its growth began accelerating.

In 1975, Joe had also expanded into motor coaches when he’d bought a used 1959 GMC (which he still has today). In 1984, when the Highway Division of the Bangor & Aroostook Railroad quit its Aroostook run (which had begun following B&A’s exit from passenger rail service) Joe picked it up; about 27 passengers per day used it, and Joe’s wife, Suzanne, became the tour coordinator. In 1990, the company purchased Northstar Tours, which specialized in group tours and charter coaches throughout U.S. and Canada. The new company was Cyr Northstar Tours.

By 1991, Cyr was the largest school-bus company in Maine, For 2012, Joe Cyr personally applied stickers celebrating the with 120 buses, 25 vans, and 150 company’s centennial to every one of the company’s buses. employees. That year, the Maine Society of Entrepreneurs named Joe and Suzanne Cyr Entrepreneurs of the Year, and former Sen. Margaret Chase Smith presented the award to them at her namesake library in Skowhegan.

The Aroostook run didn’t fare so well. With just 16 passengers per day, it no longer paid for itself, but Joe wanted to provide people with the service and keep

a driver employed. He applied for a state subsidy to keep it alive; he got it, and has gotten it every year since, ensuring bus service to and from Aroostook year-round.

Recent Developments In 1992, Cyr was maintaining 14 full-sized, 40-passenger coaches licensed to travel throughout the country, and offered 50 chartered tours that year, including one to Alaska. But something big happened in 1992.

After 70 years of John T. Cyr & Sons bussing its schoolchildren, the city of Old Town dropped the company in favor of a lower bidder on a three-year contract.

Champion had bid $576,267, $21,123 less than Cyr. This was despite Cyr paying $54,772.50 in excise taxes to Old Town in the fiscal year ending June 30, 1991 for vehicle registrations. Old Town came back to Cyr when the contract renewed three years later, and has been with the company ever since.

It has never been “all business” for Joe; he’s always been very

active in his community, serving on the boards of such institutions as St. Joseph Hospital, Merrill Merchants Bank, and the Old Town-Orono YMCA. In fact, Joe had been one of the first, and strongest, supporters of the new field house at the Orono YMCA; when its cost ballooned to $1.4 million, a group of volunteers from many organizations worked to finish the construction themselves and keep the cost at $800,000. The Cyr Family Field House opened in 2001, and led to a marked increase in the YMCA membership.

In December 2003, the company acquired the former Maine Line Tours & Charters of South Portland, which had been operating as a division of Massachusetts-based Peter Pan Bus Lines.

The acquisition made Cyr the largest tour bus and charter company in Maine, with plans to offer 125 tours per year. A year later, Cyr leased the former Maine Line facility in South Portland and kept the manager on. In 2004, Metro Magazine

Joe Cyr, president of John T. Cyr & Sons and grandson of the founder, at the Old Town headquarters in November 2011, as one of his many school buses pulls out of the yard. (BDN photo by David M. Fitzpatrick)

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Maine’s Progressive Business

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Bangor Neon: 64 Years — Signs, Signs, Everywhere Signs

By David M. Fitzpatrick BANGOR DAILY NEWS

It was 64 years ago when a hard-working man started a small business that grew to become the local icon it is today.

And even if you’ve never given Bangor Neon a second thought, chances are you’ve seen the company’s work. In fact, if you drive through the Greater Bangor area, you likely see it everywhere.

Bob Treworgy and Joe Willette were childhood friends who grew up in Bangor’s “Little City,” the area between Center Street and Kenduskeag Avenue. Fresh out of high school, Bob enrolled in the Maine School of Commerce (what is now Husson University).

But World War II was raging, and the young men were soon drafted into the Army, shipping out almost straight to Belgium in 1944. Bob served with the 106th Infantry, the notable group that fought at the Battle of the Bulge.

The American forces lost thousands of men, but Bob was fortunately stationed at Personnel HQ as a company clerk and came home safe.

Bob returned to college for three years to earn a business degree, while Joe had his eye on working at the Post Office. While heading down to apply, he noticed a business on Harlow Street: Maine Neon Light Manu-

facturing Company. He put his GI Bill to work learning a trade as a neon-tube bender there, and when Bob graduated in 1948, the pair went into business as Animated Neon Signs.

The venture, fueled by $400 they scraped together, began in the garage of Bob’s father, Laurence, who also provided a box trailer and a wooden ladder. With Joe bending glass tubes for neon signs and Bob on the road making sales and installing signs, they worked long, hard days for several years.

By 1951, the established business moved to 143 Garland Street, which didn’t even have its own bathroom; the guys had to run home to use the facilities.

There, they purchased their first truck. They constructed a homemade boom out of pipe and wood after being inspired by a similar truck in town.

Then came the name change.

“Animated Neon Signs” had been Bob’s idea, so it would be first alphabetically and different from other sign companies — but it was so different nobody remembered it. They settled on a much easier name: Bangor Neon.

Success and Expansion In 1952, with business picking up, they were able to hire their first employee. But even then, the public’s fascination with neon signs was waning; back-lit Plexi-

glas signs were becoming the “in” thing. Always ready for reinvention, Bob and Joe traveled to Moncton, N.B. to visit a plastic signmaker and learn how to adapt their business to that new technology. And about 1954, Bob’s wife Grace, who had worked as a bookkeeper for Merchants National Bank for 10 years, came aboard to handle the books for Bangor Neon.

From early on, the men understood how to market themselves by communicating the importance of good signs. “Better Signs Bring Better Sales” was their advertising slogan in 1957. They also knew how to constantly adapt to new technology: “The Most Progressive Sign Company” was their next slogan, used until 1977.

In the late 1950s, the company relocated to 9 Henry Street, but when the Interstate 95 construction came through town, Henry Street was eliminated. Bangor Neon moved a few doors down on Broadway, where Bob and Joe bought the old Crowder Auto Paint Shop.

BDN PHOTO BY DAVID M. FITZPATRICK In 1966, after 18 years in The Bangor Neon family poses with their new company sign, still under construction in the business together, Bob and Joe amicably parted ways. Joe went shop. From left: Ansley Hansen, her father Joel Hansen, her grandmother Grace Treworgy, and her mother Gayle Treworgy Hansen. This 9 x 10 sign will ultimately stand 24 feet high and off to work for a national billboard company, and also pur- will incorporate many different sign techniques the company can do, including aluminum panels with routed-out letters, backed with white acrylic, push-through white acrylic letters, a chased a hotel in Holden. Howcolor video display, a sign with changeable faces, and LED light strips separating everything. ever, he later returned to work for Bob for a brief time on an independent basis before his death in 1976. ly over the next 30 years. needs a sign, it’s shipped in for Bangor Neon’s final relocaNeon’s resurgence into the installation. Likewise, Bangor tion, to 1567 Outer Hammond 1990s has since fallen away as Neon sometimes crafts signs that Street where the old Plaid Stamps low-energy, low-maintenance it ships out of state and has other store had been, happened in LED lights have become a main- companies install.

1971. Just two years later, Bob stay in lighted signs. Years ago, With neon being far less than and Grace’s daughter, Gayle, the company began using lighted even 5 percent of what the comspent her senior year of high marquee signs; today, full-color pany does, the name “Bangor school at art school in Boston, a LED signs are big business.

Neon” might seem a bit atavistic. venture that gave the 18-year-old Digital printing is also huge. But the name reflects the compaskills in graphic design that she Recent 60-inch equipment ny’s roots — and is highly recogbrought back to the family busi- installed at the shop include a nizable. ness in 1974. At that time, she plotter, which cuts shapes with Bob Treworgy died in 2007, drew everything with a pencil. a blade; a printer that can print leaving the business he built from Even in 1983, when her future on just about any flexible mate- nothing in the capable hands of husband, Joel Hansen, started rial; a printer that can print on his wife of 63 years, his daughter, there, everything was manual; firm media such as foamboard and his son-in-law. Nobody has they’d use a projector to project a or metal; and a laminator. any doubt that Bob would appreclient’s business card on the wall, Computers control all these ciate the continued advancewhere they’d hand-trace letters devices; you could print on ments. and logos onto paper, then onto material, run it through the “He liked the idea of how far carbon paper. They’d then draw laminator, and then have the technology had changed,” Joel plastic letters and hand-cut plotter cut out shapes. Bangor Hansen said. “He was very excitthem.

Neon can print and cut any- ed about it when we got the first thing, even gigantic sheets of plotter that cut stuff — because Increasing Technology small decals (far easier than he had to do so much manually.”

By the mid-1980s, when neon doing it by hand). The company As for Grace Treworgy, at 86 had found a resurgence in popu- will letter anything, from truck she still comes to work nearly larity and the company was still doors to boats to motorcycle every day, continuing the work always learning new ways to do helmets. her husband began in 1948. And signs, computers arrived and The company has long done she has her daughter, son-in-law, began making their work easier. “forwarding work,” receiving and granddaughter right there By 1995, the technology was signs from national sign compa- with her. advancing in leaps and bounds, nies and doing the installs — for “I’m so lucky to have my famand the company was doing example, when a national restau- ily here,” she said. “Can you see everything from vinyl lettering to rant chain or car dealership why I love working here?” sandblasted wood signs. Technology change quickly and constantPHOTOS COURTESY OF BANGOR NEON

Top: In the 1950s, Bangor Neon was briefly located on Henry Street. When the I-95 project wiped out Henry Street, Bangor Neon relocated down the street in the old Crowder Auto Paint Shop.

Note the Esso/Webber Oil billboard at the upper left, and the Swift’s Premium Ham billboard to its right.

Middle: Bangor Neon in the process of erecting signs for the new Chili Pot restaurant in Ellsworth in October 1974.

Bottom: Bangor Neon erecting a sign for Kev-Lan in

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4 | BANGOR DAILY NEWS | Friday | January 13, 2012

N.H. Bragg: 158 Years, Six Generations of One Family

By David M. Fitzpatrick BANGOR DAILY NEWS

N.H. Bragg has continuously evolved, adapting to fit the times and its customers’ needs. Today, it’s the regional cornerstone of industrial supply — and it all started with two men and a bigcity plan.

Norris Hubbard Bragg had worked as a blacksmith in Dixmont for about 20 years when he and Sumner Basford relocated to Bangor and established the blacksmith-supply business of Bragg & Basford on Broad Street in 1854. With two employees and stocked with iron, steel, and blacksmith goods, business was good from the start.

Bragg’s son, Norris Everett Bragg, joined the company in 1860. Just three years later, for reasons unknown, Bragg bought out Basford; in fact, lists detailing how they divided their assets survive today. Bragg continued the company as N.H. Bragg; when he admitted his son into partnership by 1866, it became N.H. Bragg and Son. But Bragg died in 1867 at just 52. Norris took his brother Charles Fred Bragg, just coming of age, as a partner in 1871, renaming the company N.H. Bragg and Sons. Knowles’ Bangor Business Almanac for 1875 noted that the wholesale and retail company “has steadily grown and in addition to iron, steel and blacksmith goods, with which it started, it has extended into the carriage hardware and wood work business in which the firm carries a full stock.” The company had expanded into other venues, including coal, striving to provide whatever its customers required.

Technology helped out early, starting with regular telegrams through the nearby telegraph office. At some time in the 1880s, the company had telephone service installed; it began in June 1880 through the Bangor Telephone Exchange, with Bell Telephone charging $41.98 for connection and a year of equipment rental. At this point, according to the 1882 History of Penobscot County, N.H. Bragg and Sons was “the well known iron and hardware dealers of Bangor.”

For more of the fascinating history of N.H. Bragg, read N.H. Bragg & Sons: 150 Years of Service to the Maine Community and Economy by local writer and historian Trudy Irene Scee, Ph.D. N.H. Bragg commissioned the book to celebrate its 150th anniversary in 2004. It’s full of facts, anecdotes, and photos detailing the company’s history of this company. You can check it out at the Bangor Public Library or order at www.NHBragg.com (just search for “book”).

PHOTOS COURTESY OF N.H. BRAGG

Left: Downtown Bangor in 1875. Pictured here are (from left): Charles F. Bragg, son of founder Norris Hubbard Bragg; Henry A. Williams and Collet Frost, likely the only employees then; and Norris Everett Bragg, Charles’ brother, who worked first with his father as “N.H. Bragg & Son.” Norris took over the business after his father had died, and took on his brother as a partner in 1871, just as the boy was coming of age. Right: About a third of the company’s employees pose in August 1939. From left: Donald J. Eames, Omar Gerrish, Charles O. Tuck, Howard W. Libbey, Reginald E. Brooks, C. Mel Varney, Cecil H. Herring, Victor A. Viola, Charles F. Bragg 2nd, and Ugo F. Viola.

Community and Growth Beyond a shrewd businessman, Charles was a community force.

He served as mayor, helped establish the Bangor Public Library, served as president of the Bangor Chamber of Commerce, and was involved with the Home for Aged Women (established 1870s) and the Home for Aged Men (1880s), which would merge in the 1970s to become the Phillips-Strickland House. He was part of the Knights of Pythias, once declining the esteemed position of supreme chancellor due to his business commitments. In 1884, along with the likes of Hannibal Hamlin, Charles and Norris were founding members of Bangor’s famed Tarratine Club, and Charles once served as its president. In the early 1900s, he headed Orono Pulp & Paper, and was one of the first in Bangor to own an automobile (with a chauffeur, even).

The turn of the 20th century saw changes. In 1890, it carried everything from shoe shapes, nail rods, and iron and steel of all shapes and sizes to rims, hubs, wheels, spokes, yokes, and more.

It began phasing out coal, which was gone by 1900, but more importantly its business model began changing. Instead of waiting for orders, it began using salespeople to go out and find business. Henry Williams, who had been employed since 1865 at age 17, became key to the company’s sales effort well into the 20th century. Williams and others gradually expanded the sales territory until the company was calling on customers in Maine just about anywhere north and east of the Kennebec River.

Charles’ son, Franklin Everett Bragg, joined the company as a junior partner in 1900; Norris’ son, Roland Everett Bragg, followed a year later. When Norris died in 1905 at 60, Charles incorporated the company and became its first president, with Franklin as treasurer.

Horses and carriages had begun to give way to automobiles by the end of the century, and this led to a shift in focus. The company began stocking parts for the ubiquitous Ford Model T; after all, a store known for carrying carriage parts was the logical place for auto parts. As well, with electricity changing the world,

Left: Norris Hubbard Bragg, circa 1860, not long after he cofounded Bragg & Basford. Right: John Bragg, the fifth-generation leader of the company, shortly before his retirement in 2011. His nephew, Jon Eames, has taken the lead.

But it turned out to be a blessing in disguise.

In March 1966, the company broke ground for its 58,000square-foot building in the Bangor Industrial Park. Over one weekend in January 1967, the company moved 600,000 pounds of steel and 131 truckloads of merchandise to the new location.

The building’s design made unloading and stocking much easier, and was easily accessible to the interstate highways. Despite the fight against urban renewal, ultimately the new location was much better.

Auto Parts and Beyond Less than 10 years later, the company added a 6,500-squarefoot addition. By the late 1970s, it employed 65 people. And then came the 1980s.

John W. Bragg, great-great grandson of the company’s founder, had come onboard in 1965, and remembers the autoparts expansion of the 1980s very well. Charles 2nd had retired in 1980 and Clif Eames, Donald’s son, was leading new growth.

When Bragg customer Doyle Auto Supply was about to sell its two stores to Bragg competitor Darling’s Auto Supply, the company bought its two stores, the first of 12 the company would operate. In 1992, N/H. Bragg opened a Portland branch to compete with auto parts there, but was quickly outmatched by

the company began carrying a Old habits were hard to break; game-changer in the 1920s: instead of phoning when an power tools. order wasn’t clear, it was common to write a letter. G. Clifton Four Decades of Rapid Change Eames later recalled an annoyed When Franklin’s son, Charles customer who had received such Fred Bragg 2nd, started in 1932, a letter, and had called wondertimes were tough; wages were ing why someone hadn’t simply soon reduced, and Charles 2nd telephoned him. By 1960, the once worked a week without pay. company had embraced the By then, the staff consisted of phone, and also installed its first three salesmen, six or eight IBM billing machine to increase laborers, and three or four in the accuracy and streamline the office. Things did improve; when ordering process.

Henry Williams retired in his 80s When urban renewal hit Banafter nearly 60 years, the compa- gor in the 1960s, the Bragg buildny gave him a pension. ing was one of those targeted for By the 1930s, the company demolition. The Bragg family was solidly focused on cars, fought this; they didn’t want to much of that thanks to Donald leave downtown, which was a J. Eames; after marrying into the very strategic location, and one Bragg family, he joined the where they’d been for 112 years. company and added an automotive counter to the store, which was key to N.H. Bragg’s ongoing success.

The company adopted a new logo in 1936, and By 1945, the company had 24 employees and was providing gas it has quite a back story. The tale goes that a travto welders, including running eling circus was in town at some time in the two trucks to deliver welding late 1800s, and one of its employees cylinders throughout its entire needed two cast-iron hubbed area except for Aroostook Coun- wagon wheels, which he ordered ty. Business boomed by 1956, 56 through N.H. Bragg and Sons. employees worked six-day weeks, The company ordered them and salespeople worked up to 12- from the Archibald Wheel 15 hours per day, before the com- Company in Lawrence, Mass., pany eventually closed on week- for which is was an exclusive ends. Blacksmithing was virtually dealer in Bangor (as it was for gone, and the company was many quality suppliers), but the known for automotive, welding, circus left town by the time the wheels arrived. The wheels became a and industrial supplies.

The 1950s saw family changes; symbol of the company’s commitment Franklin died in 1951, Charles to carrying quality products, and in 1936 a wagon 2nd became president, and Don- wheel was incorporated into the company’s logo along with the slogan “Keeping the wheels turnald became vice president. ing since 1854.” One of the wheels is on disRoland, who had served as treasurer for years, also died.

local stronghold NAPA. The company scaled back auto parts in Portland by 1995, but continued building up its industrial supply there.

After years of tough competition from national auto parts chains, N.H. Bragg and Sons sold that business to CarQuest, enabling the company to retire all outstanding debt.

Under advice from a marketing firm in 2003, the company returned to its roots, reflagging itself as “N.H. Bragg.” The old wagon-wheel logo (see the sidebar below) went away, and the firm’s new slogan became “Industrial supplies and solutions since 1854” — capitalizing on the fact that, besides supplies, it was its staff ’s skill and expertise that offered its customers what the big chains didn’t.

In November 2011, John Bragg retired, leaving 30-year company veteran Jon Eames, Clif ’s son, to take up leadership — the sixth generation of the family to run the business.

N.H. Bragg has always adapted and changed according to the economy and local needs. This story only covers the basics of the its history; check out Trudy Irene Scee’s in-depth book N.H. Bragg & Sons: 150 Years of Service to the Maine Community and Economy, which is available through N.H. Bragg and can be found at the the Bangor Public Library.

WAGON WHEELS play at the business today; the other is at the Cole Land Transportation Museum in Bangor.

Archibald was quite renowned, with the 1920 Encyclopedia Americana noting that its home of Lawrence, Mass. led the country in wooden wheels, and that Archibald was known for manufacturing government artillery wheels, wheels for fire engines, and automobile wheels.

Archibald was incorporated in 1871, when N.H. Bragg and Sons was already 17 years old.

Despite its strong reputation for quality, it would go out of business in 1931. Its exclusive representative in Bangor, however, would continue for a long time afterward — with those wheels as symbols of quality and durability.

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Haynes Garage: 85 Years, Servicing Cars of All Ages

By David M. Fitzpatrick BANGOR DAILY NEWS

Margaret Cousins was born and raised in Brooksville, but came to Mount Desert Island when her father came there to help build John D. Rockefeller’s carriage roads, through what is now Acadia National Park, in 1919. Margaret ultimately attended Northeast Harbor’s Gilman School (which was torn down in 1951), where she met the man she would marry, and the one who would start a business that has lasted through three generations of her family.

Like his father, Richard Haynes was a skilled carpenter, and he likely would have enjoyed a career in that field. But around 1924, something happened: Richard got his first automobile, a Ford Model T Roadster. He discovered that while he loved woodworking, he loved tinkering with cars even more. In 1927, at just 19 years old, he opened Haynes Garage on Pine Street in Northeast Harbor, building that garage with money he’d made tinkering for just 25 cents per hour.

Automobiles weren’t everywhere then, and there weren’t many garages on MDI. Like all early mechanics, Richard had to learn by doing. That didn’t stop him, and right from the start he was busy six days a week.

But his foray into automobiles never quelled his love of carpentry. He built his first garage, still in use today, with an upstairs apartment where he and Maggie raised their two boys. The garage was next door to the house his father had built, and where Richard was raised — the house where his son Dana and his wife still live, as well as later garages, camp houses, and other structures.

Yankee Ingenuity Richard did everything from repairing engines to body work to paint jobs. If it had a motor, he was the go-to guy to fix it. He even serviced marine motors, which in those days were often automobile motors adapted for

boat use, particularly for fishermen and lobstermen who couldn’t afford pricier marine motors; Richard would usually have to get creative with those, as the reverse gear wasn’t enough to back the boat up with any speed.

This meant cutting a hole in the transmission case, installing a bigger gear, and welding the case back up.

For his first wrecker, Richard installed a manual hand-cranked Manley’s winch… inside a 1930sera Packard limousine. That big old V12 was so powerful he could tow just about any vehicle in high gear up steep hills. When a man died plunging through the ice at Jordan Pond, Richard hauled the late-1930s pickup up through 40 feet of water, all by hand cranking. The Manley hand-winch survived for some time, as Richard moved it to other vehicles later on.

This was typical Yankee ingenuity for Richard, who was known as the go-to fix-it man for just about anything. A famous tale from the 1930s told of how a seamstress across the street came to him one day with a corset with a broken wire; naturally, he fixed it. Folks frequently brought Richard things that were far outside the automotive realm, and he always found a way to repair them.

Along with auto repair, Richard eventually addressed a need on the island: storing summertime residents’ vehicles, which was vital for those who spent their winters elsewhere but couldn’t take their cars with them. So by the late 1950s, Richard began offering to store summer residents’ vehicles. He didn’t have storage facilities at the time, so he first made deals to use vacant barns and such.

This worked well until the late 1960s, when a fire on Main Street in Northeast Harbor started in a building adjacent to one in which Richard was storing 26 vehicles, many of them expensive antiques. The fire destroyed several buildings, along with all of those stored vehicles. Richard knew he’d soon need his own building to store cars.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE HAYNES FAMILY

Top: Richard Haynes is at the right of this pic, posing with the wrecker he built out of a V12 Packard. He installed a Manley hand-crank winch, which was later moved to other vehicles.

The Packard was so powerful it could reportedly tow a vehicle in high gear up a steep hill. Above: A shot of the original garage before the right-side bay was converted into an office.

Richard and Maggie Haynes lived in an apartment up over the garage. Those are Ford Model A cars in the foreground.

Family Business All along, Haynes Garage had been a family business. His two sons, Dana and Blaine, had worked with him since the 1950s.

Blaine had quickly gotten interested in small engines, such as lawn mowers and tractors, and the business accommodated them. It was quite popular, growing out the main garage and expanding into its own building across the street.

And, of course, his wife Margaret, or “Maggie” as everyone knew her, had been involved since the beginning, keeping the books and answering the phone.

But after 50 years on the job, Maggie needed a little help, which she got from Dana’s wife Lucy. They worked well together, but Lucy knew the office telephone belonged to Maggie; if Maggie were in the office when it

PHOTO COURTESY OF BENJAMIN MAGRO, WWW.BENMAGROPHOTO.COM

Richard Haynes working on a 1940 Ford “Woody” station wagon in 1990. Richard always had a reputation for working on any cars, and he always preferred the older models. But today, Haynes Garage still services anything, from the very old to the very new. It also provides winter storage for cars of summer residents, which is a big part of the business.

rang, she answered it, even if she had to make a mad dash across the room. Lucy, and everyone else, knew not to get in the way of Maggie and her phone.

This was at just about the same time that Richard finally built his first car-storage unit, and a few years before Dana and Lucy’s son Dan joined the business as a mechanic. But the biggest change came a decade later, in 1986, when Lucy’s daughter-in-law Becky joined the business. A year later, she had helped bring computers into the office for the first time to replace manual ledgers and cumbersome typewriters.

Richard dealt with computers in a different way at about the same time, when the first cars with onboard computers began coming into the garage.

He was an old-fashioned sort who preferred to work on the older cars, with a particular admiration for the Ford Model A; even his son Dana preferred older models. The new computerized cars became Dan’s area of expertise.

In the early 1990s, Blaine separated from Haynes Garage and opened up Haynes Mower Shop in Somesville, which is in business today.

On July 2, 1995, a terrible tragedy struck. While at his camp on Long Pond, Richard suffered a stroke that landed him in a nursing home. For the last two and a half years of his life, the man who had spent a lifetime working with his hands — as mechanic and carpenter and handyman, on everything from clocks to cars to corsets — was unable to do anything for himself. He passed away August 13, 1997 at age 89.

Maggie retired in 2002 and moved to Summit House, a nursing home in Bar Harbor; when it closed in 2003, she moved to Birch Bay, an assisted-living apartment nearby. But less than a year later, she fell and broke her pelvis and hip. She had surgery that night, but the next day she

BDN PHOTO BY DAVID M. FITZPATRICK

The Haynes family outside the original garage on Pine Street in Northeast Harbor. From left: Dana Haynes, son of founder Richard; Dana’s wife Lucy; Dan, their son; Becky, Dan’s wife; and John Littlefield, their son-in-law.

decided she no longer wanted treatment; she knew the recovery would be long and painful, and she wouldn’t be able to stay at Birch Bay. Maggie told everyone that she was tired and that her work was done, and spent that day telling everyone what she wanted them to know — and she had many visitors that day. She died that night at about 9 p.m., entirely on her own terms. She was 91.

Today and Beyond A lot has changed, but in some ways nothing has. Dan Haynes still works on Ford Model A cars today, along with a wide assortment of cars, foreign and domestic, ranging from brand new to predating the founding of his grandfather’s business in 1927.

Haynes Garage has worked on cars for everyone from the Ford family to the Rockefellers, and even on Martha Stewart’s Edsel.

The storage facilities have grown. Today, four buildings total 24,000 square feet and can house 200 cars. The fourth of the 104- by 55-foot buildings was added in 1999, and last fall Dana built a 70-foot addition onto another. The storage service is popular with summer visitors, and the Haynes Garage crew stays busy with requested and needed repairs and service on the stored vehicles all winter long.

Today, Haynes Garage is still where it has always been, with an old-fashioned grease pit under the twin bays. Down the street is the second garage, with bigger doors and hydraulic lifts.

Around the corner are the storage buildings.

Dana Haynes took over full operation of the business after his father’s stroke. The company has a database of 750 regular customers, many of the summer residents. The garage continues to specialize in fixing anything that comes through its doors, whether it’s a 2012 Ford Focus or a 1927 Ford Model A. The garage specializes in hard-to-find parts and finding places that rebuild old parts.

There have been a few changes, such as in 2008 when Dana finally ceased servicing marine motors, which had long been a major part of the business. But the garage continues to handle anything that comes through its doors. The Hayneses regularly invest in high-tech equipment to keep up with all the new automotive technologies, and they’re always learning and applying new skills.

So after 85 years of success, what’s up for the next 85 years?

“I’m not going to worry about some of them,” Dana said.

Many people across several generations have fond memories of Haynes Garage. It’s not uncommon for a customer in his 70s recall coming there as a child with his grandfather as Richard worked on a car, or for someone to recall stopping by to chat with the sociable Maggie. It’s at least impressive that, on a summertime vacation haven like MDI, some people’s fondest memories involve a trip to the garage.

“We’re hoping that the family will continue the business in the future,” Lucy said of the business.

“Which I think they’re doing pretty good at now.”

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Maine’s Progressive Business

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6 | BANGOR DAILY NEWS | Friday | January 13, 2012

W.S. Emerson: 91 Years, from Hand-Made to High-Tech

By David M. Fitzpatrick BANGOR DAILY NEWS

Walter S. Emerson’s business experience dates back to 1912, when he was in business as the Emerson Manufacturing Company, making ladies’ skirts at 121 Main Street. The same year, Titus & Smith, also skirtmakers, began at the same location. It seems the two companies were intertwined in some way, as they both moved to 125 Franklin Street in 1914, and both later to 123 Franklin.

In 1921, both companies were gone, and W.S. Emerson was incorporated, initially making ladies’ wear but soon dealing in all manner of dry goods. That first year, Emerson hired 21-year-old John Vickery, who would be key to shaping the company’s destiny.

The Brewer native had studied agriculture at the University of Maine with an eye on becoming a potato farmer, having worked at his uncle’s farm in Unity and another in Fort Fairfield.

At first, Vickery was a traveling salesman who ultimately developed sales territories in Aroostook County and Western and Central Maine. Business growth and success depended on road sales; the company called on retail shops, as well logging camps and other remote locations, around the state. In those, travel was done by train or horse and buggy.

Emerson passed away (and would then acquire the company and later purchase the company’s downtown building), his brother Winslow joined him. Winslow, who held an engineering degree from Carnegie Tech, would later become instrumental in the company’s rebirth. He began by building a new sales organization, and continued by building a new location.

When urban renewal hit in the 1960s, W.S. Emerson, like so many downtown businesses, found itself forced out. So in 1965, Winslow designed a 33,000square-foot facility that was built on the Acme Road in Brewer; the company relocated there in 1966.

Although it was a much better space, leaving the business hub of downtown Bangor for Brewer at that time was a risky endeavor; nobody was sure the out-of-town customers would go to Brewer.

But business boomed, in great part thanks to Winslow’s leadership and direction.

Meanwhile, Winslow’s son, John A. Vickery, had attended Ricker College in Houlton for a year, served three years in the Marine Corps, and graduated from the University of Maine in 1964 with a civil engineering degree. After three years with a Boston engineering firm, John and his wife Liz returned to Maine to join the business at its new Brewer home.

Winslow took over the firm when “Uncle John” Vickery

BDN PHOTO BY DAVID M. FITZPATRICK

The current executive team. From left: Betsy Vickery, John A. Vickery Jr., John A. Vickery Sr., Russ Vickery, and Phyllis Hawkes.

In 1927, the company relocated to 192 Exchange Street, where it would remain for about 40 years. But when the Great Depression hit, W.S. Emerson lost money for several years and was on the verge of failing. Its nervous investors wanted to liquidate the company and salvage something financially, but Emerson and Vickery, who became the general manager in 1933, convinced them to hold on for one more year. After President Roosevelt’s policies stimulated growth and ended the Depression, the company had survived.

Post-Depression Growth Vickery’s family began to join in the business, starting with his wife, Eva, by 1949. When Vickery became president in 1950 after

passed in 1970, and ran it until he passed in 1982. By then, John A. Vickery took the reins; his brother Russ, a 1970 University of Maine graduate, had joined the business in 1976 and continued on as vice president. And John’s son, John A. Vickery, Jr., joined the business in 1988, representing the third generation of Vickerys there.

The 1980s and 1990s the company expanded into retail, starting with Farrington’s in South China and Miller’s Discount in Caribou. The retail business eventually grew to eight Maine locations with healthy growth each year.

But retail changed dramatically in the 1990s when Wal-Mart came to Maine. Miller’s stores began closing, with the final store

PHOTOS COURTESY OF W.S. EMERSON

Left: The first year of the new facility on the Acme Road in Brewer in 1966. At far left is Winslow Vickery; at far right is his brother, John Vickery. John started when W.S. Emerson’s business was first formed in 1921. Right: Probably the second year of the new facility. John A. Vickery Sr., Winslow’s son and John Vickery’s nephew, is at the far right.

shuttering in 2008. It still exists as Miller’s Workshop, the 5,000square-foot retail outlet at the company’s Brewer location, catering to working people by providing quality name brands at affordable prices.

Changing with the World With the retail world changing, W.S. Emerson had to reinvent itself. It got into in-house embroidering in 1992, and soon followed with screen printing. In 2003, the company added a 10,000-square-foot expansion to accommodate more equipment.

Today, that equipment includes a Bridge laser cutting system to produce applique work — the only company of its kind in the region using such equipment for this purpose. After a blank applique is applied to the fabric and a machine stitches letter or shape outlines, the laser cuts the excess from around it — far faster and more efficiently than by hand.

Recently, the company added textile inkjet printers. Embroidery continues to be a mainstay, using machines with as many as 15 heads that enable fast production of big orders. Whether applique, inkjet, or embroidering, if you can imagine it, chances are W.S. Emerson can do it. The company even offers logodesign services and other promotional work to help clients create and establish their brands.

As of Jan. 1, 2012, John Vickery Sr. stepped down as president, and his son, John Jr., assumed the presidency. John Jr. leads a workforce of about 50 people, with a reach across the country as it provides custom-imprinting services. The family remains strong with the company, with Russ and John Jr.’s wife, Betsy, working there.

“We’ve built a very strong reputation for ourselves in terms of quality at wholesale prices and good, fast, dependable customer service,” said John Jr.“Our policy is customer satisfaction guaranteed.”

And family involvement continues. John Jr.’s wife Betsy came to work at W.S. Emerson shortly after becoming engaged to John Jr. 15 years ago. Her early role was to learn how the business could grow, and she has been key to moving things forward technologically since her first day.

“We always are staying on the cutting edge of what we do by adding, and making things more efficient,” she said.

She’s also deeply involved in the community, representing the company on many local boards such as at the Bangor Region Chamber of Commerce and UMaine. “We feel it’s so important to give back,” she said.

Betsy said that every day is exciting and challenging. “But it’s nothing that we can’t handle,” she said. “Just figure out how to do it, and navigate through it — or over it.”

Phyllis Hawkes joined the company 41 years ago, and she’s seen lots of changes. As the VP and general manager, she oversees day-to-day operations and the 40-50 employees.

“I’ve got a fantastic crew working out there,” she said, and noted there’s a strong team environment. “It’s more of a family situation. That’s why I’ve been here for so long: I enjoy what I do.”

John Jr. has experienced every aspect of working with the crew.

He started there in the early 1980s at age 14, listing his career goal in his eighth-grade yearbook as working at W.S. Emerson. He has worked in almost every job: stocking, filling orders, shipping, sales, purchasing, and management, so he brings a wealth of experience to his new position.

“I’ve always been proud to work here and proud to keep the family tradition going,” he said.

“Hopefully we can keep it going for another generation… It’s going to be a challenge, and I’m looking forward to it.

“You’ve got to have a good team, and you’ve got to want to do it every day,” he said. “That’s what brings success.”

BDN PHOTOS BY DAVID M. FITZPATRICK

Top: A worker pulls a screenprinted shirt of the rotating, multiarmed wheel. These machines enable the company to screenprint many items very quickly. Second down: Finished embroidered caps. Third down: A Sierra Mist applique is stitched by multihead machines onto shirts. A laser cuts the fabric appliques; multiple layers can be added for a 3D sort of look. Bottom: A worker pulls a completed shirt off the textile inkjet printer, which uses textile-specific inks that bond to just about any fabric, creating vivid designs.

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Maine’s Progressive Business

Cyan Magenta Yellow BANGOR DAILY NEWS | Friday | January 13, 2012 | 7

Peavey Manufacturing: 155 Years of a Revolutionary Tool

By David M. Fitzpatrick BANGOR DAILY NEWS

Joseph Peavey reportedly invented many things: the hay press, the clapboard water wheel, the wood screw vise, an unspillable inkwell, and the Peavey hoist for pulling stumps and hoisting dam gates. But he’s best known for his ingenious variation on the logger’s cant hook, which came to be known simply as a “peavey.”

It often appeared as “pevy,” “pivie,” or “pevie,” but eventually the Peavey name survived.

Peavey was born in 1799 in Brentwood, N.H., and by the 1850s worked as a blacksmith in Upper Stillwater, Maine. At that time, loggers worked the Maine woods and floated logs down the Penobscot to Bangor, the lumber capital of the world. River drivers worked those log flows, and the logs were so many that it was said you could walk across the river without getting your feet wet.

In the spring of 1857, Peavey was on a bridge watching drivers trying to free a difficult log jam on the Stillwater River. At the time, the cant dog (or cant hook) was the common tool used to work logs on land, but it wasn’t as effective on floating logs. Originally, its hook was stationary but eventually became swivelmounted, enabling it to turn in all directions. The new tool, called a “swing dingle” or “swingbail cant dog,” is likely what the river drivers used that day.

But Peavey had an idea to improve it. He hurried back to his shop and had his son, Daniel, make a modified cant dog with “a clasp with lips… holes in the clasp to put a bolt through on which to hang a dog, or hook, and toe-rings below the clasp to the bottom of the handle [and] a pick in the end of the handle,” according to Peavey’s great-grandson, David Howard Peavey, in writings

by Fannie Hardy Eckstorm.

Unlike the traditional cant dog, the hook only moved forward and backward. It enabled the logger to grab a single log and easily release it, and the spike on the tip enabled digging into others. River driver William Hale

pair of fires altered the entire company. The first destroyed the foundry in Oakland; the second destroyed the Madison sawmill and woodworking shop. Any surviving equipment from Madison was relocated to an old chicken barn in Eddington (including a lathe still in use today) in 1966.

At that point, Dean and Ray bought out Almon, ceasing operation of Maine Woods Tool Company and running the business entirely from the Peavey location in Eddington. Dean’s wife worked with him in the former chicken house on Route 9; the business floundered for a while, but by 1968 was prospering. The brothers moved it to a new building, and later expanded its offices and then the sawmill.

The Modern Era In 1978, after having hauled wood to his uncles’ company as an independent trucker, Rodney IMAGE COURTESY OF RICHARD SHAW Buswell Sr. came to work there.

Joseph Peavey. Ray and Dean owned together until mid-1980s, by which time tested the prototype and declared destroyed $1,500 in insured the company had opened a steel it a success, and thereafter it equipment. forge there. After Dean and his became the standard tool for After Charles died in Novem- wife Val retired in 1982, selling river drivers everywhere. ber 1891, James continued on his stock back to the company.

But on heading to Bangor to alone. In 1910, BETC used letter- Ray and Rodney ran it together file for a patent for his invention, head featuring both the BETC for years; Ray only sold his stock Peavey stopped for the night at a and Peavey Manufacturing Co. a few years ago. fellow blacksmith’s in Orono. name, and by the 1910-1911 Today, the company continues After Peavey passed out from too Bangor-Brewer City Directory, it its steadfast commitment to much to drink, the unscrupulous had relocated to Parker Street in using only the highest-quality blacksmith stole the sketches and Brewer and was using only hardwood and steel hand-forged patented it first. Years later, Peavey Manufacturing Co., on site. Its products can be purPeavey’s grandson, James Henry incorporating as such in 1910. chased through hundreds of disPeavey, filed an improved patent By 1930, James had passed tributors and directly from for the updated “Bangor Peavey” away, and David Howard Peavey Peavey Manufacturing. or “Rafting Peavey,” thus re- became the president of the comPeavey is a rare breed: a comestablishing the family name pany until his death in 1944, after pany that does it all. All on one with the tool. which Walter Willey bought it. site, workers saw logs, dry lumMeanwhile, in 1947, Almon ber, lathe boards, and varnish A Family Legacy Percival and Raymond Delano and stain the finished wood. In After outgrowing his black- bought a steel foundry in Oak- its foundry, blacksmiths forge the smith shop, Peavey relocated to land, which had gone into steel (never casting it) to make BDN PHOTOS BY DAVID M. FITZPATRICK Orono, and later to Old Town, receivership at Depositors Trust various tools.

Top: Tommy Beatham pulls a red-hot peavey hook from the with his sons Daniel and Hiram, after World War II. They became The company makes cant forge. Beatham will hit 38 years at the company in 2012 — and continued manufacturing the Maine Woods Tool Company, hooks, pulp hooks, timberjacks, the peavey. After Joseph died in soon opening a sawmill in Madi- tongs, draw shaves, shovels, post- longer than anyone, including the owner. Middle: Harold Towle works the sawmill carriage. Bottom: Kevin Byers works a 1873, his grandsons, Charles A. son which Ray’s father, Lee hole diggers, pruning tools, and a and James H. Peavey, opened Delano, ran. wide range of specialized indus- lathe that has been in use since at least 1947, when Almon Percival and Raymond Delano first bought a steel foundry in shop on Exchange Street in BanWhen Peavey Manufacturing trial tools. It even makes everyOakland out of receivership. gor as the Bangor Edge Tool was for sale in 1954, Almon and thing from poles for picnic-table Company, manufacturing log- Ray bought it as an adjunct to umbrellas to flagpoles to unfinging tools — including peaveys. their other operation. But soon, a ished dowels. But it still sells 15,000 peaveys every year, just Buswell’s wife is the office manThe company prospered, even five miles downriver from where ager; his oldest son runs producafter a fire on Jan. 24, 1882 Top left: A view up Exchange Street towards Park Street. The the legendary tool was invented. tion, shipping, and purchasing; arrow indicates where the Bangor Edge Tool Company was With 35,000 square feet of his youngest son oversees the located. (Image courtesy of Richard Shaw.) Middle left: A indoor space and a 10-acre yard, sawmill and the log yard. His BETC envelope postmarked Jan. 11, 1887, with a depiction Peavey Manufacturing has 32 daughter heads up the company’s of the famous peavey cant dog. (Image courtesy of Skip employees, all there at least five safety program, and his son-inBrack and the Davistown Museum.) Bottom left: An early years. Fifteen to 25 years is not law heads up finishing, mill prophoto of the BETC on Exchange Street, run by two of Joseph uncommon. Forge shop foreman duction, and maintenance.

Peavey’s grandsons. It would later be renamed Peavey Manu- Tommy Beatham has worked at There are also a dozen grandfacturing Company and moved to Brewer. This photo was Peavey for 38 years this year, children. “Hopefully they may taken between 1873, when BETC was founded, and 1891, longer even than owner Rodney decided to enter into [the busiwhen James Peavey died, leaving Charles to continue alone.

Buswell. ness] at some point,” Buswell From left is Daniel J. Peavey Jr., James Henry Peavey, Charles Buswell’s family is very said. “It’s still very much a family Albert Peavey, Ira Peavey, and unidentified. involved in the business. thing.”

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Maine’s Progressive Business

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8 | BANGOR DAILY NEWS | Friday | January 13, 2012

Sprague’s Nursery & Garden Center: 65 Years of ‘Growing’

By David M. Fitzpatrick BANGOR DAILY NEWS

Sprague’s Nursery, which enters its 65th year in 2012, had its humble beginnings from Harvey Sprague II, a shoe worker turned farmer turned landscaper.

Sprague just might have had an inside look at his new field from his father, who had been involved working with trees in the decade before his son founded his landmark business.

Sprague’s father, Harvey Sprague I, was born in Milbridge in 1875, and eventually moved to Bangor; he first appeared in the Bangor city directory in the 1893-94 edition, listed as a laborer. He married Clara by 1923, but it wasn’t until 1938 that Harvey I was listed as working for Jameson Tree Experts.

His son, Harvey II, had been employed as a shoe worker for a time before working with his brother, Charles, as a farmer. But that changed in 1947, which was a big year for the Sprague family.

That year, Harvey I was listed as having retired. Harvey II was listed as being married to Mildred, and their first son, Harvey Sprague III, was born. And Harvey II left farming to go into business as a landscaper.

He launched his business on

Union Street, where the current retail store is today. He was just a one-man show for a while, mostly shoveling gravel and loam by hand, tending the lawns he built, and planting occasional trees. It seems plausible that his father’s work with Jameson Tree Experts might have rubbed off on him.

It was slow going at first. In 1950, his occupation was listed as a trucker; he probably did double-duty to make ends meet. But he was soon successful enough to buy his first tractor, a 1952 Ford.

By the late 1950s, he was busy enough that he was able to start hiring employees.

At the time, most of Harvey II’s landscaping business was residential; there wasn’t much call for commercial work of that sort then. In fact, “landscape gardening” was something of a new field, first listed with a business category in 1927. Many men got into the business; from 1927 until 1951, probably two dozen landscape gardeners were listed, with the listings changing every year.

From that era, only Harvey II remained continuously in business as a landscaper.

Harvey II always had other irons in the fire. Around 1963, he opened a used-car lot on that site, offering pay-weekly plans

PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE SPRAGUE FAMILY

Top left: The oldest known photo of Sprague’s. Dan’s dog, Patrick, posed in front of the sign in 1966. Top right: Loading plants into a car in the 1980s. At right, Mildred Sprague, the widow of founder Harvey Sprague Jr., looks on. Above left: The sons of the founder pose outside their new garden center in the late 1980s. At left is Dan Sprague; at right is Harvey Sprague III. The brothers run the business today. Above right: Mildred and Harvey watch as Dan (unseen) operates some heavy equipment to remove a tree.

for those who couldn’t afford expensive cars, but could manage $10 or $15 a week for a quality used car.

Harvey II died in 1971, leaving the brothers to take over the business. Their mother, Mildred, was always involved — keeping a tight rein, but mostly trusting her sons to run things. At first, they considered focusing on the used cars, but the brothers saw the greater potential with landscapPHOTO COURTESY OF THE SPRAGUE FAMILY ing. It was a good call, because by Constructing greenhouses in the 1980s. the late 1970s commercial land-

scaping took off, and they began phasing out lawn maintenance in favor that. Commercial jobs increased, including with such entities as the Maine Department of Transportation.

In 1984, they opened their first retail garden center, and within 10 years expanded the successful venture. In the late 1980s, they were buying stock from a local wholesaler. But when that wholesaler decided to become a retailer, and didn’t wish to sell to his competitor, the brothers were left without a supplier. The solution: Build greenhouses and grow their own stock. Their retail business flourished, eventually becoming more lucrative than landscaping.

(Their former supplier, however, found little retail success and ultimately folded.)

Growth came steadily, with the brothers expanding the retail center in the early 1990s and adding a climate-controlled greenhouse with window and ceiling panels that auto-open and -close according to the temperature. Later, they added the covered area out front. A final expansion in 2004 brought the retail center to its current configuration.

Today, Sprague’s employs 25 to 45 people, depending on the time of year. It still does residential and commercial landscape work, and plows snow for clients during the winter. Its wholesale business flourishes; the company supplies to landscapers all over BDN PHOTO BY DAVID M. FITZPATRICK Maine — locally, on the coast, Some of the Sprague’s crew poses for a photo during the 2011 holiday season. and up north.

The retail business continues to boom with 35,000 square feet of greenhouse space, acres of growing area, and a retail center with everything: seed starting, bulb supplies, bird feed, mulches, soils, clay pots and planters, gift ideas from gardening gifts to holiday goods, and much more.

Leading up to Christmas, Sprague’s does steady business with trees and even a mail-order wreath business.

Although Sprague’s closes after Christmas and doesn’t reopen until April, the work is always ongoing. By February, they’re already carefully planning the new season. Seeds are planted for the summer crop by March in climate-controlled greenhouses, burning a thousand gallons of heating oil a week to keep the young plants warm and safe. This is critical to having plants at the right stage when the retail store opens for business; everything has to flower at the right time in order for it to sell.

The retail store opens in time for Easter lilies. The key busy season runs from April through June, three months of intense,

madcap work. Even then, they’re already planting the fall crop, and a busy autumn month follows before about five weeks of Christmas trees and wreaths.

Sprague’s will continue innovating in the future, although coowner Harvey Sprague III gets a little nervous with the current economy. “Right now it’s a situation that’s pretty much scary for anybody in business — you don’t know what’s going to happen,” he said. “I’m not overly optimistic when it comes to depending on our leaders to lead us out of this mess. The best thing they could do is get out of the way and let free enterprise and capitalism run its course — and it will. Supply, demand — let it go.”

Dan, who lives next door to the retail shop and is the oncall man in case the heating system fails in the greenhouse in the cold months, is a bit more optimistic.

“I don’t see any end in sight yet,” he said. “We try to maintain a lot better quality than you’d get in a lot of other places. That, and we try to keep moving ahead.”

This Maine’s Progressive Business supplement was produced and published by the

Writer and Layout: David M. Fitzpatrick Photos: David M. Fitzpatrick, and many submitted by others Sales: Jeff Orcutt Cover Design: Michelle Prentice If you’d like to advertise in next year’s Maine’s Progressive Business, contact Jeff Orcutt at (207) 990-8036 or jorcutt@bangordailynews.com.