From happy camping to commercial hub - the previous life of Walmart’s site by Walter Lunt

Then: Sebago Basin

"Windham Then and Now” - The fifth in a series of historical topics about Windham’s unique history and heritage

Some local residents once said the establishment of a Walmart store in the center of North Windham was a watershed moment in the transition from country town to suburb. Today, many residents concede they don’t know or can’t remember what occupied the site before the big store’s arrival in 1994.

The Manchester family, descendants of Stephen Manchester (a founding settler), have lived on the property for well over 150 years. In 1958, Lawrence and Francis Manchester established Sebago Basin Tenting, a campground that became a destination for thousands of visitors from all over New England and Canada. Some stayed for a few days and others, seasonal patrons, settled in for the summer. The area boasted 29 original campsites with a variety of activities from swimming and boating at nearby Sebago Basin beaches to ball games, dancing, horseshoes and campfire sing-alongs. Their son, David, and wife Carol, shared some of the memories.

Writing in the Windham Historical Society’s quarterly newsletter, retired teacher and author Carol Manchester reminisced, “The (Manchester) family-owned business on Route 302 . . . was easily recognized by its iconic A-frame structure (rec hall), a local landmark (and) point of reference for visitors.”

Built in 1961, the imposing rec hall, 32 feet to the ridgepole and easily visible from 302, accommodated registrations, dispensed information and was the central meeting place for gab, games, dancing and leisure.

A gazebo was soon added. On warm summer evenings a pull-down screen would be hung from its side, film threaded through a 16mm projector and movies shown to campers who would gather under the stars, seated on in-the-round benches.

In those times, a Maine camping experience was unique. David recalled a New Jersey camper’s remark about the crystal-clear Sebago Basin water. “He stepped into the water, looked down, and exclaimed, ‘I can see my feet.’”

Over the 1960s and 70s, the campground expanded from 29 to 175 camp sites. The expansion, maintenance and administration was, according to David, the combined effort of the Manchester family, including his parents, six brothers and sisters, cousins, friends and neighbors.

“For us, it was a great place to grow up. And many of the campers became our close friends.”

As Sebago Tenting grew, so did the variety of campers and activities. The sandy basin beaches welcomed sunbathers and swimmers. The 20 or so boat slips afforded lake exploration and water skiing. Visitors also delighted in the live bands, square dancing, camp fires, cultural speakers and ping pong and pinball in the rec hall.

Highlight activities for kids included hayrides behind the old Farm-All tractors; messy, but tasty, watermelon eating contests; decorating bicycles and floats for holiday parades through the wooded roadways and campfire songs with local singer/composer Rick Charette.

Now: Walmart sits in the location now.

Competitive games, remembers David, were wildly popular. “Every night, the ball field filled up with spectators to cheer on their favorite softball teams. Sometimes there was even a double-header.” Enthusiasm also ran high for tug-of-war games, 3-legged races and horseshoe tournaments.

“We had so many wonderful people who energized the games and activities,” recalled David, “There was one guy. We called him the Mayor. He had a big presence. He looked and spoke like a mayor, a real unique personality and a natural supervisor. He was always helping and organizing.” The mayor, he said, returned for many seasons. Of the 175 campers each year, many were repeat patrons, and over 50 were seasonal. 

In addition to being the owners, “Our family was major participants,” said David.

The high degree of hustle & bustle also spawned entrepreneurial opportunities for youth. David and Carol’s son, Lawrence, opened a steamed hot dog stand. Another son, Walter, became a bicycling newsboy, delivering Portland Press Herald and Evening Express newspapers to the campers.

Through the 1970s and 80s, the camping experience and equipment became more sophisticated. The introduction of canvas top and pop-up trailers, and later, motor homes and RV’s prompted modern updates to the Manchester campground, including electricity and bath houses. Also, a name-change that was more in keeping with the times seemed needed. Sebago Basin Tenting became Sebago Basin Camping.

In February 1986, a major set-back: Vandals broke into the A-frame and started a fire. As described in Carol Manchester’s article, it was “the beginning of the end. Because of the deep, snow-covered quarter mile road to it, firefighters could not save the building. The business opened for the next two seasons but the A-frame, center of the campground experience, was gone and greatly increased insurance premiums - it closed after 30 summers.”

For those who remember, a shopping trip to Walmart and surrounding stores can be somewhat surreal. Whether treading through housewares or the market, it’s the same space occupied by 30 years of camping vacationers, back, not so long ago, in those country-town days.

An ailing dog and a box of cough drops credited with the founding of landmark Patsy’s store By Walter Lunt

"Windham Then and Now” - The fifth in a series of historical topics about Windham’s unique history and heritage

Patsy’s, once a fixture in South Windham, was the consummate neighborhood corner store that offered tasty food and good fellowship for more than 50 years; a destination known for its zesty Italian sandwiches. 

Pasqualee Miele at work in Patsy's Store in the 1950's

Located on the corner of Depot and Main Streets, Patsy’s came to be in 1938. Pasquale and Josephine Miele moved their family from Needham, Massachusetts to Windham, Maine under the most unusual of circumstances. Their son, Bob, who took over proprietorship of Patsy’s from his father in 1958, remembers the story of its founding: a tale involving a sick dog and cough drops. More on that later.

Born in Elena, Italy in 1887, Pasquale Miele emigrated to the United States in 1902. Unschooled but afflicted with a strong entrepreneurial and  tenacious spirit, the young man of just 15 years, set out to do what most new citizens of Italian heritage did best: own and run a store featuring homeland cuisine. Pasquale arrived under the sponsorship of an uncle and soon taught himself to read and write. 

Later, settled with a home and business in Needham, Massachusetts, family members would remember Pasquale’s mantra: “Education is everything.” Copies of Country Gentleman and National Geographic were all around the house, along with numerous seed catalogs.

Ambitious and smart, Pasquale opened a spacious country store named Home Market in Needham. It was the thriving 1920s. Business grew and expansion included the acquisition of five covered Model-T delivery trucks.

Then, financial collapse. The stock market crash of ’29 brought severe hardship. The charitable Pasquale, who had extended credit to hundreds of his customers, found he could not survive the aftermath of Black Tuesday. Son Bob, then 10 years old, remembers riding in the old delivery truck with his dad, depositing bills in customers’ mail boxes. By 1932, under the crushing load of $22,000 credit debt, Home Market closed. Pasquale went to work managing a competing store for the next six years; which brings us to the dog and the cough drops.

 

In 1938, the Miele’s were in Raymond, Maine visiting relatives whose dog had fallen ill. At that time of year most local veterinarians were tending animals at county fairs, so Fido was taken to Cornish for treatment. On the return trip, Pasquale’s throat became sore and dry. He requested a stop at store in Standish for cough drops. It was there, to everyone’s surprise, he met his wife’s brother who he hadn’t seen in many years. Uncle Sully, it seems, owned stores in Standish and South Windham. The latter was for sale, and the rest, as they say, is history.

By later that same year, the Miele’s were the proud proprietors of South Windham Grocery Store. Pasquale had taken up where he’d left off six years earlier in Needham, Massachusetts.

The Miele’s rented the “Weeks House” on the corner of Webber (now Alweber) and Highland Cliff Roads in Windham for $4.00 a week (see: House for Sale, some disassembly required - The Windham Eagle, Oct. 9, 2015).

Pasquale and Josephine’s store prospered with the help of the family, brothers Ralph and Bob and daughter Jean. When Bob returned from the war in 1945 he suggested the name of the store be changed to Patsy’s, the Italian nick-name for Pasquale. His father rejected the idea but Bob persisted.

In the presence of his father, Bob quizzed store patrons, “What do you say when you’re coming to

this store? I’m going to South Windham Grocery Store?” 

“No,” they would all reply, “I just say I’m going’ to Patsy’s.”

Now: in honor of Patsy's

Soon, a new sign went up at the familiar corner store near the mills in South Windham: Patsy’s.

Also around this time, Pasquale and Josephine could realize their long held dream of home ownership. They would purchase a 1794 cape on River Road, near the store, that was once the home of Thomas Smith, son of Windham’s (Parson) Peter Thatcher Smith. It remains in the family to this day.

Upon Pasqualee’s retirement in 1958, Bob and wife Alys took over the reins of Patsy’s store. Old timers and baby boomers soon came to associate Patsy’s with Bob’s newest creation, the fresh and tasty Italian sandwich - many of the ingredients originating from the large garden at the River Road farm.

Jean still lives at the family homestead. She and Bob reminisced about the old neighborhood.

They and longtime resident Dave Tobin observed, “We never locked our doors.”

Neighborhood patrons and workers from the nearby mills and reformatory (correctional center) were like family.

“They were an unbelievably diverse group,” said Jean. “Russian, Czechoslovakian, several Jewish families, Italian, Irish and so many others. Country [of origin] never mattered - they were people - wonderful friends, and we supported each other. [I was just a kid and] It was the greatest upbringing you could have.”

By the mid-1970s the mills had closed. Much of the village fell into disrepair. Patsy’s closed in 1978. New owners operated the store into the early 1990s, when the building was converted into apartments. Declared unsafe and torn down around 2015, the deteriorating structure was replaced by a 4-unit apartment building, which opened to occupants last November. Builder Jim Cummings commemorated the historic spot with a new sign: Patsy’s Corner.

“It was a very good thing for him to do,” said Bob Miele, “I was very pleased. I went right down there and took a picture.” Sister Jean Phillips called the sign a heartwarming gesture.

Long before the demise of Patsy’s and other public places in South Windham, the economic engines that once ran on manufacturing had turned over to tourism. The gateway and the “new Main Street” would be North Windham.

Today, any reference to South Windham is usually couched in terms of revitalization. It’s no longer the mills, diverse businesses, patriotic parades, or Patsy’s.

The “Great War Governor” from Windham by Walter Lunt

“Windham Then and Now” - The fourth in a series of historical topics about Windham’s unique history and heritage

As the 200^th anniversary of his birth approaches, the legacy and influence of Windham’s “favorite son,” John Albion Andrew, extends into the 21^st century. Andrew was born and raised in South Windham. He attended Bowdoin College and became the 21^th governor of Massachusetts during the American Civil War, serving from 1861 to 1865.

In 2007, the newly elected 71^st governor of Massachusetts, Duval Patrick – following tradition – selected the portrait of a former chief executive to hang behind his desk in the governor’s office. He chose John Albion Andrew. “At a time of great divide in America, he demonstrated a willingness to change the status quo and encourage others to do the same,” said Patrick, “I am proud to display his portrait . . . and hope that I may govern with the same compassion and foresight that he demonstrated.” Patrick served until 2015.

THEN: Birthplace of Gov. Andrew

Andrew was born in a small single-story, wood frame house in the Little Falls section of Windham in May of 1818. In his lifetime, he would be immersed in some of the most significant issues of the 19^th century: temperance, civil war, emancipation, reconstruction and even divorce laws.

His parents, Jonathan and Nancy (Pierce) Andrew came to Windham from Salem, Massachusetts and purchased the house of Dr. James Paine (an early Windham physician) on Depot Road. Jonathan established a grocery business on the corner of Depot and Main (now River Road), which he later moved to a location near the bridge in South Windham. The two were highly regarded citizens of the community. Nancy had been a teacher (or preceptress) at Bridgton Academy, Jonathan a general trader and Deacon of the Congregational Church (“Windham, Then & Now,” March 24, 2017). 

Their oldest child, John Albion Andrew, would later be remembered by C.O. Stickney, writing in the Boston Sunday Globe around 1898 as, “One of the best and most popular of boys raised in (Windham) bright, likeable and full of fun.” Many remarked on his unusual ability of elocution. 

At age 14 he would deliver an inspiring talk on the evils of drink at a public temperance meeting. It was considered a remarkable performance for a young boy. A story often told by Albion, as he was known by all in Windham and Gorham, probably reveals the origin of his strong feelings on prohibition. It seems that his father sold “ardent spirits” at his store, the sale of which was highly “remunerable.” Through the thin walls of the house on Depot Street, Albion and his siblings would eavesdrop on frequent bedtime conversations between his mother and father. Mother was a fervent supporter of the early temperance movement, and would use this time to urge her husband to end the sale of alcohol in his store. This, according to Albion, went on for months when, finally one night, his father stopped his wife in mid-refrain to announce, “I stopped selling spirits several weeks ago.”

NOW: What Andrew's birthplace looks like today

Albion and his siblings were “home-schooled.” Jonathan built a tiny schoolhouse behind the home where he and Nancy tutored their children. Albion eventually attended Bridgton Academy where his mother had once taught. He entered Bowdoin College, class of 1837, where one of his classmates later observed “(His) college life was the flow of generous impulses and noble purposes, rather than the display of brilliant talents and extraordinary scholarship.” He was also known as a joker, a mimic and a general cut-up. A cousin, Nathan Church, said that the governor “Could not only pray and preach like old Parson Smith of his native town, but could also slay his audiences with impersonations of politicians and other well-known preachers.” Church also said, “He could have had success as a comedian.”

Following college, John Albion Andrew entered the bar in Massachusetts and opened a law practice in Boston. He was noted for his strong defense of poorer clients and for his wit and anecdotes. His firmly held beliefs on the issue of slavery and other reform movements, led him to politics, and by 1858 he was elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives, where he opposed the Fugitive Slave Law and used his position to defend fugitive slaves and raise money for their legal fees and shelter. He became an early organizer of the new Republican Party and rallied for Abraham Lincoln at the Chicago Presidential Nominating Convention.  Their relationship while he was governor would become thorny due to the President’s handling of various war issues. Andrew, notorious for his lack of patience, criticized Lincoln for holding off delivering an emancipation declaration until late in the war, and for what he perceived as the president’s reluctance to accept blacks in the Union armies. 

As governor, he won high national praise for the early formation of militia regiments, even before the start of the war. As a result, Massachusetts would furnish the first volunteer regiment to reach Washington and the first to fight in the Civil War. 

Andrew traveled the countryside in his recruiting efforts, visiting Windham and other Maine towns in his appeal to organize volunteer regiments. The late Ernie Knight, author of several books and articles on local history, once told a gathering of local history enthusiasts in Windham that Northern townspeople, in general, did not want their husbands and sons to fight their Southern brethren, even though they had always been willing to take up arms when necessary. But because the recruiter was “our native son of renown,” Andrew succeeded in garnering enlistments.

Following Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, Andrew succeeded in organizing a regiment of black soldiers – the famed 54^th Massachusetts Regiment which came to be known for its heroism and sacrifice.

In his Valedictorian Address in 1865, Andrew called for reconciliation with the South rather than punishment, “The halls of legislation are the arenas of debate, not of muscular prowess . . . we must secure the constitutional, civic liberties and franchises of all the people.”

Andrew returned to his private law practice after the war, focusing much of his time on reforming the archaic divorce practices of the day.

Former Gov. Patrick was inspired by Andrew

On October 30, 1867, the Great War Governor of Massachusetts died, age 49, following a “fit of apoplexy” (a stroke), after tea, at his home on Charles Street in Boston. He and his wife, Eliza Jane are buried in Hingham where they lived during most of their time in the Bay State. A marble statue of Andrew overlooks the site, as one biographer described it “. . . not tall in stature, but colossal in majesty of power and purpose.”

Interred in Windham’s Brown Cemetery near the corner of Depot Street and River Road are several members of the Andrew family, including the governor’s mother, Nancy, who died in 1832, and his grandfather, John Andrew, who passed away in the 1790’s. Mossy headstones identify their resting places. The burial ground, one of Windham’s oldest, is within sight of the old Andrew home, still standing today at the hilltop on Depot Street. The current owners, Paul and Sandy Penna, say it’s a “quaint old house,” a white wood-frame cottage that still retains much of its 18^th century charm.

According to Sandy, “The house itself is the original structure with many of the original wide pine flooring boards.” Built in 1792 by Windham’s second physician, Dr. James Paine, it was later purchased by Albion’s father, Jonathon Andrew, who greatly improved it. The house may have once faced toward the main (River) road. Early sketches show a classic portico front doorway flanked on either side by two windows with shutters, a center chimney, adjoining carriage shed, all fronted by an early version of a picket fence. Now in its 225^th year, the house is one reminder of Windham’s historic and revered son. Others include Albion Road and the John A. Andrew School, which stood near-by for nearly a century. At Windham High School in the early 1960s, many former students still recall the essay assignment in junior year English: The John A. Andrew essay contest on the topic “What it means to be an honest man.”

Fast forward to the 2000s and the name continues to reverberate as the significant source of guidance and inspiration for Massachusetts’ first African-American governor.