George W. Burkett House 1903

George W. Burkett House 1903

George W. Burkett House 1903 George William Burkett had a dry and fancy goods store in the Odd Fellows Block on Main Street. He was a native of Camden and opened his dry and fancy goods, carpetings, etc. store in Belfast in the 1860s. He was both a jobber and dealer in these goods. His wholesale trade was large and covered a wide area of the country but the retail store gained the widest fame. The store comprised two floors and a basement measuring 28 X 102 feet. The Odd Fellows' Block, in which he was located, was erected in 1888-89 at a cost of $33,000, including the land and covers the site of the old American House hotel. It is the largest block in the city, built of brick, being sixty feet on the front, one hundred and four feet deep, and four stories high. The lower story contains two stores, occupied since their completion by A. A. Howes & Co., as well as the afore-mentioned George William Burkett. His home, on Church Street (now No.20), is located adjacent to the Pierce School, though when he lived there, the old South Primary School was on the neighboring land. His other next-door neighbor was Maud Gammons, after whom the Library's Gammons Room is named. Burkett, in addition to being a merchant, played in, and was a director of, the Belfast Band. The brick Greek Revival house, built in 1850, was first owned by Belfast postmaster Charles Giles. Admiral William Veazie Pratt was born in the house in 1869.