Front Street

Front Street

View of Front Street with a very large lumber pile to the right. The location of the lumber suggests that it is the property of Mathews Brothers Sash & Blind Mill which is located just above the location of the lumber. On the left is Hutchins Brothers Granite Works. Just beyond is a view of homes along Bayview Street. HUTCHINS BROTHERS: Expert Manufacturers of Granite and Marble memorials - Cemetery Work of Every Description - Yards and Works on Front Street For almost a quarter of a century the firm of Hutchins Brothers of Belfast has maintained a most enviable reputation in their field of endeavor, - that of designing and making artistic granite and marble memorials. There is not a cemetery in this part of Maine that does not contain many beautiful examples of their handicraft. Hutchins Brothers will submit drawings of proposed memorials, making original designs incorporating the ideas of the purchaser. Their facilities are such as to enable them to produce the finest monuments at lowest possible prices. They are shippers of the choicest of granite from Barre, Westerly and Quincy, also quarrying some from our county of Waldo, at Lincolnville. They are also importers of fine marble for cemetery purposes. They are able to make the simple, but effective headstone all the way up to the great vaults, etc. Nothing is too large or too small for them to handle. A. E. Hutchins and F. S. Hutchins are the individual firm members. Both are practical marble and granite cutters who give their personal supervision to the completion of all work entrusted to them. MATHEWS BROTHERS (EARLY HISTORY) In 1854 brothers Noah Merrill Mathews and Spencer Walcott Mathews began a partnership in a window sash and millworks company - called the N.M. & S.W. Mathews Company. In 1860 brother Sanford Hills Mathews joins the family business and the name is changed to Mathews & Co. By 1872, the brothers had expanded the products manufactured by Mathews & Co. to include doors, window sashes, blinds, shutters, window and door frames. On August 24, 1873, the company lost its storehouse on Front Street to the Great Fire of Belfast. The company reopened 70 days later at the corner of Cross and Miller streets as Mathews Brothers Company. By 1899, after the deaths of Noah, Spencer and Sanford, the company officers are made up of Clara Starrett Mathews, president; Addie Richmond Mathews, vice-president; Maude Elizabeth Mathews, treasurer; and Orlando Ephraim Frost, superintendent. Of the officers, Maude tended to be the most involved in the company. At that time it was the largest Maine business owned by women. In 1904 Orlando E. Frost assumed control of Mathews Brothers Company and added spiral staircases and coffins to the company's product line. Frost began Mathews Brothers long standing tradition of community involvement with his commitment to the Waldo County General Hospital. In 1906, Frost expanded the company by building a warehouse on Front Street. In late 1916 early 1917, Frost took a contract to build a 5-masted schooner named the Jennie Flood Kreger. The keel was laid and construction started in early 1917. Mathews Brothers Company completed the construction and launched the Jennie Flood Kreger March 5, 1919. It was the largest vessel and the only 5-masted schooner tever built in Belfast, Maine. Almost a decade later, Copeland Lang bought Mathews Brothers Company from O.E. Frost in 1928. A stock company was formed and incorporated. In 1946 Copeland Lang sold the company to his son Charles Lang and son-in-law Roger Haddock; with Roger becoming the next president and Charles assuming the role of treasurer. Charles became president only six years later after the early-and-untimely death of Roger.