Built ca: 1885, maybe
An unusual Italianate in the Deering Center neighborhood
Sometimes, the origin is not so easily found. So it is with 153 Concord Street.
When we last encountered Eliphalet Clark, it was on North Street and involved the Maine Wesleyan Board of Education. Here on Concord Street, we meet this pair again.
Eliphalet Clark was born in Strong and graduated from the Bowdoin College School of Medicine. Clark was a homeopathic physician and advocate of prohibition. In the 1850’s, he foresaw the growth of the suburbs in Deering and started buying property here in partnership with a sailmaker named Henry Lovell. Lovell lived on Pleasant Street in this period.
In 1856, the pair filed a plan to develop much of what is now Pleasant Avenue and Concord Streets with the Registry of Deeds. Our subject would remain unsold through Eliphalet’s death in 1882. As a part of his will, which was approved in July of 1883, the lot for our subject was transferred to the Maine Wesleyan Board of Education. Sometime between 1883 and 1887, as best I can tell, our subject was built. 1887 was the year that an English immigrant named John McAlley purchased it. His deed is the first I can find to mention ‘buildings thereon’. Yet it existed prior to that as shown by it’s existence on the 1886 Birds Eye of Deering.
What John McAlley purchased is an odd arrangement. The main block, facing Concord Street, measures 24′ wide and 16′ deep. It is listed as 1 story but there appears to be a second in the garret. The ell, facing Lawn Avenue, is 16′ deep and 24′ long. It is one story with an attic. The styling is vaguely Italianate with the brackets and hoods over the windows. Stylistically, the ell can be seen as a completely different building than the main block. There is no evidence of it ever having brackets and the window trim is much simpler. The entry porch was in a Classical Revival style judging from the 1924 photo. The porch roof on the ell is not original.
153 Concord Street in 1924. Maine Memory Network
John McAlley was born in 1858 and came to the US around 1872. He married Ellen Donovan in 1888. Ellen was born in 1855 in Canada to Irish immigrants. They had 2 daughters. John worked as a gas fitter for several firms. Ellen died in 1916 and John in 1923. His obituary noted he had been a longtime member of the Ancient Order of Foresters of America.
Ancient Order of Foresters of America pin. Buttonmuseum.org
After John McAlley’s death in 1923, 153 Concord Street passed to his surviving daughter, Mabel Rumery. Mabel had married Elroy Rumery around 1917. They had a daughter and a son. Elroy was a Biddeford native who worked as a shipper for Conant & Patrick on Commercial Street.
Clipping from the 1919 Portland city directory. Myheritage.com
Mabel McAlley Rumery died in 1952 at the age of 59, which was the age her mother died of. Elroy lived here on Concord Street with Elroy Junior and his family until his death in 1970. After his death, the property was sold to Edward & Dorothy Fletcher. Edward & Dorothy were the children of the Rumery’s neighbors Charles & Grace Fletcher who lived at 149 Concord Street.
The side of 159 Concord Street, which faces 149 Concord, shows a ‘cut-way’ of the various claddings the house has worn over the years. The yellow clapboards are likely the originals and are certainly the ones seen in 1924 when the exterior condition was rated as “fair”. The next photos we have are from 2008/9 and the show the vinyl siding seen in blue. This and the ‘scalloped’ siding in the gable peaks, above the windows, had been added prior to 1980 as it was listed as the siding at that time. The The vinyl was gone by 2019 but the entry porch was still there. Otherwise, it was just as we see it now.
Dorothy Hartwell Fletcher was born to Charles & Grace Fletcher in 1911. Her brother Edward was 8 years older than her. Charles was a self-employed merchant and travelling salesman. Grace worked as a secretary for the phone company. Grace never married and lived with Charles & Grace through their deaths in 1955 & 1968 respectively. Dorothy graduated from the Farmington State Teachers College and was a teacher in the Portland School System for many years.
Edward Fletcher was named on the deed of purchase for 153 Concord Street in 1970 but he lived in Texas at the time. When he died in 1979, the property was deeded solely to Dorothy. When she died in 1982, her will passed it to a Robert Park who was listed as living next door at 149 Concord. Park sold it in 1993. 153 Concord changed hands 3 more times before being purchased by the current owner in 2015.
153 Concord Street is listed as a single family home. The condition is good.
Portland House Stories 