Built in 1886 for William & Elizabeth Sanborn. Design by John Calvin Stevens

An attractive Queen Anne-Colonial Revival double townhouse in the Parkside neighborhood.

It may be Stevens first use of a broad arch over the entry.

William & Elizabeth Sanborn had been married 6 months when Elizabeth purchased the land for our subject from Alice Anderson in June of 1886. All though we cannot be certain, we can surmise that the couple had moved in by the time William Jr was born in April of the following year. When Oliver Sanborn was born in July of 1888, William H Sanborn senior had been dead for 6 months.

The Sanborn’s houses show 50′ to State Street and are 32′ deep with 20′ x 35′ ells off the rear. They are 2 stories with a 3rd in the garret. The bay windows are 3 feet deep. Masonry is a common brick laid in a running bond with tight, white, mortar joints. The window lintels and sills are either brownstone or sandstone. As the have been painted, it is hard to tell from the street. The windows have almost no trim all 4 sides.

After William Sanborn died in late 1887, Elizabeth moved in with her parents on Spring Street. She remarried in 1903 and died in 1950. In early June of 1888, She sold our subject to a real estate dealer named John Lane. On the same day that he took possession, Lane sold 278 State Street to Anna Cora Swasey. In August of 1889, he sold 280 State Street to James W Fitzpatrick.

James Fitzpatrick sold insurance. He came to Portland from Nova Scotia in 1887. The 1900 census, by which time he had sold 280 State Street, said he was windowed. He left Portland in 1908 and moved to Ontario where he was involved in railroad development. James Fitzpatrick died in 1928. The purchaser of our subject in 1895 was another real estate dealer, John Proctor. Proctor then sold it to Edward Chase.

Anna Cora Swasey was born to Henry & Mary Davenport in Boston in 1845. Henry was a stock broker. Anna married Eben Swasey in Bangor in 1867. Eben was a native of Exeter NH, where he was born to Nathaniel & Abigail in 1843. The Swasey’s were farmers. The family was well off with Nathaniel listing $10,000 in real estate & $5,000 in personal estate for 1870. Eben seemed to follow that path up through 1870 when the census showed he, Anna, and 6 month-old Frederick living, and working, on the family farm in Exeter.  But Eben & Anna were planning a different future.

Sometime around 1875, Eben & Anna Swasey moved to Portland with their young family. Along with them was another native of Exeter named Rufus Lamson and his family. Lamson was a successful potter who had been living in Peabody MA prior to moving to Maine. They formed a partnership called Swasey & Lamson and, in a series of purchases in 1878 & 1879 acquired a substantial piece of land on Potter’s Lane and Brattle Street for their operations. They were working from this area as early as 1876 when they were noted for displaying product at city hall in August of that year. The partnership lasted until January of 1884 when Lamson left to open a grocery store in Bramhall Square. He would later become a Customs Surveyor and work in that role for 20 years. Rufus Lamson died in 1928.

If the purchaser of 280 State Street in 1895, Edward P Chase, sounds a bit familiar to readers of this blog, that is because Edward was another member of the Chase family of builders & masons. Edward never lived here. He and his family lived in a townhouse the family built on Deering Street between State and Mellen. In 1904, Chase sold our subject to a travelling dry-goods salesman named Edward E James. James was born in East Deering in 1861 to a ship carpenter named Hiram and his wife Carilin(?). Edward married Alnah Proctor in 1891. Her history is blank other then being born in New Brunswick and 1866. They had 6 children.

The build date of 1886 marks a transitional period in John Calvin Stevens’ career. He had left the office of Francis Fassett, where he had been a partner, in 1884 and joined Albert Cobb in a brief partnership in 1888, In the iterum, he worked solo and developed some of his signature details and features. The deep overhang of the cornice and stacked bays hint at the Queen Anne style that was prevalent with Fassett. The massing and that sweeping arch over the entrance hinting at Stevens’ budding interest in the nascent Colonial Revival style that was to see it’s flourishing in the next decade.

After Rufus Lamson left the partnership in 1884, Eben Swasey created E. Swasey & Company. By 1890, the firm had moved to Commercial Street near Cross Street where the company’s sign is local landmark to this day.

In late 1905 or early 1906, Eben and Anna Swasey took a steamer to Jamaica. The date of this passage is not clear but we know they were there as they arrived in Boston on their return on the SS Admiral Farragut on January 22 of 1906. They were recorded by the US Immigration Office. On June 30 of 1906, Eben Swasey died of a heart attack.

Edward & Alnah James sold 280 State Street to Bernard Devine in early 1914. Devine was an Irish immigrant who arrived in the US in 1871. He married Bridget Maney in Bangor in 1874 and they had 6 children. Bernard seemed to move from job to job including selling liquor, both legally and illegally, and running a restaurant. Bernard Devine died in early December on 1914 after what was described as a “brief illness”. His will passed our subject to Bridget. She sold it in 1918 and died in 1919. The buyer was Ida Williamson. She and her husband and their three sons lived her for less than 2 years before selling to a real estate dealer/owner named Abraham Finks in July of 1920. Finks sold 6 weeks later. Between this sale and February of 1922, 280 State Street changed hands 4 times.

By the time of Eben Swasey’s death in 1906, both of his and Anna’s sons, Frederick & Perley, had joined the firm. Frederick had married Evangeline Pearson, the daughter of the County Sheriff, in 1902. They lived here on State Street along with Anna and Perley. Eben & Anna’s daughter, Leila, had married Francis Smith, the son of a wholesale grocer by the same name, in 1895. They moved to Brookline MA. Perley married Florence Kline in 1916. They moved to Falmouth. After Anna died in 1921, 278 State Street passed to the children. Frederick & Evangeline lived here through 1931 when when he died of heart failure. Evangeline continued to live here until her death in 1941. In November of 1942, 278 State Street was sold twice. It sold again in 1944 and again in 1945 when Bessie Panagakos purchased it.

The buyer of 280 State Street in 1922 was Caroline Topliff. She had been born Caroline Adams to a prominent attorney in Norridgewock in 1845. In 1876 she married Albion Topliff. Albion was born in Freedom NH in 1843. He became a physician in New Hampshire before moving to Maine in 1871. In 1875, he and Caroline were married. They settled in Woodfords and had 4 children. Albion had a successful practice before dying in 1904. After his death she and her daughter Florence boarded on Pleasant in a house removed for church parking before moving to our subject. Caroline Topliff died in 1930. 280 State Street remained in the Topliff family’s ownership until 1964.

Vass ,Bessie, Mefalabow was born in Greece in 1905. She came to the US as a child. She married William Panagakos in 1920. William was also of Greek birth and was born in 1897. They had 6 children. The William worked in the restaurant for decades including running the Longfellow Restaurant on Congress Street. A son of William & Bessie’s, Nick, was the public affairs officer at NASA during the 70’s. The Panagakos family sold 278 State Street in 1968.

278 State Street is listed as a 3 family home.
280 State Street is listed as a 4 family home.
The condition of both is good.