Did You Know: Samuel Spring House

A New Chapter for One of Portland's Historic Treasures: The Samuel Spring House
Every historic building tells a story. Some tell the story of a family. Others tell the story of a neighborhood. The Samuel Spring House at 300 Danforth Street tells the story of Portland itself. Now, after more than six decades under the same ownership, this remarkable West End residence is beginning a new chapter. As the property changes hands, it offers a rare opportunity to become the steward of an important piece of Portland's architectural heritage.

The Samuel Spring House (300 Danforth Street) is the building on the left.

A Landmark in Portland's West End
Built in 1855, the Samuel Spring House was designed by noted Portland architect Charles A. Alexander for Samuel Spring, a member of one of Portland's prominent nineteenth-century families. Situated along Danforth Street, the house contributes to the character and significance of Portland's nationally recognized West End Historic District, one of New England's finest collections of nineteenth-century residential architecture. Its elegant Italianate design reflects a period when Portland was expanding and prospering, and when the West End became home to many of the city's business leaders, professionals, and civic figures.

Unlike many historic homes that have been heavily altered over time, the Samuel Spring House retains an extraordinary collection of original architectural features. Its grand staircase, decorative plasterwork, original mantels, wood flooring, chandeliers, detailed millwork, butler's pantry, servant call bells, and numerous other historic finishes remain intact. These surviving details offer an authentic glimpse into how Portland's finest homes were originally designed and experienced.

Preservation Is About Stewardship
At Greater Portland Landmarks, we believe preservation is about people as much as places. Historic homes like the Samuel Spring House require thoughtful care over time and remind us why stewardship matters: each generation has the opportunity to care for these buildings before passing them to the next. 

While stewardship is an ongoing commitment, it is also an opportunity to preserve the craftsmanship, character, and stories that make places like the Samuel Spring House so special. Every investment in a historic home becomes part of a larger preservation story, and one that benefits not only a single homeowner, but an entire community. Organizations like the Western Promenade Neighborhood Association are also stewards, helping foster a strong sense of place, civic engagement, and pride in the neighborhood's historic character.

Interested in Learning More?
The Samuel Spring House is currently on the market, presenting a wonderful opportunity to become the next steward of one of Portland's historic landmarks.

View the property listing: https://www.thgmaine.com/search/maine/portland/west-end/300-danforth-st-bid-174-1670818

Did You Know: Green Memorial A.M.E. Zion Church

On January 1, 1863, the Portland Daily Press wrote that President Lincoln "will proclaim freedom to all the slaves in the states now in open revolt and armed rebellion against the laws of the land," calling the Emancipation Proclamation "the most important event of the century." Portlanders read those words the day they were printed. The people of Galveston, Texas waited 908 days longer, until June 19, 1865, which we now celebrate as Juneteenth.

This Juneteenth, we honor the Black history rooted here in Portland. As we work to expand our inventory and highlight sites of important Black history, today we focus on the story of Green Memorial African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) Zion Church at 46 Sheridan Street on Munjoy Hill.

The A.M.E. Zion denomination traces its origins to 1796, when Black members of the John Street Methodist Church in New York City established their own congregation after enduring open discrimination. Former members of the Second Parish (Congregational) Church similarly established the Abyssinian Religious Society in Portland in 1828 and built the Abyssinian Meeting House. Continuing this legacy of self-determination, in 1891 A.M.E. Zion charter members Moses Samuel Green and Ellen Odin petitioned their bishop to send a missionary to Portland. Green had been born into slavery in 1852, arrived in Portland in 1888, and became the wealthiest African American in the city. The congregation completed its permanent home on Sheridan Street in 1914. When the Abyssinian was dissolved in 1917, many of its parishioners became members of the A.M.E. Zion church.

Image: "Green Memorial A.M.E. Zion Church, 1961" (1961). Businesses & Buildings - Portland Newspapers (Guy Gannett) Still Film Negatives. 187.

By mid-century the Green Memorial church was central to Portland's Black community. Women, following Ellen Odin’s lead, formed a Big Sister Circle to mentor young girls. Thursday night chicken dinners, scheduled on the one weekday many domestic workers had off, became a beloved fundraiser. A church bus carried families to annual Independence Day gatherings at Old Orchard Beach, Scarborough, and later Sebago Lake.

The church also served as a foundation for civil rights work. One minister pressured Maine's senators to support the 1918 Dyer Anti-Lynching Bill. Another traveled to the March on Washington in 1963. The building was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1973, the first in Maine recognized specifically for its significant African American history.

Green Memorial is still an active and important congregation today. As Reverend Kenneth Lewis said in 2018, "Sunday is the most segregated day in the United States. But not at the corner of Monument and Sheridan."

Did You Know: Masonic Building Beginnings

Guest Author: Nancy Ellenberger

The Masonic Building, 1911
415 Congress Street, Portland, Maine
Architect: Frederick A. Tompson

Special thanks to Nancy for her research and narrative work on this article!

When Maine’s Masonic orders opened their magnificent new Grand Lodge and Temple on Congress Street in 1911, they celebrated with a week-long fair for the general public. For one week, visitors would be allowed to roam the ‘labyrinth of dark hallways and majestic rooms’ hidden behind street level commercial spaces whose rentals would help maintain the rest of the six story Beaux Arts Temple.  An average of 1500 people a day crowded in to see movies and theatrics in the Scottish Rite room, artist Joseph Kahill’s Schlotterbeck portrait in the immense Corinthian Hall, the art exhibit, electrical booth, ice cream table, shooting gallery, flower booth, neckwear table, Toy Land, and Arts and Crafts displays. The ‘greatest of its kind ever attempted in this state,’ the Masonic fair was a ‘unparalleled success,’ declared the Portland Sunday Telegram (26 Nov 1911).

Image Credit: #26774 Maine Memory Network via Seashore Trolley Museum

Citizens who attended were gaining surprising access to these near-sacred fraternal spaces, since the Masons were a ‘secret society’ with unfamiliar iconography, costumes stored in numbered lockers in the Armory, and ceremonies known only to initiates. Ostensibly a democratic and non-sectarian order, the Masons were associated with urban political and monied elites. In 1911 active Masons in Portland included Maine’s governor, secretary of state, both US Senators, all three House representatives, the state’s Supreme Court Chief Justice, Portland’s mayor, and its two richest men. As the press announcement shows, local workmen were proud to announce their association with the building project and presumably bring their families to the fair.

Image Credit: Portland Sunday Telegram, Nov. 19, 1911, PG 9

Image Credit: Journal of American Pharmaceutical Association, April 1917

Public visibility and private mystery also characterized the man universally considered father of the Temple, Augustus G. Schlotterbeck. A son of German immigrants and trained as an apothecary, young Schlotterbeck arrived in Portland shortly after the Great Fire and opened a pharmacy on Congress Street. Twenty years later, he and brother-in-law Charles Foss founded the patent medicine company Schlotterbeck and Foss, now purveyors of specialty sauces and food flavorings. In 1909 Schlotterbeck chaired the committee that oversaw construction of the building and incidentally placed his portrait in the great hall. After his death a decade later, a widely reported probate case revealed that Schlotterbeck had left two-thirds of his half-million-dollar estate to the Masons, after disinheriting his estranged adopted daughter, which retired the mortgage on the Temple.

The Masonic Temple originally included office space in front, in addition to the grand and more private spaces used by the Masons in the rear. It was in one of these offices where Greater Portland Landmarks was incorporated in July, 1964. Today the Congress Street half of the building is in private ownership and contains commercial office and retail space. Masonic spaces are still used by local lodges, and the great common rooms and ceremonial spaces –can be reserved as event space for weddings, graduations, reunions and civic gatherings in Portland.

Preservation Is HERE

By: Alison Frazee, Director of Advocacy

Over the past year I have shared a series called Preservation Is HERE that outlines some of the many aspects of the work we do as preservation advocates: Housing Access; Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion; Representative Development; and Environmental Action.

Because our work dovetails with so many other professional fields, we value and rely on collaborations. GPL is a member organization of the National Preservation Partners Network (NPPN), a nonprofit dedicated to advancing the historic preservation movement and supporting those who do this work. Through this national network, we’re connected with an amazing cross-sector of advocates, architects, developers, tradespeople, urban planners, elected officials, and so many more. We learn from other nonprofit leaders, share ideas and templates, and support each other through the ups and downs of preservation work.

City Hall, Philadelphia, PA

Last week, I had the opportunity to travel to Philadelphia to participate in NPPN’s Spring Retreat! Not only did I get to explore historic Philly for the first time, but spring had sprung and the neatly gridded streets and squares had blossomed with all the greens, whites, pinks, and yellows of the new season. I felt rejuvenated and inspired, and brought home new connections, perspectives, and ideas.

One of the most memorable moments was a presentation by President of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, Carol Quillen. Carol shared updates on the Trust’s lawsuit about the East Wing of the White House and some of their other efforts. There was a good discussion about the Trust’s role in national preservation leadership, and how other efforts can reinforce those of the Trust. I was able to present the national slogan that I helped advance, “This is Historic,” which will be used across the country starting May 1st.

Two takeaways have been front of mind for me since the retreat:

• We got to spend a day with Partners for Sacred Places- a nonprofit that provides services to preserve historic places of worship. They have a passionate and knowledgeable team and have supported nearly 1,000 congregations navigate the complex needs of aging historic churches, chapels, synagogues, and other houses of worship. We toured two church buildings in downtown Philadelphia and learned about their different approaches to preservation. One, Tindley Temple, is an active congregation that runs an amazing café in the church basement (best macaroni and cheese I’ve ever had) to help support their efforts. They are opening an archive that will share the history and stories of this important historic site. The other is being utilized as a community support center, called Broad Street Love, with medical care, food and clothing banks, and mailboxes for those without a permanent address, and much more.

Tindley Temple Interior

Broad Street Love

Greater Portland is home to hundreds of congregations and many are facing mounting maintenance costs on their historic structures. I would like to bring those groups together, with Partners for Sacred Spaces, to share resources and ideas, support each other, and find solutions that keep these special places open and in use, strengthening their communities, for generations to come. Let me know if this type of service would be useful to your congregation: afrazee@portlandlandmarks.org

• The other takeaway, a concept that I’ve been noodling since the retreat, is about proactive visioning. The status quo in the preservation community, since the time when many preservation nonprofits were founded 50-60 years ago, is to respond to a threat of demolition. A community learns that an owner or developer plans to demolish a place of significance and then a rallying cry brings people together to push back. Often, by then, it is too late. GPL understands this deeply since we were founded in reaction to the loss of Union Station here in Portland. Two colleagues shared success stories in their communities that were achieved by offering visions for how historic buildings could be retained and modified to meet the needs of upcoming projects very early in the process, rather than responding to designs already fully formed. We know the value of proactive engagement.

Preservation is HERE, it’s now, it’s the future. I’m excited to incorporate much of what I learned in Philadelphia into the work we’re doing here at GPL. I hope that you will join us, not only as a supporter or Business Partner, but as a participant in our programs, campaigns, and calls to action. My door is always open so please reach out with your ideas and concerns any time.

Did You Know: The Little House That Could.

67 High Street's Remarkable Journey

Tucked between two imposing structures on High Street sits a remarkable little house that catches the eye of anyone passing by. Number 67 is notable for its diminutive size and surprisingly rich architectural character—a double-height bay window, a delicate oculus, and a tiny balcony perched above the front door. Set back from the street, this modest brick dwelling tells an unusual story of transformation and craft.

The building's origins are humble. Between 1877 and 1882, Portland Savings Bank constructed a simple rectangular brick barn on this lot, likely to service the large 1799 house next door at 69 High Street. The two-story structure with multiple windows probably functioned as a carriage house or stable, its sturdy brick construction built to last.

In 1892, prominent Portland carpenter and contractor Spencer Rogers purchased the property from the bank. Rogers and his family lived next door at number 69, and for over a decade, the brick barn remained a utilitarian outbuilding. Sometime before 1904, the Rogers family saw potential in those solid brick walls.

By 1904, Spencer Rogers' will mentioned "two houses" at 67 and 69 High Street, and city directories began listing number 67 as a residence. The transformation was complete by 1909, when fire insurance maps showed a two-story brick dwelling with its distinctive angular front bay. The barn had become a home.

Upon Spencer's death in 1904, the property passed to his son Edward, and eventually to Edward's wife Hattie in 1915. The Rogers family, who were all experienced carpenters, had turned a humble stable into a showpiece. The prominent bay window, decorative oculus windows, and ornamental cap over the entrance weren't just charming details; they were advertisements for Rogers and Son's craftsmanship.

Throughout the early twentieth century, the little house served the family well, alternately rented out and occupied by various Rogers family members, including Edward and Hattie's son Everett and his wife Nellie. Today, this converted carriage house remains a beloved architectural curiosity—proof that skilled hands, creative vision, and solid brick construction can transform the ordinary into something extraordinary.

GPL wishes to thank Kate Bourne and Mark Munger for their interest in this history, stewardship of the building, and inviting us to visit and learn more about the property!