The Taco Trio Mexican restaurant location at 62 Ocean St., on the corner of C Street in South Portland’s Knightville neighborhood, has a long history of grocers, hair stylists, bars, and even a link to the history of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church.

The link to the Seventh-Day Adventists arises from oral history passed down through generations. As the legend goes, in December of 1844, a young Ellen Harmon met with four other women for a prayer meeting, in the building on the corner of Ocean and C streets. There, on the second floor, Ellen had a vision of the Advent people ascending to heaven, and of the second coming of Christ.

Ellen would go on to become one of the founders of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church, with her husband James White. She was a prolific author during her lifetime; among the many things she wrote about was her vision in Knightville. This solidified the building at 62 Ocean St. as a “mecca” of sorts for some people in the Seventh-Day Adventist Church. Ellen White died in 1915, but busloads of church members would still come to visit the site back in the 1950s.

There is a long history of grocers on that corner. We’ve written previously about John A.S. Dyer, the grocer and postmaster who had operated his store there starting around 1879. Dyer was only 18 years old when he went into the grocery business with Levi Seavey in Knightville. The grocery, known as the Cape T Store, was located in an earlier building on the corner of Ocean and C streets. That early structure was later razed to make way for a larger two-story building.

The Cape T Store was a typical mercantile of the time, selling a wide variety of goods such as fresh produce and meats, general groceries, candy, and tobacco products. Levi Seavey was appointed the Knightville postmaster in 1881, so the post office for the surrounding area was located inside their store. Dyer operated the Cape T Store with Levi Seavey from roughly 1879 to 1885.

In 1885, Seavey left and Dyer continued with the grocery under his own name, calling it J.A.S. Dyer & Company. His younger brother Walter came to work for him as a clerk in the store at first and, by 1888, had joined John as a junior partner in the grocery. They were still running the grocery from the building on the corner of C Street when John was appointed the Knightville postmaster in 1889. By 1891, they had moved the grocery across the street and up one block, to 85 Ocean St., on the corner of D Street.

The store appears to have been vacant for a couple of years, then People’s Cash Meat Market opened in the space in 1893. William Roche was listed as the “agent” for the business, but it was grocer Levi Seavey who was back in the same building running the grocery again. Seavey stayed on for about two years, then left and another experienced grocer came on board, John T. Young, circa 1895.

Young managed the People’s Cash Meat Market for another two years before buying the business around 1897. He dropped the name and ran the grocery under his own name, John T. Young, grocer, but the business closed in 1898 and he was declared insolvent.

Around 1900, John W. Blake came to Knightville with his family and started his own grocery in the space. John had learned the grocery business in Portland, working as a clerk in a store there. John’s son Arthur had been working as an insurance agent, but he joined his father running the store and, after John’s death in 1906, Arthur took over. He continued the store operation through 1909.

In February, 1910, the land and building were purchased by Turner H. Knight, a farmer in Scarborough. From 1910 to 1912, South Portland-native Leonard P. Skillin (who was married to Turner Knight’s daughter Mabel) partnered with his brother-in-law Joseph R. Knight in a new grocery, known as Skillin & Knight, grocers. Joseph Knight was also working as a traveling salesman for the Thomas Hall Company, a wholesale grocer in Portland. His younger brother, Percy L. Knight, only 15 years old at the time, began clerking at the grocery.

Around 1912, Joseph Knight left the partnership and Leonard brought in his brother, Eugene Skillin. Leonard and Eugene then operated as Skillin Bros. from roughly 1912 to 1919.

Percy Knight, who had just returned from serving overseas in the U.S. Army during World War I, then took over the grocery. Percy came in with a new partner, Lawrence McCabe (McCabe was a South Portland native who had clerked down the street with John A.S. Dyer). Knight & McCabe was in business throughout the 1920s, then Percy left to go to work as a chef for his brother Joseph at the Atlantic House in Scarborough (a position he held for 32 years).

The Knight family sold the land and building to Lawrence McCabe in 1929, and McCabe continued operating the store under his own name, Lawrence McCabe, grocer, through 1932.

Starting in 1932, the last grocery began operation, Dyer & McLaughlin, owned by Herman C. Dyer and Edmund W. McLaughlin.

Edmund was the grandson of William Henry McLaughlin, a former tin smith. William and his wife Mary Ann had first lived in Portland, but moved to Knightville, Cape Elizabeth (now South Portland) and purchased their home at 54 C St. in 1885. When the Knightville Volunteer Hose Company No. 4 was founded in 1894, William Henry McLaughlin was among its founding members.

Edmund McLaughlin was born in 1907, the son of William and Mary Ann’s daughter, Ada. Edmund grew up in the home at 54 C St., with his mother Ada and grandfather (his grandmother Mary Ann had died in 1896). He attended South Portland schools and then took a job as a clerk at Knight & McCabe, grocers, at 62 Ocean St.

Edmund learned the grocery business at Knight & McCabe and, after Percy Knight left, worked for Lawrence J. McCabe. In 1932, Edmund took over the grocery with a partner, Herman C. Dyer. They operated the business from 1932 to 1942 under the name, Dyer & McLaughlin (they purchased the land and building from McCabe in 1935).

During the time that Dyer & McLaughlin was in business at 62 Ocean St., a restaurant had opened in a small log cabin building at 101-103 Ocean St. The little restaurant was known as Henry’s Log Cabin Lunch.

Around 1941, after its owner, Henry Brosseau, shut down the restaurant and reopened in a Scarborough location, Dyer & McLaughlin bought the building and moved it down the street, setting it right next to their grocery. That log cabin continued to be known as the Log Cabin Restaurant, run by various operators, into the 1970s. Some other restaurants in that storefront at 60 Ocean St. include P & J’s Restaurant, Homeplate Restaurant, Uncle Billy’s Southside BBQ, and Susan’s Fish-N-Chips.

After Dyer & McLaughlin ceased operation in 1942, the building at 62 Ocean St. was used as a barbershop and beauty parlor for many years. Tenants included the Lloyd Alexander barbershop, Margaret’s Beauty Shop, Alexandria’s Beauty Lounge, Elaine’s Beauty Lounge, Rita’s Beauty Lounge, and Gerald Peterson’s (“Jerry’s”) Barber Shop.

In December, 1973, Eddie Griffin purchased the buildings at 60-62 Ocean St. from Edmund McLaughlin. He moved his Eddie Griffin’s Dugout into the building and later changed the name to the Griffin Club.

The Griffin Club sports bar became a landmark in South Portland over the decades. It finally closed its doors in 2017 and the building was demolished to make room for a new bar, called Big Babe’s Tavern. While that business did open in the newly-constructed building, it closed during the pandemic and the building was sold to the owners of the Taco Trio Mexican restaurant.

Taco Trio opened in the new building at 62 Ocean St. in 2021.

South Portland Historical Society offers a free Online Museum with over 16,000 images available for viewing with a keyword search. You can find it at https://sphistory.pastperfectonline.com and, if you appreciate what we do, feel free to make a donation by using the donation button on the home page. If you have photographs or other information to share about South Portland’s past, we would love to hear from you. South Portland Historical Society can be reached at 207-767-7299, by email at sphistory04106@gmail.com, or by mail at 55 Bug Light Park, South Portland, ME 04106.

Kathryn Onos DiPhilippo is executive director of the South Portland Historical Society. She can be reached at sphistory04106@gmail.com.

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