We’ve written previously about the grand home that Henry Nutter built on Evans Street. The home would later take on the address of 93 Evans St. There were no side streets back then, but the home was located on what now would be the corner of Evans Street and Romano Road. Let’s take a look at some of the people who later found a use for the home.

It’s not often that we are able to write much about women in South Portland’s history. Most occupations weren’t open to women in earlier times and, even if they did hold a position such as a teacher, once married, most women were no longer welcome to work as they were expected to stay at home caring for their home and family.

Elinor S. Moody is a rare woman who broke many barriers in her lifetime. Born in Scarborough in 1868, Elinor attended the Gorham Normal School and then attended Gray’s Business College in Portland. She also studied music and first took a job at the Ohio Classical Institute as a music teacher.

She returned to Portland in 1892 and rented an office at 85 Exchange St., where she began advertising her services as a typist and stenographer. She was quite skilled at stenography and ended up working in courts in both Cumberland and York counties.

On Sept. 5, 1898, Elinor expanded her business interests by hiring an assistant and opening Miss Moody’s Select School of Shorthand and Typing at 80 Exchange St.

In addition to her stenography work and her school, Elinor Moody made a name for herself as a real estate investor. As early as 1892, she loaned money to a Portland resident with his property held as collateral. She gave out another loan in 1897, then started picking up the pace of her loans in 1898. She made her first purchase of real estate, in her own name, in 1899 – a house in the Deering neighborhood of Portland.

With her feet wet, she then started buying more properties and, in some cases, land. In a story in the Portland Evening Express in 1903, she was pointed out as a savvy investor:

“George W. Brown [a local developer] tells of a courageous woman’s exploits in real estate, and a Portland lady it was. She had the courage of her convictions. She saw a good thing, knew it and put her money into it and won out. It was a veritable ‘gold mine’ and there is plenty of money in it yet for those who are looking for good investments. The courageous woman was Miss Elinor S. Moody, the stenographer. She believed in the future of Mountain View Park; she was impressed that such a beautiful tract of land [on the Cape Elizabeth waterfront near Preble Street and Cottage Road] must be a success. She bought [three] lots and paid the cash. Then one year ago she built a house on one of them and let it for only a little over two months last season and received $350 for it. She has this season again let it to the same party…and at the same price, thus making a fine investment. Then there has been such an advance in the price of the lots that she has made nearly enough in this way to pay the entire cost of building the house. There are hundreds of men in Portland who, if they had pluck and the ‘sticktoitiveness’ in them could have done equally well.”

And so, in 1909, this very successful woman saw that the impressive, former Henry Nutter home at 93 Evans St. in South Portland was for sale and she bought it. An article in the Kennebec Journal in March announced her plans:

“South Portland is going to have a “healtharium.” Miss Elinor S. Moody of Portland has purchased the place…the large stable will be changed into an 18-room house and will be used as an annex to the main building. A large number of tents will be pitched on the property during the summer for the patients and Miss Moody expects to move about May 1.”

Indeed, Elinor moved right in as she was already in the news with a social event in the home by June. She reportedly had done a lot of study into people with nervous breakdowns and felt that “getting back to nature” was the answer.

According to Elinor, “My remedy is gardening, good cheerful company, long walks in good company, something to take up the attention, and good food…At my ‘healtharium’…I shall gather some of those from the big cities who have gone to the limit and want to pull up for a while and take on new energy. I have a large farm at my summer home. I propose that the city man who comes to me shall learn something about farming. I don’t mean by that to make farmers of them, but they will all be obliged to do a certain amount of work about the garden or the farm every day. If they don’t want to work among the vegetables, they can work among the flowers. A few hours with a hoe, out in the sunshine, a little exercise in the morning in the way of a walk and something to occupy the mind, something worthwhile, it seems to me, would make any man well in a little time…I hope to try my experiment on some real hard cases at first, some active business men who have been told by their physicians that they must get away from business for a time and find a restful atmosphere.”

She sold the 93 Evans St. property in 1915. Elinor’s creation of her “healtharium” is one sign of her personal evolution into the philosophy called “New Thought” – but which Elinor called simply Progressive Thinking.

In the 1910s, Elinor started to write and publish articles in The Nautilus (a magazine of the New Thought movement) about her feelings on progressive thought. She also began writing books, including “How to Obtain Your Desires” in 1918, “All Power is Given Unto You” in 1921, “You Can Receive Whatsoever You Desire” in 1923, “How to Remake Yourself Through Applied Psychology” in 1924, and “Health and Success for You” in 1927.

In 1917, in need of funds to pay off loans, she sold her school, then known as the Moody Shorthand School, along with her stenography business on Exchange Street. She opened a new school called the “Home of Right Thinking” in her Portland home at 294 Spring St., teaching the benefits and principles of progressive thinking.

An article in the Portland Sunday Telegram on June 24, 1917, described the new school, saying there will be “outlined courses of study for students, showing them how to manifest health, harmony and prosperity.”

She set up rooms on her first floor for lectures and also had a private office, a public reading room, and a quiet room for thinking.

In October, 1918, she was elected to serve as the field secretary of the International New Thought Alliance, based in Washington, D.C. In 1919, the organization elected her to serve as the district president for Maine. She published many books and was considered an authority on the subject of New Thought on the national level. Lecturers would often come to her home (then at 42 Deering St.) and Elinor would give motivational lectures around the country, as well.

Elinor Moody died in 1956 at her home at 173 Danforth St. in Portland.

Dyer and Small florists

After Elinor Moody sold the home at 93 Evans St. in 1915, the next owner, Daniel Schwey, ran into hard times and filed for bankruptcy. The home was then bought out of bankruptcy proceedings in 1917 by Hiram W. Dyer and his two sons-in-law, Walter W. Small and Harry E. Harris.

Hiram Woodbury Dyer had spent his career in the florist and greenhouse business, working first for E.J. Harmon’s greenhouses where he worked as foreman, then as foreman for J.W. Minott & Company.

Hiram Dyer brought a whole new life to the home and farm at 93 Evans St. He built greenhouses behind the home and opened as Bonny Bank Greenhouses. In 1920, Walter Small, who had been working as the superintendent at Coronet Manufacturing shirt waist factory in Portland, decided to join his father-in-law in the florist business. Also in 1920, Harry Harris sold his interest in the property back to Hiram and Walter. With Walter now a partner in the business, they changed the name to Dyer and Small Company.

Dyer and Small operated largely as a florist, selling cut flowers and floral arrangements, but they also sold plants (they specialized in geraniums and pansies), and sold fruits and vegetables like tomatoes and celery, as well.

They operated as Dyer and Small for a decade. In 1930, apparently victims of the Great Depression, they filed for bankruptcy, both as the business and individually.

The property at 93 Evans St. was sold off to pay creditors and the once-beautiful home was later torn down and the property divided into multiple house lots, all near the corner of Evans Street and Romano Road.

Membership Drive 2023

The South Portland Historical Society researches and documents local history. If you enjoy reading about South Portland history, please lend your support. A one-year family membership is only $25 and supports our mission of preserving local history. Donations can be made through our Online Museum website at https://sphistory.pastperfectonline.com, or if you’d prefer to donate by check, please make it payable to South Portland Historical Society and mail to us at 55 Bug Light Park, South Portland, ME 04106. Thank you. If you need to contact the society, we can be reached by email at sphistory04106@gmail.com or by phone at 207-767-7299.

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

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