As we continue to explore the early residents of the Pleasantdale neighborhood of South Portland, let’s take a look at another prominent family, the Minott family. Many of us know Jim Minott who still lives locally.

Jim was the principal of Brown School for 18 years; he retired in 2005. Jim is the great-great grandson of John W. Minott, founder of the J.W. Minott Co. Both John W. Minott and his brother, James A. Minott, had homes in South Portland. In the 1870s, James lived in the home directly across from Henry Nutter’s home at 93 Evans St. Since James ended up moving his family to Texas, however, we’ll focus instead on his brother, John.

John Wiswell Minott was born in the Bahamas in 1834. His father John was a sea captain, originally from Brunswick, Maine, and his mother Rachel was from the British West Indies. His younger brother, James Alexander Minott, was born in 1836 on the “high seas” while his parents were on a sailing vessel. Not surprisingly, both John and James started out working as mariners. While James continued on that path, spending his lifetime as a merchant sea captain, John followed a different path.

In 1859, John married Eliza Bacon in Barnstable, Massachusetts. He was reportedly living there at that time, however, he was still working as a mariner. After they married, John decided to give up his life at sea. They moved to Cape Elizabeth (now known as South Portland) and, in 1863, purchased a home and land from Marshall Whitney. It was a large, triangular piece of land, bordered by Broadway and Hill Street (one corner is where the two streets come together). The house, built by Whitney circa 1860, became the longtime homestead of John W. Minott (the home still stands and currently has an address of 968 Broadway – now occupied by T.A. Napolitano, electrical contractor).

Because John Minott was living in that home as early as the 1860s, he lived through numerous name changes of his neighborhood. Name changes in our community can prove particularly difficult for researchers and genealogists. When Minott first arrived, his home was known as being at Turner’s Island (the name used by the whole neighborhood) or Cape Elizabeth Depot (the name of the post office, established in 1853).

It wasn’t until 1891 that the name for the post office changed to Pleasantdale. There was no home delivery of mail at that time, so street names were not important and often street numbering didn’t exist. Mail was sent to the post office where you would pick it up, so your “address” was simply the name used by the post office.

Once the post office name changed to Pleasantdale, residents would have mail sent to “Pleasantdale, Maine” even though they technically lived in Cape Elizabeth (and John Minott was still alive when our town changed its name to South Portland in 1895). Even the street name changed. When they first bought the home, it was on the “County road,” which changed to Summer Street for many years (with an address of 426 Summer St. when home delivery of mail started up in 1901) until finally changing to 968 Broadway in the late-1920s when the street was renamed and renumbered. In spite of the variety of place names, the home never moved.

John and Eliza settled into their home in the 1860s and raised their two children there, Maggie and Frank (Maggie was one of the first four students to graduate from our high school in 1877). John was a gardener on a smaller scale, but by 1880 he had built large greenhouses next to the house and was selling flowers and plants on a commercial scale.

As his business grew, it quickly became a family affair. His son Frank, born in 1868, officially became a partner in 1893 when they changed the name of the business from simply John’s name to “John W. Minott & Son.”

In those early years, the Minott family sold their flowers and plants from their greenhouses. That changed in 1895 when a well-known florist in Portland, Will E. Morton, died and the Minotts purchased his florist business. They reopened the former W.E. Morton flower shop at 615 Congress St. as Minott’s Flowers. Although the Minotts moved their retail shop several times over the years, it was most often in a storefront on Congress Street.

An article in the Portland Daily Press in 1896 described the thriving business: “In Pleasantdale…is situated one of the most extensive systems of greenhouses that exist in the State of Maine. This enterprise, which was started 16 years ago in a modest way, owns today a large number of greenhouses of the most approved construction. Among these is a house, 20×150 feet, devoted to the raising of chrysanthemums and pinks; another, 20×150, is used exclusively for growing roses and is without doubt the best rose house in Maine; next comes the carnation house, 20×115 feet, and the violet house, 18×115 feet. There are also three plant houses used in the spring for raising tomato plants, with a capacity of about 15,000 plants annually. On the grounds, a great number of pansies, daisies and cabbage plants are grown, about 7,000 of the last named being raised and marketed each year. During the fall and winter months, the choice flowers in the different greenhouses are cut every morning and taken into the retail store at 615 Congress street. Here, under the supervision of the junior member of the firm, Mr. Frank L. Minott, a competent design artist works the cuttings into beautiful conceptions in design and color that captivate the senses and cultivate a love for an art that enhances the beauties of nature. In the Spring, Messrs. Minott & Son do a very large business in the shipping of flowering plants, shrubs, vines, seedlings and early vegetable plants which go to all points in New England.”

The business continued to grow. One report from 1899 stated that the Minott operation had grown to 10 greenhouses plus several additional acres of land were under cultivation. John W. Minott was active in the community, as well. John sometimes served as a constable or “special police” for the town. He and his family were members of the Elm Street Methodist Church. John served on the church’s board of trustees and also was credited by the church as making a major gift that made it possible for them to acquire the home at 854 Broadway as their church parsonage.

After John W. Minott died in June, 1908, his son Frank took over. In a wonderful tribute to his dad, when he could have changed the company name to his own name, Frank instead incorporated the business in August, 1908, under the name J.W. Minott Co.

In 1917, Frank had some health issues that led him to leave and move to Massachusetts. His sons, Clarence and George, had grown up with the business and were the next generation to take over. Clarence had graduated from Bowdoin in 1915. He took over the operation of the retail store in Portland, which he ran from 1918 to 1925. George easily stepped into a leading role and, when Clarence left in 1925 to move to Bangor, George was running the company, serving as its president and treasurer, with his mother Hattie still working in the Portland store, as well. In the 1940s, they continued to expand with the purchase of a 97-acre farm in Gorham which they were able to use as additional garden space in the summers.

George H. Minott remained in South Portland throughout his lifetime, not only running the business, but also becoming involved in local government and politics. He was a man not afraid to speak his mind. His father Frank had served as a South Portland alderman from 1903-1905. George also served as an alderman for one term in 1924-1925, then as the mayor of South Portland (an elected position) for three terms, from 1926-1929. He represented South Portland in the Maine State Senate in 1929.

George Minott had married Mary Davis from Ohio in 1917. They had seven children, one of whom died in infancy. Of their surviving six children, two of them would play the largest role in the future of the florist business.

In 1957, in a freak accident at a fishing camp at Moosehead Lake, George suffered severe burns when he was trying to light a gasoline lantern and it exploded. He drove himself about six miles to the nearest hospital and they later transferred him to Maine Medical Center, but the burns were too severe. He lasted for three weeks and as a local news report stated, “Just before he lapsed into the final, merciful coma, he directed his son John to go through with a wedding which had been scheduled for the day that George died.”

After George’s death, his widow, Mary D. Minott, took over the company as president. Mary ran the business with two of her children in leadership positions – her daughter Mary Elizabeth Minott ran the retail store in Portland and her son John III managed the greenhouses at 988 Broadway for a time. After the greenhouses fell into disrepair, it was decided to tear them down and sell the land. In the mid-1970s, Minott’s opened a retail store located in the Mill Creek Shopping Center. John managed that location at first, but then decided to start his own new florist business.

In 1977, after renovating the original Minott homestead at 968 Broadway to create a retail space, John Minott and his wife Claudette opened Homestead Florist. With John no longer manager of their retail store in Mill Creek, Mary Minott hired someone to manage that store while she continued to manage the Portland store, now located on the corner of Federal and Temple streets.

The two businesses, J.W. Minott Co. (doing business as Minott’s Flowers) and Homestead Florist, were both in operation in the late-1970s and 1980s. After Mary E. Minott’s death in 1990, after more than a century in business, the family sold J.W. Minott Co. (it continued to operate in Portland under new ownership), and John and Claudette finally closed down Homestead Florist.

Upcoming event – Wednesday, June 21

On Wednesday, June 21, the South Portland Historical Society will share a recent video-taped interview with Deqa Dhalac, the United States’ first Somali-American mayor. In the interview, Deqa will share her personal history of immigrating from Somalia to the United States, as well as being elected to the Maine State Legislature. Viewing at the South Portland Community Center, 21 Nelson Road, at 6:30 p.m. For more information, or to reach the historical society, call 767-7299 or email sphistory04106@gmail.com.

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

Copy the Story Link

Comments are not available on this story.