There are some things about Legion Square that haven’t changed all that much in the last century.

The brick Masonic building at 107-111 Ocean St. was erected in 1898 and is a landmark building in Knightville. The Taco Trio building at 119 Ocean St. has long been affiliated with groceries and/or food service. There was a grocery there as early as the late-1890s, run by George Stevens, and the building was later home to Nanos Variety.

Across the square at 2 Cottage Road, the brick bank building looks relatively the same today as when it was first built in the early 1930s to house a branch of Fidelity Trust. A few years later, Casco Bank & Trust held its grand opening at that site and remained there for nearly 50 years.

Many things have changed, however, starting with the name of the square. Known early on as Knightville Square or the City Square, the name Legion Square didn’t come into being until after the American Legion made the building at 20 E St. its home in the early 1920s.

Where the parking lot of the post office is today, the impressive Knightville School once sat overlooking the square, later replaced by a gas station.

Directly across the street from the Masonic building is a small parking lot on the corner of Ocean and E Street. The parking lot is adjacent to the Waterfront Graphics & Printers building which has a 104 Ocean St. address. Older residents may remember Elaine’s Beauty Salon in that attached building on the corner, or some might even remember the earlier gas station that once existed there.

The building that predated the gas station, however, was built closer to the corner (with a 112 Ocean St. address) and had an interesting history. The Schlotterbeck & Foss Company purchased that land on the corner of Ocean and E Street in September, 1887.

Schlotterbeck & Foss was founded in 1866 by Augustus Schlotterbeck, who later joined in partnership with fellow druggist Charles Foss. They operated two apothecaries in Portland. Schlotterbeck first announced his plans to build an additional apothecary in South Portland (known then as Cape Elizabeth) in February of 1887. He purchased a piece of land between C and D streets for that purpose, but then apparently changed his mind on the location, sold that lot (with a non-compete stipulation in the deed) and bought the land on the corner of E Street instead.

The store was completed and opened in January of 1888. An article in the Portland Daily Press gives a detailed description of the drug store when it first opened: “The building is a new one 60 by 21 feet and one story and a half high. Inside it is finished throughout with white wood which was first sandpapered and then varnished. The ceiling is also of white wood, the floors are maple and the tops of all the counters are solid cherry. The medicine is kept in a fine set of 450 amber bottles which prevent the action of light upon their contents. In the back of the store is a prescription counter in which there are 130 drawers, and the balances on this counter are new and fine ones. Back of this are the chemicals and the laboratory is in the rear of the building. The north side of the store is devoted to patent medicines and a considerable counter room is given to fancy articles. A fine Puffer soda fountain will be put in. There is a large well lighted cellar in which is a furnace by which the building is heated. The store is a well lighted and airy one and the show cases and all other fixings are first-class.”

Because Schlotterbeck and Foss already had two apothecaries to run in Portland, they hired someone to manage the new store in Knightville for them. They utilized the space in the rear of the building as their manufacturing laboratory.

In 1892, Schlotterbeck & Foss purchased the building block at 36 Brown St. in Portland and moved their manufacturing laboratory to that site. They subsequently leased the drug store at Legion Square to S.S. Lightbody & Company.

Samuel Lightbody and his brother, Charles Lightbody, were both born in Bath, sons of a ship carpenter, and they both went into the drug store business. Although we are unclear how active Samuel would have been in the business here, as his home and base of operation appears to have been in North Vassalboro at that time, Charles Lightbody lived here in South Portland, so we know that he was actively operating the business here.

In the spring of 1896, it appears that Charles Lightbody had big plans to grow his business in South Portland. In addition to the drug store at Legion Square, he also announced plans to build a drug store on Willard Street. This was at the time when the Willard Beach Casino was under construction along with a bowling alley and restaurant inside.

With the trolley bringing riders down Willard Street to Willard Beach, it was likely a great idea to place a drug store at that location. However, it appears that Lightbody abandoned those plans and he announced in December of 1896 that the Knightville store was not profitable and he was closing that location, as well.

The next druggist to take over was Gregory Blish. He leased the building from Schlotterbeck & Foss and reopened the drug store around December of 1897. In a Dec. 10, 1897, report in The Coast Watch: “Mr. Gregory E. Blish, who is a graduate of the Chicago College of Pharmacy, opened the store formerly occupied by S.S. Lightbody & Co., corner of E and Main [Ocean] streets. Mr. Blish was previous to 1894 an employee in the drug store of George C. Frye, Portland.”

Throughout its years thus far as a drug store, the building had been a one-and-a-half-story edifice, however in July of 1899, the roof was raised and an entire second story was added so that there was now a residential rental unit in the building. With the apartment rental upstairs, this made for a more profitable business model.

Thomas F. Devine took over the drug store around 1908. While he leased the drug store from Schlotterbeck & Foss at first, his father Bernard Devine ended up purchasing the building from Schlotterbeck in 1910. Thomas Devine ran the drug store for over two decades.

The drug store finally closed sometime around 1935. The next building occupant was Henry Alix who operated his Henry’s Café from the site from roughly 1936 to 1938. After the building was vacant for a time, the property was leased in 1939 to Community Oil Company which constructed a gas station on that corner.

Note: Thank you to those who have already joined or renewed their membership in the South Portland Historical Society for 2021. If you enjoy reading about South Portland history, please consider joining or renewing your membership today.

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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