We take a look this week at an interesting and well-known barber in South Portland in the 1890s and early 1900s. Although he was a man of many talents, Lewis Hutchinson was known by most as a barber in Knightville, but he later moved his home and business to Pleasant Street in the Ferry Village neighborhood of South Portland.
When the Masonic building was constructed on Ocean Street (known then as Main Street) in Legion Square, Lewis Hutchinson became its first tenant when he opened his barber shop and pool room in a room on the first floor on Dec. 31, 1898. He moved out of the space in 1901 and that space was taken over by the new South Portland branch of the U.S. Post Office. South Portland Historical Society photo
Lewis H. Hutchinson was born in 1871 in Portland, the son of Capt. Stephen and Mary Hutchinson. When Lewis was a young boy, his dad was a sea captain, although by the time Lewis was entering adulthood, his dad had left the sea and was working as a draw tender on the Boston & Maine railroad bridge. The Hutchinson family lived in a home on Ocean Street (known as Main Street back then), near C Street.
For a short time when Lewis was first starting out, he worked at a barbershop on Commercial Street in Portland. By 1891 when he was 20 years old, he established his own barbershop in Knightville.
His small business was recognized in the Sunday Telegram on July 9, 1893: “Lewis H. Hutchinson, C, near the corner of Main street, Barber. Established in July 1891. This pleasant little shop is very convenient both to the residents of the village and the passing public. Mr. Hutchinson is a popular young man as well as a good workman, and his place has a good patronage.”
At the end of 1898, Lewis moved his barber shop into space in the new Masonic block at Legion Square.
His new shop was mentioned in the Cape Elizabeth Sentinel in August, 1899: “Mr. Hutchinson, having been established in Knightville eight years, opened his fine new hair dressing rooms in the Masonic block on Dec. 31, 1898, being the first occupant of the building. Mr. Hutchinson is a fine and painstaking tonsorial artist and enjoys a large and ever-increasing patronage among the residents of Knightville and vicinity. His place of business is centrally located and one of the most finely equipped to be found in the suburbs of Portland. Mr. Hutchinson is also agent for the famous Lovell Diamond bicycle and is ever ready to give information about the same.”
His barber shop in the Masonic building, like many barber shops in that time, offered pool tables, as well.
In 1901, Lewis moved his barber shop again, this time to space at 8 Cottage Road (in a building that pre-dates the buildings there today).
The Portland Sunday Telegram covered the news of his move: “Mr. Lewis Hutchinson has leased the old Knightville band room building on Cottage street and will move his barber shop and pool room there in a few days. It is understood that the room now occupied by him in the Masonic building will be used as a central post office in event of the free-delivery system being established in this city.”
Lewis Hutchinson received two patents for children’s toys, including this patent for a picture graph machine in 1930. South Portland Historical Society image
He moved his barber shop a few more times in Knightville – he was at 33 A St. for about five years in the mid-1910s (on the corner where Foulmouthed Brewing now operates), and at 71 Ocean St. around 1919 (corner of C Street). By 1920, Lewis appears to have given up the barber trade and went to work for the Boston & Maine Railroad, as a freight handler at their sheds on Commercial Street for about seven years.
In his personal life, Lewis suffered many losses. He married Grace Blake of South Portland in 1897 and they had two children: George and Herbert. His son Herbert died of meningitis in 1905 when he was only 5 years old and his wife Grace died in 1909 at the age of 36. Lewis married again in 1921, to Ada Green of Portland, but his remaining son George died of a brain embolism in 1922 at the age of only 24 years.
In 1925, Lewis and Ada bought the home at 16 Pleasant St. in Ferry Village, South Portland (the street was renamed in 1997 and is now known as Mosher Street). He would soon open a barber shop on his property, which he operated for about 30 years.
During these years when he had his barber shop in Ferry Village, he appears to have been dabbling with the invention of children’s toys. In 1930 and again in 1932, Lewis was successful in receiving patents for two of his inventions for toys. The first patent was for a “picture graph machine” that consisted of a disk in a box that would rotate with the use of a crank; the images visible through a hole in the side provided a rudimentary form of animation. The second invention was for a “whirling toy” that would spin when strings were pulled. Although Lewis’ hopes would have been to hit it big with one of his toys, unfortunately, neither invention brought about any commercial success.
Another of Lewis Hutchinson’s hobbies was photography. There was an interesting mention in a 1903 newspaper of a photograph that he had taken of the old “Widgery house” that was once located in the area of where the Mill Creek Hannaford parking lot is today. William Widgery Thomas, Jr., the Maine politician and U.S. ambassador to Sweden-Norway, had grown up in that home.
Although Lewis had been known for his photography, we have been unable to locate any of his photographs or even a photograph of Hutchinson himself. If a reader is aware of any surviving photographs, the South Portland Historical Society would love to hear from you.
Lewis’ wife Ada died in March, 1956. Lewis retired after her death, sold the Pleasant Street home, and moved to 1309 Broadway. He died in 1962 and is buried at Evergreen Cemetery in Portland with both Grace and Ada.
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 hope you will reach out to us. 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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