History of Morrill's Corner

Little has been written online about Portland's "Morrill's Corner", at the intersection of Forest Avenue, Allen Avenue, Stevens Avenue, and the Portland & Rochester Railroad.

Stevens Avenue was constructed from the separate Horse Railroad, upon which many of the Stevens family had lived, but for whom is Morrill's Corner named?  Well, the short answer to that would be "Brothers Rufus and Levi Morrill, who dominated the business landscape of this corner beginning in the early 19th Century."

But for the long answer, I believe it's important to get the history of the Corner and the ancestry of these brothers in order.

First of all, it's important to note that all Morrills of New England descend from two unrelated colonial era English immigrants:  John Morrell (early settler of York County, Maine) and Abraham Morrill (early settler of Salisbury Massachusetts).

Stephen Morrill (1737-1816) of North Berwick (great grandson of John Morrell) was the very first of the Morrills to arrive in this part of Falmouth, long before it was given the name Deering, and he was the first of many Morrills to arrive in the area during that period.  Nathaniel Deering came from neighboring Kittery, and he was the same age as Stephen.  It seems likely that these two early Falmouth businessmen from York County had known each other and possibly inspired each other to move to Falmouth in the 1760's.

The earliest and largest business of The Corner was the Morrill Tannery run by Levi and Rufus Morrill (mentioned in more detail below), who were two of Stephen's sons.  Levi tanned cowhides, and Rufus tanned sheepskins.

Tannery operations were quite simple.  The process involved dipping sheep or cowhides in a vat of lime, followed by dipping them in a vat of hemlock juice (which hardened the hides into leather).  Finally, the hides would be soaked in hen manure and water.

As for how Morrill's Corner got its name, the below article regarding road and railroad surveying and construction from Westbrook to Gorham, from 1849, is the oldest mention I have found to date of naming this area in this manner:

Portland Weekly Advertiser
November 6, 1849

Another advertisement from 1862 is of interest to me, given that I'm researching both Morrill and McClellan families:

PORTLAND DAILY ADVERTISER
MAY 1862

1871 MAP OF MORRILL'S CORNER

The above map from 1871 shows Morrill's Corner, and this was also the year that Deering was formed from Saccarappa, with the remainder of Saccarappa to the north being named Westbrook.  This map appears to have been created for the genesis of the Town of Deering.  Morrill Avenue abuts Forest Avenue just south of Morrill's Corner.

"R. Morrill"'s home (Rufus) can be found pinpointed here on Forest Avenue, just north of Morrill Avenue (now Morrill Street).  On the Horse Railroad to the west (later Stevens Avenue), one can see what appears to be "A.E. Morrill" as well (not sure who that is).  Further south on Forest Avenue, and just north of Grove Street, one can see "C.E. Morrill Tannery", which is most definitely Charles E. Morrill's (son of Levi).

SERVICE STATION IN 1924
(MORRILL HOUSE NEXT DOOR)

(PHOTO COURTESY MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY)

"MORRILL HOUSE" (POSSIBLY LEVI MORRILL'S)
BEHIND AMOCO STATION
MORRILL'S CORNER
1229 FOREST AVENUE / 6 ALLEN AVENUE
(CIRCA 1933)
(Became a lodging house up until 1932)

(PHOTO COURTESY MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY)

MORRILL'S CORNER 2014
THE OLD AMOCO STATION IS NOW SUBWAY SANDWICH SHOP
BRICK LEVI MORRILL HOUSE BEHIND IT
REPLACED BY WHITE WOODEN HOUSE FROM THE 1940s

The large colonial brick house above was also known as the "Morrill House".  In its later years it was a rooming house run by George and Loretta Beach.  It was closed for business in 1932, and it was razed sometime shortly thereafter.  As I mentioned above, I believe it may have been the Levi Morrill House (brother to Rufus).

Stephen and his two wives had thirteen children all told, but two (Rufus and Levi) were most instrumental in the development of Morrill's Corner, and one grandson (Charles Sumner Morrill) fathered the Burnham & Morrill empire:

-Rufus Morrill, Sr. (1796-1860), a sheepskin tanner, married both Webb sisters (Mary and Sally, at different times of course), and had nine children of their own at the Corner, most likely in the house above, which was situated next to a toothpick factory for quite some time.  Rufus Jr. (1834-1911), a nurse, who was second to youngest, had three children in Westbrook. Rufus Jr. also worked as a railroad engineer, and he kept the house until his death, where lived with his sister Susan and his daughter Sarah (both spinsters).  Sarah owned it for many years after Rufus' death (Rufus' Sr. son Edmund had moved to Ellsworth, NH, and his eldest daughter Mary had died in China in 1900 - Edmund later became the Governor of Kansas).  Sarah rented the 2nd apartment to a variety of tenants (George A. Thombs, James Sneddon, Albert T. Stults, Truman E. Estabrook) during Sarah's final years there.  Around 1938, Sarah ended up at an elderly care private hospital on 554 Stevens Avenue (owned by Mae Ward) and Sarah's tenant, Truman Estabrook, stayed with the house until it was razed in 1941, in favor of an automotive shop.  The hospital Sarah stayed at also served as the quarters for the sexton of Evergreen Cemetery next door to it.  Sarah died there in the 1940s.

Below is an 1895 article concerning Governor Edmund Morrill of Kansas and his visit home to Portland, and this article provides quite a bit of information about the Morrill's Corner of the turn of the century.

ANNOUNCEMENT ABOUT GOVERNOR MORRILL'S VISIT TO PORTLAND
KANSAS CITY JOURNAL
AUGUST 29, 1895

-Levi Morrill (1802-1868) was a manufacturer, and cowhide tanner.  He and his wife Harriet Quimby had two children. According to the above, he built the red brick mansion which was then occupied by Keeley Cure hospital (which might be 1229 Forest Avenue-where the Amoco station was-see photo above).  Levi's son, Charles Edwin Morrill (1841-1891), fought in the Civil War.  But by 1871, was put in charge of the family tannery (located a half mile south of Rufus' house), which was then called the "C.E. Morrill Tannery", located on Forest Avenue - just north of Grove Street.  According to Morrill Online, in 1871 and 1874 he patented methods of manufacturing shoe bindings (patent no. 121,400 and 134,763), and with Charles Hardy, he patented a method of evening leather in 1874 (patent no. 147,770).  This tannery could well have been previously run by his father Levi, uncle Rufus, and grandfather Stephen, prior to that.

While it appears that the Morrill Tannery must have closed down by the time of Charles' death (1891), Charles' son, Levi Morrill (1872-1904), carried on the family business to some extent.  He moved to Boston and worked as a leather merchant.  Levi married Anna Hill Lee of DC in April of 1904.  On their honeymoon in Atlantic City, Levi suffered from morphine poisoning and died in their room at the St. Charles Hotel.

CORNER OF FOREST AVENUE
AND GROVE STREET
(2009)
FORMER SITE OF MORRILL TANNERY

-A third child of Stephen's, one Asa Morrill, was father to Charles S. Morrill (1811-1849).  Charles was a lumber dealer who lived on 37 Sumner Street.  He was in Portland as early as 1833 (according to his marriage record).  He and his wife Charlotte Vose had six children:  Mary, Charles (more on him below), Charlotte M., George A., Walter H., and Hattie Morrill-Stewart (who was born just seven months after Charles' death).  Charlotte and her family relocated to Boston in 1873, but Charles Jr. (1933-1901) stayed behind in Portland, becoming a famous merchant, and carrying on his father's business affairs.  He lived at 307 Brackett Street in the West End with his wife Calista.

CALISTA MORRILL ON VANDA THE HORSE

Charles's son, Charles Sumner Morrill, was a founding member of Burnham & Morrill Company, which owned, among other things, the famous B&M Baked Beans plant in Portland.  The Company was started by George Burnham, Jr., in 1867, and later joined in ownership by his brother John E. Burnham, and Charles Sumner Morrill.  Their first location was 61 1/2 Commercial Street, on Burnham Wharf, one of many new businesses launched in the aftermath of the Great Fire of 1866.

1871 PORTLAND DIRECTORY

George Burnham brought his meat and fish packing experience from his days with Rumery & Burnham (a packing company he helped establish earlier), and Morrill brought his corn canning experience from his work at Richardson & Robbins in the mid-1850's. Morrill had been one of Burnham's foremen at Rumery and Burnham in the late 1850's, and that's where the relationship began.

The above history was mostly provided by the B&M business website.  However, the 1847 City directory shows Charles S. Morrill living at 37 Sumner Street (does the "S" stand for Sumner?), with occupation as a lumber dealer at Burnham & Morrill on Burnham Wharf, so the connection likely goes back a bit further than the 1850s...

1847 PORTLAND DIRECTORY

Women at the Burnham & Morrill plant
fill cans with fish flakes.
(1934)
Courtesy of Maine Historical Society

B&M PLANT

Charles's son, George Burnham Morrill (1836-1934) was named after Charles' business partner (and had inherited his father's interest upon his death in 1901), bought out the remainder of the business in 1910, when he then moved the business from 13 Franklin Street to its current site on Casco Bay (pictured above).  George lived briefly at 47 Chadwick Street and 22 Carleton Street, but upon his inheritance, moved to the palatial eight bedroom mansion at 150 Vaughan Street in the West End with his wife Margaret P. Elwell (1873-1939), children Catherine, Charles Sumner II (named after his grandfather) and George, Jr., and many servants and in-laws.  Margaret was a published author.  In 1930 she wrote a book entitled "The Love That Abideth", which was a tribute to her children, and especially her daughter Catherine, who had died at age 21 of a heart condition.

More about the B&M history can be read here.

GEORGE MORRILL HOUSE
150 VAUGHAN STREET

Below is a tree outline of this historic family (click to enlarge):

I created the above to give you an idea of the Morrill migration from North Berwick to the Morrill's Corner area, and it omits many people.  This is subject to further update, of course, should I discover the need for it.  But as for this writing (July 2015), it gives a relatively accurate picture of the history of this family, for which Morrill's Corner is named.  Thanks to Morrill descendants out there who have helped me fill in some of the missing research.

In 1900, another business started up on The Corner.  It was called "Morrill's Coal & Grain Company" on 35 Allen Avenue.  The business ran until at least 1940.  I'm not certain which Morrill family member owned this business.

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1940 CITY DIRECTORY

Today, everyone knows of Morrill's Corner as a busy, if drab looking, commercial and industrial intersection of Deering just north of Woodfords, and the location of established restaurants Wok Inn and McDonald's, which have been there since I was a youngster in the 70s, as well as the popular Morrill's Corner Pub just south of Wok Inn.  A proposed development name Morrill's Crossing purported itself to be an attempt at revitalization of the area, and was slated to begin construction in 2010, but it appears to have stalled as of this update (2019).  While I'm certain that the developer believes this will be a 'revitalization' of the area, it appears to have been a pretty drastic change - something I'm certain that Mainers didn't take too kindly to.

A new development push as of 2018, the Smart Corridor, re-imagines the Corner as a part of a 7-mile stretch of Portland and South Portland in need of improvement as to safety, traffic congestion, and overall development design.  It will be interesting to see how this plays out.