The Curtis
Ocean Park, Maine
1885 - 1985
In Memory of Helen MacBurney
Who enjoyed her summers at The Curtis for more than sixty years. She planned and worked to carry out the purposes and goals of The Educational Bureau.
Ocean Park, Maine
1885 - 1985
In 1881, Ocean Park, Maine became the summer home of Free Baptists organized as the "Ocean Park Association," composed mainly of men. To expand on their cultural activities, four years later (in 1885), the "Women's Bureau of Ocean Park," consisting mostly of women, was formed. Mrs. Clara Dexter was its first president. Article II of its Constitution, adopted on August 5, 1885, read as follows: "The object of the Bureau shall be to promote the physical, mental, and spiritual culture of women and children."
The next summer after organization, work with children started with the Reverend Lewis Dexter as teacher. Forty entered the course in Bible Geography and History. Fourteen completed the work with a written examination and received diplomas.
The year 1886 began not only the first "Normal" class, but the first Woman's Convention. This was held as part of the Assembly Program, and consisted of papers prepared by three members, each followed by animated discussion. The titles and authors are worth preserving:
"Thirst," by Mrs. J. C. Osgood
"How and How Much to Eat," by Mrs. J. M. Remick
"What to Eat," by Mrs. Thompson
As the Bureau planned for enlargement of its educational program, the realization of the need for housing and meeting space grew. The Temple was not sufficient. Mrs. C. A. Ricker expressed it as follows: "There had come one day a driving rain. In spite of rubber coat, my satin dress was soaked. Few of us had yet cottages of our own. The hotels like the Billow House offered scant opportunity to get dry and warm. With this experience fresh in mind, a group of us chanced, a day or so later, to look into the windows of the empty Lowell House standing close to the street, Temple Avenue, opposite Furber Park."
They soon agreed that this could be made into the meeting house and school of their dreams but wondered if they could ever raise the necessary funds. Indeed, the Lowell House was for sale, and the enthusiastic spirit of the women in securing a home for the Bureau was shown in their vote August of 1887. Voted: To take the Lowell House. "If the gentlemen will raise the money to buy it, we will accept it as a gift. If not, we will raise the money to buy it ourselves."
Businessmen helped in the purchase. Mrs. Susan A. Porter secured a gift from a Boston lady, Miss Susan Wymann, sufficient for the furnishing of the fireplace room as "Wyman Reception Room." The upstairs guest rooms were furnished by friends of some "loved and lost awhile." Scores of persons with smaller means took shares of ten dollars to equip the kitchen and dining room for "this big home by the sea." Most of the bedrooms were named in memory of various friends, by those who donated funds for their furnishings. A front second-floor bedroom still has a brass plaque reading, "In memory of Nancy Perkins Cheney." The Reverend Silas Curtis, Pastor of the Free Will Baptist Church in Pittsfield, New Hampshire, contributed so generously in memory of his wife, Patience, that the building was renamed "Curtis Home," later becoming simply "The Curtis," when in 1917 the porch was rebuilt and the rear of the second floor extended over the kitchen.
The gathering of funds for the Curtis Home took about two years, for the Missionary Helper prints in the issue of August 1888, an article appealing for contributions of a dollar or less, and closing with a paragraph containing this sentence: "The time for opening the building is near and it is hoped that every dollar needed on the repairs and furnishings may be forwarded at once to its treasurer, Mrs. J. C. Osgood, of South Berwick, Maine."
The dreams of the women were fulfilled, in that this building became the center of much informal sociability for all Ocean Park. Cottage residents stopped to sit down on the steps of the long, open porch of those earlier days to tell stories, ponder questions, and crack jokes with one another and with those staying at the Curtis Home. In the large reception room, they joined with young and old in the popular ring games. To this building for years came the children and young people to attend classes, and book lovers to draw books from its small library. Here also from the beginning, women prepared meals for themselves as well as for neighboring families.
The year when the Curtis Home was ready for occupancy, 1888, The Woman's Bureau became an incorporated body so as to be the legal holders of the property. Mrs. Susan Porter assumed the presidency. The name was changed to "The Educational Bureau of Ocean Park." The reason for the change may be suggested by these words found in the report of a committee at a later date: "We trust that the Ocean Park Association will soon recognize the work of the Educational Bureau as standing on the same basis as that of the Temple and the Assembly -- not as a woman's enterprise, but as a public benevolence of all and for all."
This was just the beginning of the real estate ventures of the Educational Bureau. The records show that the pioneer women and their successors added one property to another and undertook the arduous task of soliciting or even borrowing money when necessary with the greatest reluctance.
The second piece of property to be acquired was the Ryerson Cottage adjoining the Curtis Home on the East, later to be named Blake Industrial. The demand for cooked food to lighten vacation household duties increased, and, in 1893, this cottage was secured. A Free Baptist deacon of Lowell, Massachusetts, Mr. Jesse Blake, donated the money and the name "Blake" in honor of his wife, Mehitable. The word "Industrial" was apparently added because cooking of food was to be the industry undertaken. It was used for several years as a public store and included a cooked food department and small restaurant managed by James and Fred Dermeritt. In 1915, this building was remodeled and the upper half was moved to Grand Avenue where it is now known as "The Blake Cottage." The lower half was converted into a restaurant and home bakery.
The Bureau owned the restaurant building for over 60 years. Long-term restauranteurs who managed a quality food service on Temple Avenue included Percy Hicks, Harold Osgood and William Silliker. In 1977, because of increasing costs and need for repairs, the Educational Bureau voted to deed the property to the Ocean Park Association for one dollar. The Association promptly tore down the building, and a new building on the same site was dedicated in honor of Adelbert Jakeman in June 1978.
In September of 1913, Ocean Park came close to being wiped out by a cottage fire set by tramps on Colby Avenue. Both the Curtis Home and Restaurant "took fire in the rear, but both were saved by a hydrant stream."
The growth of educational work continued, and soon the Bureau was drawing upon its resources to engage speakers of wide reputation. The class work grew, and in the second year, 1887, a Bible class for young people, in addition to that for children, was formed. Vacation Bible School continues to the present day. In 1891, the first "Normal" class in missions was inaugurated. For several years, a class for young people in physical culture was sponsored by the Bureau. A Nature Study class, started for children, later including adults, has continued a popular feature, and for the last 27 years, under the knowledgeable leadership of Theodore W. Wells of Milton, Massachusetts, author of "The Plants of Ocean Park." In 1914, craft classes for young children began and later, in 1925, included boys and girls up to 12 years of age.
Another educatonal phase of the Bureau was added by the vote of 1901 "to secure a traveling library." From 1902 until the library building was erected in Furber Park in 1924, the Educational Bureau saw that certain sets of books offered by the State of Maine were obtained for the summer and safely returned, and that a librarian and a room in the Curtis were provided. In 1907, five traveling libraries were in circulation.
In addition to the Curtis, the Ocean Park Restaurant, and the Blake, the Bureau bought at different times, the Sunshine Cottage, the Home Cottage, and the McClellan Cottage, all adjoining the Curtis grounds. These three buildings were eventually sold and removed by their new owners to different locations in the Park.
The Sunshine Cottage was purchased by Reverend Percy Clark
and was moved from behind the restaurant in 1926 to a lot opposite the
old pump house at 108 Randall Avenue. They placed it on skids and ran
it up on the ice. It was torn down in 1950, but the present house was built
with some of its lumber.
The Home Cottage, known as the Corner Cottage, was located
on what is today the empty lot west of the Curtis. It was much too cose to
the sidewalk so was moved to 7 Tunis Avenue. Before 1920, it was the home
of movie stars Irene and Marion Goodrich.
The McClellan Cottage is now on West Grand Avenue near the corner
of Casco Avenue.
Another ambitious project of the Bureau was the construction of the Agnes L. Park Recreation Building built on land donated by the Association at the rear of the Tennis Courts. It was named for Mrs. Park, Bureau President from 1937 to 1951. It was a recreation center for all ages, but principally for the young people of the Park. It was financed and equipped by the Bureau, who maintained and operated the building from 1949 to 1961, at which time it was deeded to the Ocean Park Association as a free gift to the community.
In 1930, the members of the Committee on History of the Bureau wrote as follows: "The fact that many of the present leaders in the Educational Bureau are the daughters of the older generation shows how strong have been the ties that bind the members to one another and to Ocean Park; and how lasting has been the influence of these pioneers." The work of the first and second generations is still being carried on today.
This summer, as we celebrate the centennial of our founding, we rededicate ourselves to the original ideal and purpose of the Bureau. As written by President Dora Jordan in 1931, "It grew out of a desire of many women to reach the ideal of Christian womanhood in service for others."
This page was produced by
John R. Bird after a booklet compiled by Joan
Morrill. The booklet was based on information from:
The history written by Dora Scribner,
Edythe Porter, and Clara Doe in 1930;
The Centenial History of Ocean Park, Maine, 1881 - 1981 by
Adelbert M. Jakeman;
Recollections of Charles P. Swan, Past President
and Founder of the Ocean Park
Historical Society;
and the publication, The Missionary Helper, 1886 - 1888.
| 1901 | Mrs. Susan A. Porter |
| 1904 | Mrs. H. R. Erskine |
| 1907 | Mrs. C. A. Ricker |
| 1910 | Mrs. M. C. Folsom |
| 1915 | Mrs. J. H. Thompson |
| 1919 | Mrs. James I. Milliken |
| 1921 | Mrs. S. H. Thompson |
| 1924 | Mrs. Willis Doe |
| 1926 | Mrs. Louise Mount |
| 1930 | Miss Dora Jordan |
| 1933 | Miss Dora A. Scribner |
| 1934 | Miss Dora Jordan |
| 1935 | Miss Dora A. Scribner |
| 1938 | Mrs. Charles Park |
| 1952 | Mrs. Clarence Edwards |
| 1955 | Mrs. Merrill R. Wells |
| 1967 | Mrs. Ralph E. Keene |
| 1969 | Mrs. Norman M. Winch |
| 1971 | Mrs. Chester M. Clarke |
| 1973 | Miss Helen MacBurney |
| 1977 | Mrs. Ruth M. Rowe |
| 1979 | Mrs. Dorothy E. Wells |
| 1981 | Mrs. Joan Morrill |
| 1987 | Mrs. Irene Conover |
| 1989 | Mrs. Mary Anne Rogers |