Name/Title
43 Key Street, Eastport, Maine | I7-0C1-19 | District #197Entry/Object ID
197Description
This two and half wood frame building likely dates to about 1885. It appears on the 1893 Sanborn Map of Eastport, but not on the 1879 Bird’s Eye View Map of Eastport. The building began life as MacGregor’s neighborhood grocery store and continued as MacGregor’s grocery store until at least 1935. Hugh Chaffey took over the business not long after this and continued to run it as a grocery story until the 1970s when it was converted into a home.
Email from Pat Oftedal on February 8, 2025:
Historic District - 43 Key Street
Hi!
I was surprised to see our home listed here, thinking that our neighbors places were so much older. Regardless, here's what we know or think we know of its history.
In 2003, my husband Sven & I bought "McGregor's Store", gutted it, and turned it into a 3 bedroom single family home.
We bought it from Jesse Rhodes & Brenda White who used the first floor as a workshop/sales area. They lived in the apartment upstairs. During their tenure, 1988-2003, they produced pottery for Disney, and bought & sold antiques and collectibles. They told us some of the house's history.
Picture 43Key1 was included in the house sale. The back says, "Circa 1893 - John Walter McGregor - boy Fred W." We assume that John Walter built it, and opened the store.
Pictures 43Key2 & 43Key3 were found on Ancestry.com, showing the interior of the store with John & Emma McGregor. I'm not sure who ran the store after John died in 1917. John's son, the boy Fred, may have had a hand it, though he was a clerk at the post office, rising to become the Assistant Postmaster.
I'm guessing that the roof was raised, and the rear addition was added in the late 1940's. The resulting upstairs apartment was drywalled, not plastered, and the light fixtures were from that period. The rear addition was moved from somewhere else...part of the shingled roof can still be seen in the attic. The construction was probably instigated by Fred's son Newell. Fred died in 1951 or 1952, and Newell McGregor is listed, along with his wife and three small children, in the 1950 census as a grocer living at 41 Key St. (Probably the apartment's address.)
People tell me that Newell ran the store well into the 50's and probably the 60's. He and his wife raised 6 children in the upstairs apartment. (yikes! It's less than 1100 sq ft.)
The Quoddy Tides ran a story in December of 1979 reporting the story of Hugh Chaffey's retirement. He moved his grocery store from Quoddy Village in the 60's to the corner of Chapel & Key. I assume he bought the building. He retired in 1979. He is well remembered in the neighborhood.
It may or may not have remained empty until Jesse & Brenda bought it from a Mr. Everett?? Baxter and moved in in 1988. Jesse was a potter & Brenda an artist. Together they won a contract with Disney, and produced vases, chargers, decorative tiles, miniature chargers, and other ceramics for Disney, all decorated by Brenda with Micky, Minnie, the Evil Queen, Cinderella, and many others. Brenda gave me pictures 43Key4 & 43Key5, showing the store before they renovated the outside in the early '90s. Their book, "Disney in Clay", documents their artistic endeavors from 1988 to 1994. It even has a picture of the house! Eventually Disney went overseas to produce their souvenirs, and later, the couple put the store up for sale. Picture 43Key6 is from the real estate listing that caught our eye.
They left us with a piece of their art; an 18" ceramic charger that is the original proof of the 25 copies that they produced of the Evil Queen from Snow White. We've never seen it. We know where it is, but it's wrapped up, hidden, nearly inaccessible, and will remain the house's secret.
We are pleased to be able to continue this building's history in a way that future residents will appreciate, and hope it remains a home for many many years to come.
Pat & Sven Oftedal
