โHere`s a view of a non-extant downtown residence historically called the Capt. John McClintock House at 324 State Street on the corners of Fleet Street and Court Place in Portsmouth, NH. Circa 1890s.
โIf you look closely, you can see the South Church belfry through the trees.๐
โCapt. John McClintock (1761-1855) was a mariner, ship master, and ship owner, serving in the US Navy during the Revolutionary War. He and his wife, Elizabeth Bigelow (1769-1854), raised six children to adulthood, but sadly outlived five. At the time of his death, McClintock was recognized as Portsmouth`s oldest citizen and last survivor of the American Revolution.
โIn 1858, the McClintock estate sold the property to Edmund M. Brown (1803-1883), a cabinetmaker, and his wife, Mary Ann Treadwell (1808-1885). The couple had eight children, and the Browns owned the property for over 60 years. In 1921, the family sold the property to Dr. John H. Neal (1862-1929) and his son Maj. Cecil M. Neal (1890-1974).
โWith the opening of the Memorial Bridge between Maine and NH, State Street (US Route 1) was changing. On Feb. 23, 1923, the Portsmouth Herald reported that the Neal Motor Co. had moved into a new building (incorporating and renovating the old McClintock house) now known as the Neal Block. The Neal Motor Co. offered vehicles for sale, more auto supplies, four filling tanks, as well as modern bathrooms for both men and women.
โIn December 1928, the Neal Block was moved 35 ft back from the street. In 1937, Cecil Neal sold the business to Kendall Motor Co., but retained the property. In 1942, it was Mitchell`s Service Station. In 1955, Neal had the building demolished for a new and modern gas station. By 1974, the gas station was known as Earl`s Citgo. Later that year, it was razed for a bank parking lot, its present use.
โIn 1948-1949, Neal was elected mayor of Portsmouth. After selling his business, he served for the Interstate Bridge Authority as a toll-taker for the Sarah Mildred Long Bridge (middle bridge), retiring in 1965 to Freedom, NH.
In honor of the New Hampshire Film Festival, we dug through the archives for some cinematic history (and maybe a little drama), and this movie program fit the bill.๐ฌ๐ฟ๐ญ
In early August 1933, the film "The 7th Commandment" ran for three days at the Arcadia Theatre, located on the upper level of the Franklin Block on Congress Street. Adults could pay 10 cents for a matinee or 15 cents for an evening show, but children were barred entirely.
Complete with strip poker and a storyline about a young man returning from the big city with a sexually transmitted disease, the movie lived up to its billing as a "daring revelation of a delicate theme." Today, the movie is considered a lost film, as no copies are known to exist.
According to the Portsmouth Herald, the Arcadia (formerly Freeman`s Hall and the Edisonian Theatre) opened on Monday, Oct. 15, 1928, as "a revelation in the new modernistic European environment of charm, luxury, and smartness." The Arcadia hosted ballroom dances, banquets, boxing matches, movies, vaudeville, and both local and traveling theatrical acts.
In the summer of 1930, the Arcadia upgraded its sound system and began showing RCA Talkies. The local high school basketball team could no longer use the space, which could imply more fixed seating for the theatre. Audience capacity reports varied from about 800 seats (500 on the main floor and 300 in the balcony) to 1,300+. It screened double features and cliffhanger serials. But just over a decade later, the Arcadiaโs condition was described as poor in a 1941 theatre report. The movie house closed in the late 1950s.
Over a decade later, the dilapidated marquee was featured a few times in the Heraldโs complaint column "Today`s Gripe."
In 1976, a non-profit group known as Y. E. S. (Youth Enrichment Services) proposed tentative plans to bring the old theatre back as a multi-purpose center for youth and community activities. The project fell through due to a lack of funding. Between 1982 and 1987, the marquee was finally taken down.
๐ธ program Given in support of the Athenรฆum, Richard A. Smith (Cuzin Richard), E 3721.082 & PS2948_02
Street view of a man (probably store proprietor Harry Brackett Jenness) standing in front of a one-story market identified through research as the Jenness Store on Willard Avenue, near the corner of Lafayette Road, Portsmouth, NH. Circa 1915 #wherewasthiswednesday
A banner above the market advertises "Ice Cold Tonic." The store appears to have been recently constructed, as the pine-pitch patches are visible from the sealing nails, and the building is not yet painted.
Behind the store are buildings along Lafayette Road and South Street, which confirm the location. From right to left is the edge of a residence at 151 Lafayette Road, the carriage house of 169 Lafayette (with an address of 1253 South Street), the garage of 151 Lafayette, and then the rear of 1215 South Street.
According to deeds, in 1915, Elizabeth Wallace Jenness (1888-1967) purchased land from her mother, Malvina Carter Wallace Kingsbury, near the corner of Willard Avenue and Lafayette Road. The store was then owned by Elizabeth and her husband, Harry Brackett Jenness (1885-1965), both of whom had experience within the retail and grocery businesses. This endeavor, however, was short-lived. By early 1917, the property was advertised at auction as "the former Jenness Store," and lumber dealer Robert I. Sugden purchased the parcel. The Sugden family owned property on Willard Avenue. In 1918, the Jenness family removed permanently to Plymouth County in Massachusetts.
Across town in August 1922, Zeda Stokl bought the former Spalding School parcel at auction on the corner of Bartlett and Clinton streets as an investment property. Shortly thereafter, a one-story building appeared on the corner of Clinton Street with the address of 205 Bartlett Street.
Today, that building still stands and appears to be the same structure as the former Jenness Store on Willard Avenue. What do you think? Was this building moved?๐ค
Approximate year based on other glass plates in this grouping and corroborating research.
An important message from Executive Director & Keeper Tom Hardiman:
Many of you have already learned of my decision to take early retirement, effective July 31, after 26 years as your Keeper and Executive Director. We have achieved great things together, including the launch of our integrated digital catalog, which makes our collections accessible to researchers anywhere in the world. We have doubled our footprint on Market Square. The Athenรฆum is a model of financial and operational strength, with membership numbers and operating budgets nearly triple what they were 20 years ago. ย I am particularly proud of the Athenรฆumโs role in establishing, after 35 years of effort, a legal framework to create a joint collections and research facility for all of Portsmouthโs major repositories of historical documents and artifacts. Planning, funding, and building the Portsmouth Archive Center will be a years-long project. It makes sense for me to pass the baton to someone who can take our team to the finish line.
Rest assured, you will still see me at the Athenรฆum, enjoying our beautiful historic spaces and delving into the books and documents I have loved and shared with you for so many years.
---
๐ธ Tom Hardiman at the Athenรฆum`s bicentennial dinner at the Wentworth-by-the-Sea in 2017. Courtesy of Tom Hardiman.
This Valentine`s weekend, love can be found in our archives as archivist Katy Sternberger shares a matrimonial letter from the Halliburton family papers.
In this April 4, 1844, letter to Susan Hamilton Peters, James Pierrepont Halliburton asks for her hand in marriage. He writes, โMon Cher Ami, It gives me great pleasure to be allowed to express on paper that which I have been unable to communicate verbally & in accordance with your wishes & my promise. I hereby relate in as few words as possible the story of so much interest both to yourself & me; the alphas & omegas of which I will express in one line, โWill you receive my hand, accept my heart & become my Bride?โโ
James had also purchased a watch for Susan, so he hopes his proposal will explain the story behind the gift and that she will โcommunicate to me a story equally as interesting.โ
The Halliburton family papers, 1809โ1900, including this handwritten marriage proposal, were recently processed by archives graduate student intern Mary Saunders.
The couple wed in 1846, and they had two children. Sadly, James died from a lung illness in July 1849, a few months after the birth of their second daughter. Our archives also document Susan`s life as a widow living in the family home on Islington Street. These papers reflect both the income received from rents and investments of her former husband and money paid out for living expenses such as home maintenance, heat, groceries, and doctors` bills. In 1856, Susan remarried. Her second husband was widower George W. Haven, who was also a banker and an Athenaeum Proprietor. They had one son.
Shortly before 6 a.m. on December 4, 1880, a deadly fire broke out on the fifth floor of the six-story Kearsarge cotton mill off Hanover Street in Portsmouth, NH. #thismonthinhistory #145yearsago
Reportedly, an employee was cleaning the piping with a โpiece of wasteโ when it came into contact with a gas jet, igniting. When the worker dropped the flaming waste onto the oil-soaked floor, the fire quickly spread, blocking the staircase. Trapped employees had to leap over the blaze, which resulted in several people being severely burned. During the escape, others were trampled.
Spinner James Greenwood (1827-1880) was reported missing. On January 12, 1881, his remains were found among the ruins. An emigrant from Blackburn, England, James and his family lived on McDonough Street in the 1880 census. His wife, Ellen Whalley, and his three eldest children (Nancy, 26, Margaret, 18, and Nathan, 14) all worked in the cotton mill. He was laid to rest in Harmony Grove alonside three of his children who had died young.
Two other English immigrants suffered severe burns: Nathan Wood (s) and William Warburton.
By age 12, Nathan (1849-1880) had worked as a cotton piecer in England. In Portsmouth, he and his wife, Lydia, worked at the Kearsarge Mills. They resided on Cornwall with their three young children. Six days after the fire, he succumbed to his wounds, age 31.
Born in Stockport, William (1851-1926) arrived in America as a child with his family in the 1850s. He and many family members worked in the mill. He survived his injuries, later becoming a Portsmouth grocer for 22 years.
When the fire broke out, about 40 to 50 people were in the building, but within 20 minutes, the mill would have been in full operation, which could have resulted in more casualties.ย
Nearby buildings were damaged, including the Freewill Baptist Church (The Pearl). At the jail on Islington, Sheriff Kent had devised a plan to move its 10 prisoners to police headquarters. Windswept embers sparked small fires across the city. The financial loss topped $400,000, and the destruction devastated the Portsmouth economy, leaving 300 to 350 operatives jobless.
The holidays can seem hurried, stressful, and full of lists. At our Athenaeum we can pause and take time to review a list of things for which we can be thankful. First and foremost on that list is you, our members and friends whose support literally makes everything we do possible. In a worrying time in which non-profits throughout our region are struggling, our Athenaeum is thriving thanks to your generous support. We have a very strong board leading us in a strategic, methodical transition to a more effective organization with a very bright future. You already know we have the absolute best staff. If you donโt know that, come in and spend five minutes with them and you will be convinced.
My personal bit of gratitude for the day is for having a place where I can access information that is not pre-filtered by an algorithm. Today I checked our 1771 edition of the Encyclopedia Britanica for โAthenaeum.โ It says: โa place wherein the professors of the liberal arts held their assemblies, the rhetoricians declaimed, and the poets rehearsed their performances.โ While we do all of those things, I think a more apt definition is in our 1866 Websterโs Dictionary: โan association of persons of literary or scientific tastes for the purpose of mutual improvement.โ We are definitely better and stronger together. Thank you!
--Executive Director and Keeper Tom Hardiman
Happy Thanksgiving from the Portsmouth Athenaeum! ๐ฆ ๐ ๐
Ring in the holiday season with the Boston Bay Quartet, a dynamic woodwind ensemble featuring Matthew Lee, flute; Max Reed, clarinet; Camden Christenson Ward, oboe; and Dr. April Verser, bassoon. The quartet brings a festive program of holiday favorites and chamber classics. ๐ฒ
This free concert is a gift to the community. Donations are gratefully accepted. ๐
All are welcome, so please invite family and friends.๐ฏ
Holiday Concert with Back Bay Quartet Thursday, December 11, 2025 7:30 pm - 8:30 pm South Church 292 State Street, Portsmouth, NH
