Beyond the South End

The Oldest Business on Main Street

Without a doubt the oldest existing business on Main Street in Rockland is most likely E.C. Moran. If you know of a business that has been there longer than 118 years, or since 1896, when E.C. Moran was established in the Kimball Block at 421-429 Main Street, I’d like to know what it is.

My family, through my mother Evangeline, has strong ties to the company. She like many students who will graduate from high school this year had her first, and we think, only job with E.C. Moran right out of high school in 1927. Brother Ted and I think she may even have started earlier than that as she did graduate from Rockland High School early. We also believe she worked there for some time, at least through the depression in the 30s. We guess it was because the family needed the money. Ted remembers that he and our brother Harlan had a babysitter during this period.

Our Aunt Virginia (then Winchenbaugh) also worked there for a short period before she went to work at M.B. and C.O. Perry Coal Company in Rockland.

The Blackington sisters, Dot and Audrey, who I will discuss later, were my mother’s two best friends. They and the two Winchenbaugh sisters both came from the Kiln Hill, West Meadow Road area of town. So the four friends all worked together.

The Kimball Block

The Kimball Block where E.C. Moran is located was the largest business block, and reportedly, the most expensive business block in the county in 1848. The block was established by Iddo Kimball, a trader who arrived in 1809. The block was damaged in a fire in 1853 but rebuilt that same year. E.C. Moran has occupied this location since 1896.

The original block was much greater than the present one at 425 Main Street. It contained six stores on the street level and offices above. The Rockland Bank, which became Maine National and I believe is now called Camden National Bank, along with several other businesses, also started in this block.*

*Information on the Kimball Block was taken from “A Walk Along Main Street,” by Ann Morris and from Shore Village Story, produced by the Shore Village Historical Society. Both books can be found and are for sale at the Rockland Historical Society office under the Rockland Public Library.

Four Generations of Morans

(Some of the information here is found on the E.C. Moran website.)

 

 

E.C.Moran Insurance has been owned and operated by four generations of Morans dating back to the first owner, Edward C. Moran Sr. (“Ed”), who founded the company in 1896. He started out as a tailor at his father’s shop, P. Moran and Co. and began the insurance business in the back of the shop at 306 Main Street. He ran the business until the age of 70.

 

 

Edward Carlton Moran Jr. or “Carl” worked at the agency from 1919 to 1967. He was the Moran my mother worked for as executive secretary. He was quite the political figure in those days serving two terms in Congress, 1937-1937. He was also a member of the US Marine Commission from 1937-1740; State Director for the Office of Price Administration 1942; at which time he wrote Rockland’s Charter and Ordinances. He was the first Chairman of the new City Council, being the top vote-getter. He wrote three genealogy books on the Bunker family, much of which my mother typed for him.

 

 

 

The next owner/operator was Paul Moran. He had to leave Bowdoin to serve in the Navy in the Pacific during WWII. He returned to Bowdoin and graduated in 1948 and went into the agency one week later. He assisted in the writing of the Gushee family genealogy books. He retired in 1988.

 

 

 

 

The present owner and president is Patricia J. Moran Wotton who started at the agency in  1978. She attended Union College in Schenectady and then transferred to UMass Amherst because they had an insurance program. She served two terms on Rockland City Council, following in her grandfather Carl’s footsteps. She served on the School Board and on the Rockland Planning Commission and is currently on the Rockland Energy Committee.

The Blackington Sisters

 

The Blackington sisters, Dorothy Baxter and Audrey Teel, worked at the agency for 60 and 57 years respectively, starting around 1920.They worked with all four generations of Morans.

Here are two pictures of the office I found on the internet. The first one is circa 1970s and shows Paul Moran, Marion, and Pat Moran and Dot and Audrey sitting.

 

 

 

 

The second picture is circa 1940s and shows “Carl” Moran, Dorothy, Audrey, and I think that is my mother at the last desk. It is an extension of the first picture of the sisters here. So she must have worked there at some time in the 40s. I don’t think she worked while she was pregnant with me, because it wouldn’t have been allowed at that period in time. I was born in 1941 and I don’t think she worked much after I was born either. It’s possible she was only working part-time here, but it sure was a surprise to see her in this picture.

As I said above, Dot and Audrey were my mother’s too best friends, especially Audrey. They all belonged to what they called the “Club.” The Club met at sporadic times and consisted of maybe four tables of Canasta or Bridge players who met at each other’s houses, each taking a turn. I wrote a story early on in this blog about these Club meetings.

Dot and Audrey had desks near a big window in the office on Main Street. As a child growing up and even after I came home from college on occasion I never passed that window without stopping to wave at the two of them. Often they would wave me in to catch up on things in my world.

Dot, unfortunately, lived with diabetes and had to have both legs amputated later in life. It didn’t seem to slow her or Audrey down one bit.

Audrey could talk faster than anyone I have ever known. She could have done one of those commercials that guy used to do who was a fast talker. After Dot passed away and Audrey lived alone up in the family home near Kiln Hill, she developed heart problems. Her doctor actually told her to stop talking so fast because it was affecting her heart condition. I can still hear her voice sometimes when I pass E.C. Moran for any reason while I’m home.

Dot and Audrey were the most loyal employees any company could ever have. Sometimes I wonder what they do without them.

The Future of E.C. Moran?

Will there be another generation of Morans to carry on the oldest business on Main Street? Well Patricia has two children, Haley and Nikolai who I understand help out once in a while. Maybe?

E.C. Moran videos

The E.C. Moran web site has some wonderful videos about the business. A couple of them are more in the vein of commercials but I especially liked the more historical video done by my friends at GEM productions which interviews Patricia and Paul. Check out these videos on the web site.

Thanks for listening.