Miss Mary Ann Clark and M.A. Clark, Inc.

by Terri Weed Cormier

A single woman, Mary Ann Clark (1860–1943) of Ellsworth began an ambitious greenhouse business from her own initiative and powerful personal resources. In this article we explore her fascinating qualities as a pioneering woman and the lasting effect on Ellsworth of her successful business.

Background

The early winter of 1860 in Ellsworth was to bring changes ahead. In November, Abraham Lincoln was elected president, and soon the Civil War would impact all of the states. Ellsworth was a growing and bustling town, with a large ship building industry, many merchants and businesses, and the mills along the river producing lumber products for growing communities all over the country.

One young couple living in Ellsworth during this time was Augustus W. Clark (1824–1908) and his wife Helen (Jordan) Clark (1835–1917). Augustus was listed as a wheelwright in the 1860 census, and they were living in a rented home on State Street. Augustus was the son of Peter Clark and Elizabeth (Libby) Hannah of Bucksport, and Helen was the daughter of Joshua Rishworth Jordan and Mary Ann (Austin) Jordan, who lived on High Street in Ellsworth (the house now known as the Burrill House, or Ellsworth Motel).

Helen’s father, Joshua Rishworth Jordan, was a successful merchant, and he and his wife had seven children. The oldest was Mary Ann, who would marry the notorious William Chaney, the editor at the Ellsworth American who was involved with the Know Nothing party and the tar and feathering of the priest John Babst. He ran off to Boston, leaving his wife and children in Ellsworth, and in 1860 Mary Ann divorced him. Helen was the second oldest child, followed by Louisa, Julia (who married Sherman Hildreth; the couple ended up in Albany, NY, in 1880), Henry, Edmund, and Freddie.

On December 18, 1860, Augustus and Helen welcomed the birth of their first child, a daughter they named Mary Ann—the same name as her grandmother and great aunt. Augustus and Helen would later welcome two other children, Edwin Augustus Clark (1864–1936) and Harold Haywood Clark (1876–1925). Edwin would become a physician and marry Edith Leavitt of Auburn, ME, who was a physician as well. They relocated to Massachusetts and later Colorado. Harold would enter the military and marry Maude Hortsman in New York; the couple then relocated to Washington DC.

Augustus seemed to be a hardworking man, and he later entered into business with Layfaette Davis, a grocery on Water Street in the brick building presently occupied by the Ellsworth American. The business was called “Clark and Davis.”

Water Street was a busy place in those days because of extensive shipping on the Union River, so Clark and Davis Grocery was able to grow and thrive. Helen’s father, Joshua Jordan, was a very successful merchant, so it is likely he guided Augustus and Helen with the business. There is a deed dated 1874 for purchase of the land on Park Street for $435.00; later, in 1875, there is a mortgage on the land for $1500.00—perhaps to build the pink Victorian residence on Park Street that would become Augustus’ and Helen’s home. (The house is shown on an 1880 map of Park Street.)  

Young Mary Ann

Not much is known of Mary Ann’s early life, but in her youth she demonstrated artistic ability. After graduating high school in 1877, supposedly she traveled to New York to visit friends and to attend art school there. She painted and fired china while she was in New York.

Of course, young ladies of this era were expected to learn the fine arts, and many young women learned to paint at this time. In the 1880 census Mary Ann is listed as living at home “keeping house,” but it is said that she went to New York in 1880 and returned to Ellsworth in 1884–1885 to try to make a living by painting. When she did not succeed, she returned to New York to serve an apprenticeship at the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens, where she studied gardening and landscape architecture. According to her obituary, Mary Ann Clark was always interested in botany, and she became an authority on that subject. She is also listed as a member of the Josselyn Botanical Society of Maine and, at one time, its vice president. The Josselyn Society was founded in 1895 for the study of plants in Maine. It was named for John Josselyn, a 17th century naturalist who was the first to accurately record Maine’s plant life.  

In the 1900 census Mary Ann is listed as an artist, so it seems she was painting at this time. The  Ellsworth Historical Society is fortunate to have one her paintings, donated in 1984 by the family of Howard Higgins. The painting was found in the attic of the Maude Higgins house. The back of the painting indicates that it was owned by H.L. Hopkins; Helen Hopkins is listed in the 1870 census as a teacher. She would later marry into the Higgins family. Helen Hopkins was the daughter of Charles Hopkins and Lydia Clark.

Gardener

Mary Ann Clark went to work around 1894 as the gardener for Mrs. George P. Dutton, who had green houses and hot beds on her residential lot. The elegant Dutton house was one of the largest homes on Main Street at the time, with spacious gardens that included two green houses and a building in the center. Mrs. Dutton had hired Mary Ann to help her with the gardens. On September 30, 1899, an agreement was written up between Mary Ann Clark and Annie B.C. Dutton for Mary Ann to purchase the green houses, beds, and stock on Mrs. Dutton’s land. It also stipulated the purchases should be moved before September 1, 1900. It seems that Mary Ann was already growing and selling stock from the greenhouses.

The greenhouses were moved by a team of horses across the icy roads that winter up the hill to the back yard of Mary Ann's homestead at 52 Park Street, where the M.A. Clark greenhouses had their beginnings.

Mary Ann Clark was a speaker at the first formal meeting, in December 1931, of what was to become the Ellsworth Garden Club. The minutes from that meeting tell us that “Miss Clark spoke—voted to call the club ‘Ellsworth Garden Club.’” On October 25, 1932, Mary Ann obtained (and defrayed most of the $15 cost to present) a film at the garden club of “bulbs to blooms,” made in Holland. On November 30 of that same year she did a presentation to the club entitled “Our Native Wild Flowers”; it was reported as being a “very interesting and instructive talk enjoyed by all.”  

Businesswoman

Miss Clark delivered the flowers herself. On her way home from deliveries, she would stop at the shoe factory (where the present-day Knowlton Park is located) and pick up broken boxes. Mary Ann’s mother would repair them, and they would then be used for deliveries. Miss Clark, we learned, also did work for many gardens and estates in Blue Hill, Northeast Harbor, Bar Harbor, Sullivan, and Sorrento. There may be evidence of her work still in Sorrento and Blue Hill, but nothing has been found documenting her work (yet).

It was said Mary Ann could be seen Monday mornings with a team of horses and a wagon loaded with sod and shrubs along with workmen; she would return in four or five days.

At some point in its history, M.A. Clark had 500 acres of what was called the Great Heath along an old turnpike that ran between present-day Route 3 and the Bayside Road, ostensibly for the peat. The road began, on the east side, near the entrance to the present-day Acadia Gateway Center and exited on the Bayside Road at present-day Wicket Good Road. Ellsworth resident Jack Raymond, whose family ran the M.A. Clark business after Mary Ann’s death, recalls that his father attempted to re-open that old road about 40 years ago but was discouraged by EPA wetlands regulations.  

Around 1910, Neal A. Raymond came to work for Miss Clark and remained until his death in 1956. In 1929 Mary Ann incorporated her business as M.A. Clark. Named as directors were M.A. Clark, Neal A. Raymond, and M.A. Royal. The business was described as a florist and horticultural business, with greenhouses, outside nurseries, cut flowers, bulbs and seeds, plants, shrubs, and other goods. Neal A. Raymond was named as clerk and Mary Ann as president and treasurer. Mary Ann also deeded her house and land to the company at that time.  

Neal A. Raymond’s grandson Jack recalls stories of underground “bunkers” that were used—among other things—for storage of certain plants belonging to seasonal residents of Mount Desert Island.

A certain type of chrysanthemum was held in special esteem by Mary Ann, and they were given ample and particular storage on the premises.

In 1935, a film crew, which traveled to towns and cities in the U.S. and filmed local residents and businesses under the fictitious proposition that a movie star was visiting, came to Ellsworth. The Clark greenhouses—as well as an elderly Mary Ann herself, Neal A. Raymond, and his son John—are caught in a few brief frames of that film.

Later Years

By 1930 it seems that Mary Ann was in failing health. A woman named Josephine “Josie”  Clark (1877–1950) was living with her, according to the 1930 census. Josie stayed with her as her companion and caretaker until her death. It is not believed that she was related to Mary Ann. The last years of Mary Ann’s life were spent at the Royal Nursing Home (Colliers Nursing Home, on Birch Avenue), where she passed away on August 28, 1943. She was listed as a member of the Congregational Church in her obituary, which also listed her survivors as a niece and nephew, children of her brother Edwin.

The land where the greenhouses stood was sold and an apartment house built on it, but the charming pink Victorian home of Mary Ann and her family still stands. Happily, it has been beautifully maintained and is unchanged from when Augustus and Helen lived there with their family.

M.A. Clark, Inc.: An Ellsworth Legacy

After her death, Neal A. Raymond inherited Mary Ann Clark’s share of the business and continued to run it profitably for decades, opening a second location in Orono, ME. His son John continued the business after Neal’s death in 1956.

Ellsworth residents remember childhood years spent gathering horse chestnuts and acorns to sell to M.A. Clark for use in their premium Christmas wreaths. Jack Raymond (John’s son, Neal’s grandson) posted his memories of holidays at M.A. Clark on the Facebook page “Growing Up in Ellsworth”:

During the holidays there would be up to 40 souls working there. Wreath and Christmas season were huge. For a five-year period we were #2 for shipments out of Maine (L.L. Bean being #1) during December [...] the Chamber of Commerce would hold parties in the greenhouses during the winter.

John Petros recalls: “In addition to the star, one of my favorite childhood memories [growing up in Ellsworth] was the lighted Santa and reindeer on top of one of M. A. Clark’s greenhouses.”

Between Easter and Memorial Day, John Raymond’s health suffered as he tried to match supply with demand:

My dad [...] started having heart attacks when he was 48. They always occurred between Easter and Memorial Day. If you are trying to get 6,000 lilies to flower on one particular day of the year it can be stressful. I can remember a couple years when I'd wake for school in the old Victorian next door. My room, as well as the rest of the house, would be full of lilies because we could jack the heat higher in the house than in a single pane greenhouse, and force them to flower. There would be thin paths between the plants to the bathroom and down the staircases. Every horizontal surface in the house would have rows of plants. A very bizarre scene.

Children walking past M.A. Clark on their way home from school recall seeing small pieces of wood shaped like tops. A mill in Eastbrook supplied surplus hardwood and discards for the boiler M.A. Clark used to heat and disinfect the soil beds. The process generated a terrible odor. Jennifer Dow Saunders recalls: “The smell!!!!! Walked there after school each day [...] every time I go into a florist, the M.A. Clark memories come flooding back.”

Jennifer’s mother, Evelyn Dow, a classmate of John Raymond, worked at the counter in the shop for about 20 years.

Many Ellsworth area competitors had their start at M.A. Clark, including Jim Dickinson from Surry Gardens and Steve Elliot from Newland Nursery & Landscaping. Gail Royal got her start at M. A. Clark and went on to run a successful flower shop, West Side Florist, in Southwest Harbor.

M.A. Clark provided the flowers for weddings and special occasions for many Ellsworth families. Debby Day remembers: “Georgia and John [Raymond] did the gorgeous flowers for our wedding ... not only setting them up at the church, but helped place my wedding gown train and finished me off with a hug and a kiss! Best wedding planners ever!!!!!!!”

The busy, family-style environment of the business was the basis of many friendships and the subject of important, tender memories. Jack Raymond remembers: We had an enormous amount of Ellsworth and surrounding area folk work at M.A. Clark over the years. Since mom and dad both worked and I was always underfoot and eventually pretended to work there for 8 or 9 years I can truthfully say they were all family and one couldn't ask for a nicer way to be raised. They babysat me, taught me how to drive (a number of different cars because I kept wrecking them), taught me tolerance among a host of other things, were extremely patient with my shortcomings and helped me learn that if properly fed, watered, and talked to once in a while, we will grow properly.

John Raymond continued to operate M.A. Clark for many years, until the business was purchased by the Houston family. Later the business closed, and the buildings and land were sold.    

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Mary Ann Clark’s life in Ellsworth should be celebrated. At a time when women did not even have the right to vote, she stood fast to her goals and independence. Growing up with parents and grandparents who were merchants and businessmen, one can imagine that she learned much. Mary Ann followed her passion for art and botany, making Ellsworth and surrounding communities more beautiful by her life and contribution.