page_title: Historical buildings and structures of Yarmouth, Maine
section_title: Main Street
hierarchical_section_title: Historical buildings and structures of Yarmouth, Maine / Brickyard Hollow / Main Street
caption_attribution_description: English: 261 Main Street in Yarmouth, Maine.
context_page_description: The historical buildings and structures of Yarmouth, Maine, represent a variety of building styles and usages, largely based on its past as home to almost sixty mills over a period of roughly 250 years. These mills include that of grain, lumber, pulp and cotton. Additionally, almost three hundred vessels were launched by Yarmouth's shipyards in the century between 1790 and 1890, and the homes of master shipwrights and ship captains can still be found throughout the town.
  Yarmouth's 2010 Comprehensive Plan identified "historic character" as one of five key topics facing the town. The Plan proposed policies and strategies to ensure that "buildings of historic significance will be maintained while allowing the buildings to be improved, modernized and expanded."
  In 2017, the town hired Historic Building Consultant Margaret Gaertner to conduct an historic architectural survey of the Village area of Yarmouth. This was completed in September 2018.
  The Maine Historic Preservation Commission has found many of Yarmouth's historic buildings eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places, in addition to the twelve that are already included.
context_section_description: Sylvanus Blanchard lived in the brick building at 158 Main Street around 1847, before moving to number 317. As of 2018, the original barn is still attached.
  The cape at 163 Main Street was built around 1843. 171 Main Street, on the eastern corner of the York Street intersection, dates from about the same year. Across the intersection, at 179 Main Street, is a Greek Revival cape built in 1842.
  A lithograph from 1851, depicting the area of Main Street serviced by York Street, shows the home of George Woods and, next door, the Yarmouth Institute, which he established as direct competition with North Yarmouth Academy. Although it attracted students from as far afield as Cuba, his institute lacked an endowment and closed after five years. Woods sold the building to Paul Blanchard in 1853. It was torn down in 1930. In 1859, while serving in his new role as chancellor of the University of Pittsburgh, a lawsuit involving his dispute with NYA precipitated the split in Yarmouth's First Parish Church.
  In 1890, Yarmouth built a large new school building on the site of the present, 1975-built town hall and police station. Grades 5 to 8 were on the first floor; the high school occupied the upper level. A three-story high school was constructed next to this in 1900. When all of the high-school students were sent to North Yarmouth Academy in 1930, the building became another elementary school. In 1974, both buildings were demolished to make way for the current construction.
  In 1903, six years before his death at the age of 76, Joseph Edward Merrill donated the funds to build a new library. The architect was Alexander Longfellow, a nephew of the poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Also involved in the library's construction was John Coombs, father of George and Albert. Despite the occasional flood, town offices were eventually established in the library's basement. The flooding was partly caused by the blockage of Cleaves Brook (where today's police station is) — which formerly drained the whole center of town — when Brickyard Hollow was filled in.
  Directly across the street from the library stood the Dumphy house and barn. These were auctioned off in 1921, creating more public space in Centervale.
  In 1904, the town's Civil War veterans sought permission to place a soldiers monument in front of the new schools. With funds lacking, it was put off until after World War I (during which 106 Yarmouth residents served), when the project was completed in tandem with a board of trade plan to erect a bandstand. The resulting octagon structure, in the Doric order, was adorned by a plaque to the veterans. The words "Memorial To Men of Yarmouth in War Service" appeared just below the roof line. The structure was inadequately maintained, however, and had to be removed when rotting boards resulted in injuries.
  In 1929, a new centralized post office was built to the east of the present 1932-dedicated Anderson-Mayberry American Legion Hall (named for servicemen Edgar Anderson and Edwin Mayberry, who died from the Spanish flu while based at Fort Devens). On the left side of this building was the Fidelity Trust Company. The bank failed early in the Great Depression of the 1930s. To the east of the post office stood the Knights of Pythias Hall. It became the Pastime Theatre in the 1920s, then Yarmouth Theatre between 1942 and 1956. Harriman's IGA Foodliner moved here in the late 20th century from its Main and West Elm Streets location. A KeyBank (formerly Casco Bank) and the parking lot for NYA's Priscilla Savage Middle School now stand in its place.
  During the middle of the 20th century, in the plaza across Cleaves Street that formerly housed a 7-Eleven and, until 2017, Anthony's Dry Cleaners & Laundromat, was the Dairy Joy ice-creamery, in front, and the Korner Kitchen (formerly the Snack Shack) behind it.
  Across the street, at the intersection of Main and School Streets (in the building filled by People's United Bank), the post office occupied its final location before its move to Forest Falls Drive. 
  Ship owner Cyrus Foss Sargent's home stands at 251 Main
caption: The much-altered building in 2019
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