WYMAN’S OF MAINE ONCE HAD A PRESENCE IN READFIELD

Jasper and Edgar Wyman in 1863.

These days when one thinks of Wyman’s of Maine our minds immediately go to the blueberry fields in Washington County. What few people realize is that Jasper Wyman and his younger brother Edgar built one of their earliest enterprises right here in Readfield. Jasper Wyman learned all about canning as an employee of the John W. Jones Company in Milbridge, Maine. In 1874 he entered into partnership with Edgar and they named their business J. & E. A. Wyman Company. Throughout the years they built or bought canning operations in various locations throughout Maine – Milbridge, Cherryfield, Columbia, Bethel, East Corinth and Readfield. Their products included sardines, lobster, clams, corn and blueberries. In Belfast, East Corinth and Readfield it was corn.

 Jasper and Edgar Wyman’s names first appeared in the annals of Readfield in 1893 when they purchased two acres of land on the shore of Lake Maranacook from Edwin J. Nelson, who owned a house on the abutting property. By 1896 their canning operation was in full swing when they sold this property to their own corporation. The deed read “...all land with buildings thereon standing and occupied by us as a corn canning establishment...” They carried on a lucrative business here in Readfield until 1901 when Edgar developed ill health and left the business and Maine to live in the state of Washington. Shortly after that Jasper sold off all his corn canning factories and focused on blueberries in Washington County. He sold the Readfield branch to H.F. Webb Co. of Portland in 1902.  

Wyman's Corn Shop, Readfield, Maine

The Readfield corn shop (as it was called by locals) stayed in operation until 1946. Three Portland companies owned it in the interim including H.F. Webb Company; Clinton and Eugene Baxter et al (older brothers of Governor Percival Baxter); and lastly the Portland Packing Company. Jasper Wyman never actually lived in Readfield but his business presence and its lasting effect impacted Readfield for half a century.

1060 Main St. Readfield was torn down in 2018.

In 1946 the Portland Packing Company sold the 2 acre corn factory site to Albert and Achsa Tompkins, adjacent landowners. The Tompkins were living in a house on 1 acre that Edwin J. Nelson and his wife Tamson had sold to the widow Mrs. Loren Raymond in 1899. Mrs. Raymond and her son Warren built the house pictured here, that Tompkins bought in 1940. In 1960 the PR of their estate sold this house to Richard and Suzanne Mason, and theirs was the last family to reside there. The circa 1899 house was demolished in early February 2014. With the house gone passersby were able to see a swath of land that sweeps all the way to Lake Maranacook, adjacent to where J. & E.A. Wyman Company once sat. A new home was built closer to the lake in 2020, on land that had been owned by Richard & Suzanne Mason 1960-2013.

 

This article was written by Dale Marie Potter-Clark who is the Historical Consultant for the Readfield Historical Society. She also offers community education about Readfield’s history, and organizes "Readfield History Walks".   FMI visit www.readfieldmaine.blogspot.com. 

(C) 2014 All Rights Reserved by Dale Potter-Clark

This article appeared in Lakes Region Reader Feb. 2014

Jan. 2022 the last paragraph has been edited to reflect information unearthed in recent research and construction of a new house in 2020.