Albion D. Wilson was born in 1843 and grew up in Topsham. His earliest occupation was as a sailor, but after about five years at sea, he’d had enough of that life. He soon discovered his calling. Around 1866, he began working as a druggist in Buckfield. After 10 years there, he moved around a bit – a couple years in Thomaston, 10 years in Lincoln, then in Bangor.

Albion Wilson operated his drug store on the corner of Front and Sawyer streets from 1895 until his death in 1923. His son, Bob, took over and ran the store there through 1930. Etta Gregory Watts Collection/South Portland Historical Society

Around 1890, Wilson moved to Portland with his wife, Lunette, and their two sons, Frank and Robert (their youngest son Richard died in 1890 at 5 years old). Although they now lived in Portland on Fessenden Street, Wilson still owned and maintained a drug store in Buckfield.

In May of 1894, he purchased several lots of land in the Ferry Village neighborhood of Cape Elizabeth (soon to change its name to South Portland). One of these lots was a prime piece of land on the corner of Front and Sawyer streets, directly across from the ferry landing.

An old home was on that corner, known as the Emery house. Wilson hired someone to lift and move the Emery house to another lot that he had purchased on School Street.

With the corner lot cleared, Wilson quickly began construction of the large two-story brick building at 46 Sawyer St. that is still there today. The top floor was fitted out as apartments, while the first floor was designed as a modern apothecary/drug store with a separate space for a barber shop. The building was completed and his drug store opened for business in 1895.

A description of Wilson’s store appeared in the souvenir edition of the Cape Elizabeth Sentinel in August 1899:

“A.D. Wilson, druggist – Mr. Wilson occupies one of the best and most central stores in the city, being but a short distance from the ferry landing and at the corner of Front and Sawyer streets. The building, which he erected himself, is a substantial one and an ornament to this part of the city. Mr. Wilson keeps a first class drug store and has been established some five years. His line of drugs, chemicals, proprietory [sic] medicines, toilet articles, etc., etc., include only first class and reliable goods which are sold as reasonable as can be purchased in this city or Portland. Physicians prescriptions a specialty, carefully compounded by registered clerks only. The store is connected by long distance telephone No. X33-2, pay station, and is a favorite and welcome place for the traveling public to wait for the electric cars and ferry boat. Headquarters for soda, water, confectionery, imported and domestic cigars.”

A winter scene at the foot of Sawyer Street. A huge snow drift reaches up to the awnings of Albion Wilson’s drug store. South Portland Historical Society photo

In an interview with resident Marion Burnham, she remembered the store looking like many of the early drug stores. In addition to a prescription counter, there was a soda fountain where customers came to get ice cream. The store had black ice cream tables and chairs with wire legs. When the girls at the sardine factory were waiting for the boats to come in, William McDonald (president of the E.W. Brown sardine factory) would take them to Wilson’s for an ice cream.

Around 1904, the Wilson family moved into the apartment over the drug store. They took in Florence Loud, who worked as their housemaid at first and also as a clerk in the store. Over the years, she became a close member of the family.

Albion Wilson’s oldest son, Frank, attended Kents Hill School, studied navigation and spent most of his life at sea working as a mate on steamships. He eventually obtained his master’s license and became a merchant sea captain. Frank was also a noted marine photographer. He wrote and published a book on navigation and, during World War II, he worked as a navigation instructor.

Robert “Bob” Wilson, Albion’s second-oldest son, would fill in at the store if he was needed, but he also initially looked elsewhere for his career. He attended the University of Maine and worked as a teacher at Deering High School for several years. During World War I, he worked for the U.S. Shipping Board as a nautical instructor. In 1920, at the age of 36, he was working as a mate on a steamship. His first wife Helen was a forewoman at one of the sardine factories in Ferry Village.

When Albion Wilson died in 1923, Bob gave up the sea and took over the operation of his father’s drug store. In 1930, after Florence Loud came into money from a relative, she purchased the land and buildings at 171-173 Front St. (directly across from the foot of Stanford Street). A short time later, the Wilson family and Florence moved to the residence at 173 Front St., and they moved the drug store into the small building at 171 Front St. Wilson Drug operated from that location until 1941.

During World War II with the West Yard being constructed next door, the land on that side of Front Street next to the shipyard was chosen as the site for the wharf and starting point of the crude oil pipeline to Montreal. In July, 1941, Florence Loud sold her property to Portland Pipe Line with the condition that she had 30 days to move the drug store building off the lot.

She and Bob Wilson immediately arranged for it to be lifted and moved to 41 Preble St., where Bob continued to operate his drug store through the end of the war (although he moved and was living in Scarborough). Florence lived in a small apartment at the rear of the store.

After he retired as a druggist in 1947, Bob went to work for Peacock Canning in Portland. Florence Loud changed the name of the store to Wilson Variety Store and operated it on her own through the late 1940s.

We have not found any clear photographs of the Wilson Drug building that was at 171 Front St. and then moved to 41 Preble St. (the house was later demolished). If you have photos of this building, or any other historic images of our community, please contact the South Portland Historical Society at sphistory04106@gmail.com, by phone at 207-767-7299, or by mail at 55 Bug Light Park, South Portland, ME 04106.

Kathryn Onos DiPhilippo is executive director for the South Portland Historical Society. She can be reached at sphistory04106@gmail.com.