The inside of an old-time apothecary store is depicted in this exhibit at the Shelburne Museum in Vermont. Contributed / Library of Congress

While we are currently doing research into the Augustus P. Fuller varnish factory that once operated in the Ligonia area of South Portland (near the corner of Main Street and Lincoln Street), I thought it would be a good time to take a look at just how a varnish and/or paint manufacturer might have come to be.

When Augustus Fuller was born in Portland in 1819, the apothecaries of that time looked very different than current-day pharmacies. While Fuller’s name is no longer widely known today, his contemporary Henry Homer Hay, born in 1820, is more commonly known due to the “H.H. Hay building” that still exists; that building on the corner of Free and Middle streets was long ago home to the H.H. Hay apothecary shop.

The H.H. Hay & Co. apothecary shop at the junction of Free and Middle streets, Portland, circa 1890. Contributed / Maine Historical Society

In the early to mid-1800s, there were no regulations over apothecaries and medications. While physicians were in the business of diagnosing and treating patients, and often prepared their own medications, there were no licensing requirements for apothecaries. An apothecary or druggist was not a health care provisioner at all, but rather an operator of a retail shop designed to sell products. So it’s no surprise that in those times, anyone could create some type of pill, ointment or elixir and market it as some cure-all remedy for whatever ailed a person. The druggist would keep a wide variety of herbs, minerals and other raw materials in apothecary jars in their shop. They would prepare many medicines with help from instructions contained in a pharmacopoeia (an encyclopedia of medicines) or they might compound their own medicines from proprietary recipes.

The apothecary or druggist was most likely a chemist, or certainly needed the skills of a chemist. Because of this, and because some medicines had alcohol and oil bases, it was quite common for the apothecary to not just sell medicines, but also to sell oils, paints and many other related products. Henry Homer Hay was the son of Charles Hay, a doctor who operated a medical practice here in South Portland (known as Cape Elizabeth back then). So it was a related path that Henry followed when he went to work for the druggist Masters & Co. at 230 Middle St. in Portland, selling medicines, paints and dyes. After learning the business there, Henry went into business with druggist Robert Dresser in 1841; they called their business H.H. Hay & Co. and operated out of space at the head of Long Wharf on Fore Street (this is before the waterfront was filled to create Commercial Street). In 1843, he sold out to Robert Dresser and went into business on his own at 13-14 Market Square (now Monument Square). In 1856, he moved to the building that we now call the H.H. Hay building.

An 1843 ad in the Daily Eastern Argus announces that the druggist H.H. Hay of Portland will now be selling drugs and medicines, paints and dyes from his store in Market (Monument) Square. Contributed / South Portland Historical Society

Like many of the apothecaries of their time, both Augustus Fuller and Henry H. Hay were selling paints alongside drugs and medicines. Hay’s obituary in the Portland Daily Press in 1895 gives some insight into paint availability in this area in the early 1800s and why paint manufacturing began to take place in apothecaries: “In that early time, if a man wished to get a little paint for his own use in an odd job, he could not buy it all prepared at the druggists. They sold only the ‘dry colors.’ House painters bought these chromes, etc., and took them to the mill to be ground as a farmer would take his corn. The mill was operated by hand and belonged to the father of Leander and Charles Fobes, of the present firm of Burgess, Fobes & Co., dealers in paints and oils. In this way the paint for the community was ground up with the oil, and a man who desired a small quantity would go to the mill and get a potful of paint and a brush. The pot was weighed then, and also on its return and a charge made on the difference in weight. There were some other small paint mills owned by carriage painters. Also the large variety of fancy goods now handled by apothecaries was unknown in those days. Perfumeries, and hair and tooth brushes could not then be bought in any of the stores, to be sure.”

Augustus P. Fuller followed a similar path as Henry Hay. Fuller was only 14 years old when Joseph L. Kelley took over the store of John Coe on Middle Street in Portland in 1833. Fuller went to work first as a clerk in the apothecary of Harry Hinkley, then was hired by Joseph Kelley, who was already selling “drugs, medicines, paints and dye stuffs” on both a retail and wholesale basis. As an apothecary, J.L. Kelley would prepare physicians’ prescriptions to order, but there was a lot for Augustus Fuller to learn. He eventually became a partner in the business. In 1857, they sold the drug and medicine part of the business to James R. Lunt, who took over the retail store at 108 Middle St. Kelley, in partnership with Fuller, proceeded to specialize in the manufacture and sale of varnishes, at their factory at 286 Congress St. In January 1863, when Joseph Kelley was sick, they dissolved their partnership and Kelley sold his share in the business to Fuller. Kelley died a month later, but Augustus Fuller continued in business on his own at the factory on Congress Street, now operating under his own name.

We’ll take a closer look at Augustus Fuller’s varnish factory in South Portland in an upcoming column.

South Portland Historical Society offers a free Online Museum with nearly 17,000 images available for viewing with a keyword search. You can find it at sphistory.pastperfectonline.com and, if you appreciate what we do, feel free to make a donation by using the donation button on the home page. If you have photographs or other information to share about South Portland’s past, we hope you will reach out to us. South Portland Historical Society can be reached at 207-767-7299, by email at sphistory04106@gmail.com, or by mail at 55 Bug Light Park, South Portland, ME 04106.

Kathryn Onos DiPhilippo is executive director of the South Portland Historical Society.