The Homes of Margaret Chase Smith
Museum House Tour Virtual Tour John L. Murray House North Avenue Skowhegan, Maine	Childhood Home In 1867 John Murray purchased land on North Avenue in Skowhegan from Alonzo and Stephen Coburn for $150. Soon thereafter, Murray built a six-room, white-clapboard house with an attached ell and barn. Three decades later, Murray's daughter, Carrie, gave birth to Margaret Madeline Chase in the house. Except for brief intervals when George and Carrie Chase moved their family to the city of Augusta, village of Shawmut, and Leavitt Street in Skowhegan, Margaret spent most of her childhood growing up in the home of her maternal grandparents. She continued to reside in the house well into early adulthood. Margaret moved out in 1930 following her marriage to Clyde Smith. Five years after Clyde's death in 1940, Margaret sold the large house she had shared with her husband. While serving in the House of Representatives over the next four years, she stayed at the family home on North Avenue during congressional recesses. Congresswoman Smith used the family home as her legal Maine residence until she moved into a new house in Skowhegan in 1949. The house built by Grandfather Murray still stands on North Avenue in Skowhegan and remains a private residence.
The "Big House" Fairview Avenue Skowhegan, Maine Living Room Fire Place	Marriage Home After marrying Clyde Smith in 1930, Margaret moved into his thirty-room mansion on Locust Avenue in Skowhegan. The house had been built in 1882 as part of the Fairview Farm for Mary Ella Coburn and her husband Manley Pooler. Clyde had purchased the estate from heirs of the Pooler family in 1927. Referred to by Margaret as the "Big House," the mansion was as grand as it was large. The three-story structure featured hand-carved woodwork with matching furniture, eight tiled fireplaces, gas chandeliers, and ceiling frescoes. With over thirteen bedrooms at their disposal, the politically active Smiths hosted many notable guests in their home. Following Clyde's death in 1940, Margaret decided the house was too big for one person. In 1945 she sold the building to two local osteopaths, Doctors C. A. Bisson and D. H. Sheehan, who turned it into the Clyde Smith Memorial Hospital. Soon after its closing in 1952, a local nurse, Marjorie Stewart, purchased the property and re-opened the building as Fairview Hospital. A decade later, the old house was torn down and replaced with a brick structure. Today, the facility is known as Redington-Fairview General Hospital and is located on Fairview Avenue in Skowhegan.
Delano Hotel Washington, DC Newark Street Residence Washington, DC Milestone Drive Quaint Acres Silver Spring, Maryland	Washington Homes Clyde Smith's election to Congress in 1936 made it necessary for him and Margaret to find accommodations near the nation's capital. The couple's first residence in the Washington area was in Chevy Chase, Maryland. In 1938 Representative and Mrs. Smith relocated to Cleveland Park in Washington, DC. After Clyde's death in 1940, Margaret succeeded her husband in the House of Representatives. As she established her own political career over the next dozen years, Congresswoman Smith lived in a series of hotels and apartments in Washington, including the Wardman Park Hotel, The Delano, the Statler Hotel, the Congressional Hotel, the Dodge Hotel, and the Plaza. After many years of moving, Senator Smith finally found a permanent home in the Washington suburbs. In 1952 she began renting the lower level of a house located at Milestone Drive, Quaint Acres, Silver Spring, Maryland and owned by her Executive Assistant, William C. Lewis, Jr. Senator Smith continued to live there until she left Congress in 1973. In subsequent years, she stayed at the home during travels to Washington. She inherited the house in 1982, following the death of Bill Lewis. Senator Smith donated the property to Northwood University. It has since been sold.
William C. Lewis Cottage Margaret C. Smith House West Cundy Point Harpswell, Maine	Vacation Homes In 1956 William C. Lewis, Jr., Senator Margaret Chase Smith's executive assistant, purchased six acres and a house on West Cundy Point in Harpswell, Maine. Two years later, a house was built on the property for Senator Smith at a cost of $49,000. Although she paid nearly a quarter of the construction cost and had use of the house, Lewis maintained legal ownership. This second vacation home at Cundy's Harbor was designed by Alonzo J. Harriman, the same architect who had designed Senator Smith's new house on Neil Hill in Skowhegan a decade earlier. In keeping with Senator Smith's wishes, both homes featured a large, combined living and dining room, flanked on either side by bedrooms. Both also made extensive use of picture windows, providing a panoramic view of the Kennebec River in Skowhegan and the Atlantic Ocean at West Cundy Point. Bill Lewis also owned a third vacation home, a log cabin in Red River, New Mexico, which had belonged to his parents. When Lewis died in 1982, Senator Smith inherited this property, the two houses at Cundy's Harbor, and the house in Silver Spring, Maryland. All the homes have been sold and the proceeds have been added to the endowment that supports the Margaret Chase Smith Library.
Smith Residence-1949 Neil Hill Norridgewock Avenue Skowhegan, Maine April 1999 Margaret Chase Smith Library	Dream Home Although Senator Smith spent much of her time in Washington after 1936, she felt a strong desire to maintain a residence in her hometown. After selling the "Big House" and moving back to the family home on North Avenue, she began searching for a suitable building site. She found it on Neil Hill in Skowhegan. With the assistance of her former editor at the local newspaper and current legislative assistant, Roland T. Patten, Senator Smith was able to purchase three parcels of land overlooking the Kennebec River in 1946 and 1947. Senator Smith's vision for the house first took shape on the back of an envelope while waiting in Boston for a flight back to Maine. The formal architectual plan was prepared by Alonzo J. Harriman of Auburn, Maine. The building process, with its many mistakes and cost overruns, left her disappointed, yet wiser. Despite the setbacks, Senator Smith still considered the finished product her "dream home." A breezeway and garage were added to the east end of the house in 1952. Three years later, a sitting room and bathroom were constructed on the west end of the building, just in time for a visit by President Dwight Eisenhower. In 1982, an extensive addition made way for the Northwood University Margaret Chase Smith Library. Museum
Library & Museum Hours: Monday through Friday from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Please call (207) 474-7133 for more information concerning resources available at the Margaret Chase Smith Library. Copyright ©1999 Margaret Chase Smith Library. This page last modified: November 2009 URL: http://www.mcslibrary.org