Portsmouth Athenaeum

Call Directions Website Contact the museum

Portsmouth Athenaeum The Portsmouth Athenæum is a non-profit membership library and archive, incorporated in 1817 and loc

🤔​Here's a view of a non-extant downtown residence historically called the Capt. John McClintock House at 324 State Str...
10/22/2026

🤔

​Here's a view of a non-extant downtown residence historically called the Capt. John McClintock House at 324 State Street on the corners of Fleet Street and Court Place in Portsmouth, NH. Circa 1890s.

​If you look closely, you can see the South Church belfry through the trees.👀

​Capt. John McClintock (1761-1855) was a mariner, ship master, and ship owner, serving in the US Navy during the Revolutionary War. He and his wife, Elizabeth Bigelow (1769-1854), raised six children to adulthood, but sadly outlived five. At the time of his death, McClintock was recognized as Portsmouth's oldest citizen and last survivor of the American Revolution.

​In 1858, the McClintock estate sold the property to Edmund M. Brown (1803-1883), a cabinetmaker, and his wife, Mary Ann Treadwell (1808-1885). The couple had eight children, and the Browns owned the property for over 60 years. In 1921, the family sold the property to Dr. John H. Neal (1862-1929) and his son Maj. Cecil M. Neal (1890-1974).

​With the opening of the Memorial Bridge between Maine and NH, State Street (US Route 1) was changing. On Feb. 23, 1923, the Portsmouth Herald reported that the Neal Motor Co. had moved into a new building (incorporating and renovating the old McClintock house) now known as the Neal Block. The Neal Motor Co. offered vehicles for sale, more auto supplies, four filling tanks, as well as modern bathrooms for both men and women.

​In December 1928, the Neal Block was moved 35 ft back from the street. In 1937, Cecil Neal sold the business to Kendall Motor Co., but retained the property. In 1942, it was Mitchell's Service Station. In 1955, Neal had the building demolished for a new and modern gas station. By 1974, the gas station was known as Earl's Citgo. Later that year, it was razed for a bank parking lot, its present use.

​In 1948-1949, Neal was elected mayor of Portsmouth. After selling his business, he served for the Interstate Bridge Authority as a toll-taker for the Sarah Mildred Long Bridge (middle bridge), retiring in 1965 to Freedom, NH.

📸 PS0823_05

📖 portsmouthnh

In honor of the New Hampshire Film Festival, we dug through the archives for some cinematic history (and maybe a little ...
10/18/2026

In honor of the New Hampshire Film Festival, we dug through the archives for some cinematic history (and maybe a little drama), and this movie program fit the bill.🎬🍿🎭

In early August 1933, the film "The 7th Commandment" ran for three days at the Arcadia Theatre, located on the upper level of the Franklin Block on Congress Street. Adults could pay 10 cents for a matinee or 15 cents for an evening show, but children were barred entirely.

Complete with strip poker and a storyline about a young man returning from the big city with a sexually transmitted disease, the movie lived up to its billing as a "daring revelation of a delicate theme." Today, the movie is considered a lost film, as no copies are known to exist.

According to the Portsmouth Herald, the Arcadia (formerly Freeman's Hall and the Edisonian Theatre) opened on Monday, Oct. 15, 1928, as "a revelation in the new modernistic European environment of charm, luxury, and smartness." The Arcadia hosted ballroom dances, banquets, boxing matches, movies, vaudeville, and both local and traveling theatrical acts.

In the summer of 1930, the Arcadia upgraded its sound system and began showing RCA Talkies. The local high school basketball team could no longer use the space, which could imply more fixed seating for the theatre. Audience capacity reports varied from about 800 seats (500 on the main floor and 300 in the balcony) to 1,300+. It screened double features and cliffhanger serials. But just over a decade later, the Arcadia’s condition was described as poor in a 1941 theatre report. The movie house closed in the late 1950s.

Over a decade later, the dilapidated marquee was featured a few times in the Herald’s complaint column "Today's Gripe."

In 1976, a non-profit group known as Y. E. S. (Youth Enrichment Services) proposed tentative plans to bring the old theatre back as a multi-purpose center for youth and community activities. The project fell through due to a lack of funding. Between 1982 and 1987, the marquee was finally taken down.

📸 program given in support of the Athenæum, Richard A. Smith (Cuzin Richard), E 3721.082 & PS2948_02

📖

Street view of a man (probably store proprietor Harry Brackett Jenness) standing in front of a one-story market identifi...
09/23/2026

Street view of a man (probably store proprietor Harry Brackett Jenness) standing in front of a one-story market identified through research as the Jenness Store on Willard Avenue, near the corner of Lafayette Road, Portsmouth, NH. Circa 1915

A banner above the market advertises "Ice Cold Tonic." The store appears to have been recently constructed, as the pine-pitch patches are visible from the sealing nails, and the building is not yet painted.

Behind the store are buildings along Lafayette Road and South Street, which confirm the location. From right to left is the edge of a residence at 151 Lafayette Road, the carriage house of 169 Lafayette (with an address of 1253 South Street), the garage of 151 Lafayette, and then the rear of 1215 South Street.

According to deeds, in 1915, Elizabeth Wallace Jenness (1888-1967) purchased land from her mother, Malvina Carter Wallace Kingsbury, near the corner of Willard Avenue and Lafayette Road. The store was then owned by Elizabeth and her husband, Harry Brackett Jenness (1885-1965), both of whom had experience within the retail and grocery businesses. This endeavor, however, was short-lived. By early 1917, the property was advertised at auction as "the former Jenness Store," and lumber dealer Robert I. Sugden purchased the parcel. The Sugden family owned property on Willard Avenue. In 1918, the Jenness family removed permanently to Plymouth County in Massachusetts.

Across town in August 1922, Zeda Stokl bought the former Spalding School parcel at auction on the corner of Bartlett and Clinton streets as an investment property. Shortly thereafter, a one-story building appeared on the corner of Clinton Street with the address of 205 Bartlett Street.

Today, that building still stands and appears to be the same structure as the former Jenness Store on Willard Avenue. What do you think? Was this building moved?🤔

Approximate year based on other glass plates in this grouping and corroborating research.

[PS3747a]

#

Address

9 Market Square
Portsmouth, NH
03801

Opening Hours

Tuesday 1pm - 4pm
Wednesday 1pm - 4pm
Thursday 1pm - 4pm
Friday 1pm - 4pm
Saturday 1pm - 4pm

Telephone

+16034312538

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Portsmouth Athenaeum posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Museum

Send a message to Portsmouth Athenaeum:

Shortcuts

Share