The Seaview Garage

The Seaview Garage was built in the early 1900s by Edgar Willey. Mr Willey sold Graham Paige and Jewett automobiles. Mr. Willey opened the garage summers only. Edgar Willey married Susan Tilden Carver of the Barstow Carver family. In c.1820, Barstow built the Cape Cod style home at 110 Elm Street. In later years, Edgar & Susan would live there summers. This home was never out of the Carver family until my wife & I purchased it May 28, 1971.

In 1919, Edgar Willey sold the garage to Charles Langille of 207 Summer Street. Charlie ran it as a gas station and repair shop. Charlie did not work there: he was the owner/manager. Charlie was in the insurance business and very active in town affairs. He was a selectman and an officer in the Marshfield Fair.

The Jewett was a less expensive auto than the Graham Paige.

In the 1940s, the only employee I remember was James Lambert of 35 Station Street. Across the street from where I lived (189 Summer Street) Jim would walk to work in the morning, back home for lunch, then back to the garage. I was too young to go to the garage alone, but my Mom would sometimes escort me to buy a candy bar — that is, when we had an extra 5 cents!

I’m not sure when Charlie acquired a Ford dealership. I remember he always had a new car. I was becoming a car nut, trucks too. Now that I was 6 years old, I could go to the Seaview Garage alone, but had to walk on Station Street, not Summer Street. Summer Street was a state road and very busy. It makes me laugh today — busy was maybe 20 cars a day.

The Seaview Garage was my hangout after school and weekends. Remember, there were no kids in Seaview my age. There were other reasons for hanging out — the candy counter, the Coke machine, the warm pot-bellied stove in the winter, the cars, and Eula. Eula was Charlie’s daughter, 12 years older than I and she always treated me nice. I remember not having a nickel for a candy bar but I always seemed to end up with 2or 3 pieces of a Skybar or the green Necco wafers.

The office was to the left of the huge metal overhead door that was operated with a chain — what a clatter it made opening and closing. The office had a large window in the front corner were Pansy Hayes sat at a large desk. Pansy was the book-keeper and lived on South River Street. My Mom would buy fresh eggs at the Hayes farm. I was always allowed behind the counter to sit on the swivel chair and spin around.

Charles C. Langille standing beside a 1923 Jewett auto. Credits: Ad and photo, courtesy of the Langille family.

by Ray Freden
Originally published in the Marshfield Mariner, January 7, 2009