WILLOW CREEK — Seamus O’Donnell, an Irish immigrant who arrived in Willow Creek in 1917 with little more than the clothes on his back, has opened the doors of the Willow Creek General Store at 42 Main Street, inaugurating what he hopes will be a permanent addition to the town’s commercial district.
O’Donnell, 34, spent his first five years in town working on the green chain at the flooring mill — the same job held by many immigrant men before they saved enough capital to strike out on their own. Born in County Cork, he came to America in 1912, working in the lumber camps of northern New Hampshire before hearing of opportunities at the Willow Creek mill.
“I saw men come and go at the mill,” O’Donnell said, standing behind the store’s new oak counter, which he built himself. “Some saved. Some spent. I determined to be among the savers. Every week I put aside something, even when there was not much to put aside. And when I had enough, I looked for a building.”
The building he found was a two-story frame structure on Main Street that had previously housed a milliner’s shop and, before that, a barber. O’Donnell purchased it for $1,200 — his entire savings — and spent the winter renovating the interior. The shelves are stocked with flour, sugar, coffee, salt pork, canned goods, hardware, dry goods, and — notably — fishing licenses, which he is authorized to issue on behalf of the Maine Fish and Game Commission.
The Gazette notes that O’Donnell’s prices are competitive with the Bangor wholesalers who previously served the town through catalog orders. His flour is priced at $2.15 per hundredweight, sugar at 12 cents per pound, and coffee at 35 cents per pound.
“I aim to offer fair prices and courteous service,” O’Donnell said. “If I do that, the people of Willow Creek will keep me in business. If I do not, they will not, and I will deserve to fail.”
The store’s opening was marked by a small ceremony attended by approximately 40 townspeople. The mill manager, Frank Bouchard, presented O’Donnell with a handcrafted wooden sign bearing the store’s name — a gift from the mill’s carpentry shop.
“We need more men like Seamus O’Donnell,” Bouchard said at the opening. “Men who come to a place and decide to stay, and build, and put down roots.”
The store will be open six days a week, from 7:00 AM until 6:00 PM, with extended hours on Saturday.