In 1956 the home heating oil delivery business, originally begun by TW Bartley in 1906 with his horse and wagon, was moved from the home of Woodrouffe Lambert Bartley, Sr. (TW's son) to the new building on Pritham Ave. In late 1956 the business expanded to include a small Ford dealership. The car dealership remained part of the business until 1959. The first car sold was to Sir Louis Oakes! By 195
9, Woodie’s health wasn’t great and his son Woodrouffe Lambert Bartley, Jr. (Tony) had joined the family business - after earning a 4-yr. business degree from UMaine. Tony couldn’t drive truck and take care of car sales so the car dealership was discontinued. Woodie’s daughter, Diane, went to Westbrook Junior College and eventually returned to work in the office off and on over the years. In the early seventies, the next generation of Bartleys started working summers at the “garage” as attendants. This generation would include Sue, Woodrouffe Lambert Bartley III ( “little” Woodie), Elaine and Diane Kaye. In 1970, the “Ashey” camps on the west side of the property were purchased to better support the newly added Evinrude marine business. Thanks to the hard work of Alfred Saulnier, which started that summer, … “downback” was cleared to give it the beautiful views we still enjoy to this day. Bartley’s garage operated as a gas, heating oil, auto and marine service station, and marine supplies business for many years. One of the employees, Ivis Dennison, also supplied electrical service. In 1986, “Little” Woodie had earned a business degree from Southern Maine as well as his electrical contractors license … and returned to Greenville with his new family to continue in the family business.
“Bartley’s” operated in this same way until about 1997 when Tony decided it was time to retire. Woodie kept the electrical business going for several years until just after 2000 when he became the Greenville Water Superintendent. Although no Bartley was running the gas station, RH Foster leased the property from 1997 to 2007 and continued to run a convenience store and gas/oil service station. As you can see, the Bartley Family business has always been one that morphed to meet local needs. At this juncture, our goal as a family business is to meet the event needs of the greater Moosehead Area and share this amazing location that has simply been “downback” for many, many years.
