Historic Hallowell

One of the more common, but interesting, products was handmade clothes pins produced by one of the city’s more colorful tradesmen, Johnny Stringer. Shown in one of Hallowell’s earliest photographs, he is described by author Emma Huntington Nason in Old Hallowell on the Kennebec, as one of the town’s “interesting characters.”

Who does not remember Johnny Stringer--the queer little man with a large head and body set upon very short legs, who came from over the sea to make his home in Hallowell? Johnny Stringer lived in a little house up on Academy Hill where he earned his living by making and rebottoming chairs, and manufacturing clothespins for the housekeepers of the town. He often appeared on Monday morning, with a basket on his arm offering the clothespins for sale at the opportune hours when they were most needed. He also made dolls' cradles and bedsteads, for the children of the town, for whom he also had a store of broken--and must we add, to be truthful--very dirty candy in his pockets. But Johnny's masterpieces were his chairs. He made "big ones for ladies, and little ones for babies," and many a home in Hallowell still boasts of its "Johnny Stringer chair," which is regarded as a precious heirloom.

A Johnny Stringer chair is on display at the Hubbard Free Library.