Text by Elizabeth and Kailey, students at Presque Isle Middle School
Edited by Presque Isle Historical Society
Eddie Theriault, born in Presque Isle in 1908, opened Eddie’s Market in late 1938. He started his career at age twenty working for Howard Michaud as a meat cutter and clerk. Michaud’s store was on the corner of State and Exchange Streets. Eddie started his own store, Eddie’s IGA, which had a line of groceries and meats and free delivery. The store was sixteen feet by twenty-four feet and had two fulltime employees. The store was remodeled five times, the last time in 1954. In 1968, Mary and Howard Rice bought Eddie’s IGA. Dave Huntley would become another owner.
After Eddie sold the store, he opened Eddie’s Garden Center. Eddie died in 1982 at the age of 73. He left two sons, Bob and Mike and one daughter, Betty, and his wife Mauna. Since 1991, the building that Eddie’s Market occupied has been Clukey’s Auto Parts. The store was purchased from Peterson’s Motor Mart of Fort Fairfield.
Sources:
Graves III, Richard A. Forgotten Times: A Walk Through History. Presque Isle, 2007.