Originally, a hotel sat on the Ripley & Fletcher Company property. The train stop and station across the street at South Paris induced the property owners to build the Grand Trunk Hotel, which had an overpass across the street to the station. Before the hotel burned in the late 1890's it was known as the Paris House.
In 1915, a new building was built at the present location on the hotel site. Ripley & Fletcher was a 50 X 100 foot building of cement blocks and was one of the show places of the two towns. Bert Cole helped build it.
In 1920, a fifty-foot addition of three stories was built, providing space for a salesroom, service shop and paint shop. If you know where to look or have someone to tell you, you can still make out the end of the first building and the extension of the main building.
Subsequently, in 1918, Ripley & Fletcher established a second Ford dealership in Bridgton, Maine. It was an extension of the South Paris Ripley & Fletcher store and was managed by James McNutt.
In 1925, Perley became associated with Arthur Cook in Portland, and the Ford dealership became known as Cook, Ripley on Washington Ave. Mr. Ripley maintained an apartment in Portland as well as his home in South Paris.
In 1927, Mr. Ripley purchased Mr. Cook's share of the business and changed the name to Ripley Motors, Inc. At that time, Mr. Ripley was the only dealer in New England holding a Ford Franchise in three separate locations.
Again, I hope you found the story interesting. Check back, there's more to come.
Don
