59 Granville Road, Bass Harbor, Tremont, ME

"There’s a great old building on the Bass Harbor shore. In recent decades, it was used by a few boatyards to store spars. But it goes back at least to the early 1900’s, when it was part of a large complex called McKinley Fish & Freezer Company, a cold storage plant. In between fish and spars, Grandville “Sim” Davis was there building boats. He left telltales. A friend of mine who worked for Morris Yachts, the yard’s owner up to 2015, took me for a tour—the building was sturdy, its bits tattered and salty..." (Schreiber, Laurie. "Nobody Built Them Like Sim Davis," The Newsletter of the Tremont Historical Society, Vol. 20, No. 1, Fall 2017. Reprinted with permission from Boatbuilding on Mount Desert Island, The History Press (2016) accessed 14 July 2025 at Tremont Historical Society & Country Store Museum [ https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5d9f893715592a07b50da1c9/t/5dc204c523456840fbedab53/1572996350982/2017+Fall.pdf ]).

“Maine – McKinley - The McKinley Fish & Freezer Co., recently organized, with S.S. Nickerson, president, is building a modern fish freezing and cold storage plant, the latter to have storage space for about 10,000 barrels of fish. Two 30-ton Palson absorption refrigerating machines will be installed. The sharp freezer, with capacity for about 200 barrels of fish per day, will be located on the third floor, all of which it will occupy, and will be piped with 25,000 feet of 1¼-inch d.e. piping. The two lower floors will be cooled by air circulation from the sharp freezer. A small ice making system will also be added. Plant is to be ready for operation in May. 1911” (“Ice and Refrigeration” Vol. 39, by Southern Ice Exchange, published by H.S. Rich & Co., p. 317, 1910. Accessed "MkKinley Fish & Freezer Co." 14 July 2025 at Southwest Harbor Public Library Digital Archive [ https://swhpl.digitalarchive.us/items/show/10429]).

"The building, always known simply as the "Cold Storage," became Sim Davis' boat shop, later was owned by the Hinckley Co., part of the Morris Yachts property in 2008.... Perry Warrington Richardson (1839-1918) was an early President (1915) of the McKinley Fish & Freezer Co. His son, Herbert Perry Richardson (1863-1938) was the Treasurer" ("MkKinley Fish & Freezer Co." at Southwest Harbor Public Library Digital Archive [ https://swhpl.digitalarchive.us/items/show/10429 : accessed 14 July 2025]).