Home of Mary Cate Thomas

120 West Street

Now a Maine Medical Center building, the Mary Cate Thomas house is an example of a former West End mansion with live-in servants. The house was given to Mary Cate Thomas (1874-1960) by her father upon her marriage in 1909. She and her husband, William Widgery Thomas, a bank president, had seven children. They held large formal dinners with as many as 50 people for Sunday dinner. Mary Cate Thomas supervised a large staff consisting of maids, a butler, several laundry workers, a chauffeur, housemen, and a nanny. Several of the servants lived in a wing of the house. Annie Mundy, an Irish-American woman, not only served as a nanny but assisted Thomas in running the household. Another servant, John Spaulding, was a former slave. The Thomases provided several of their employees’ children with educational opportunities. The family gave the house to Maine Medical soon after Mary Cate Thomas died.

Maine Memory Network