McDonald’s to celebrate 40th anniversary in Houlton

HOULTON — It is hard to imagine that there was once a time when McDonald’s Restaurant did not exist in Houlton.

The popular eatery is about to celebrate its 40th year of business in the Shiretown and shows no signs of slowing down. A special celebration will be held Tuesday, Dec. 15, with throw-back-the-clock prices and employee uniforms. (See accompanying story.)

McDonald’s opened its doors Dec. 16, 1975, under the ownership of Ed and Dawn Degenhardt. The couple moved to northern Maine from Cleveland, Ohio, in 1974. The Degenhardts were part of an adoption support group in Ohio where they met another couple who were franchisee owners in Ohio. That couple suggested to Ed that he should look into becoming a franchise owner, and the rest is history.

They started their franchise experience with a location in Millinocket in 1974, with a promise from the McDonald’s corporation that a restaurant would be opened in Houlton the following year.

“They really wanted to live in Houlton,” said Heidi Abbotoni, the daughter of Ed and Dawn who now runs the family business with her husband Daryl. “My mother had grown up in Portland as a child and my grandfather lived in Fort Fairfield for a time as a child. So, Mom and Dad had fond memories of Maine.”

The Degenhardts and their nine adopted children, most of whom all worked at the family business, were fixtures at the Houlton restaurant for many years.

Ed and Dawn retired from the business in 2008, with Heidi and her husband taking over the franchise, which includes restaurants in Calais (added in 1980); Lincoln (1982); and Presque Isle and Caribou (both in 2003). The Millinocket location was sold in 2008.

Heidi said she started working at the Houlton restaurant when she was 8 years old, washing tables for $1 an hour. She went to college and returned to the family business in 1992. Heidi and Daryl purchased the two stores in Presque Isle and Caribou and then took over the other locations upon her father’s retirement in 2008.

While many of the McDonald’s restaurants around the state now sport the trendy “McCafe” style with their buildings, the Houlton location remains a step back in time with its floor layout remaining relatively unchanged since the store opened.

Houlton’s is one, if not the only, McDonald’s restaurant with a wood log fireplace and has several original hand-carved pieces of artwork on the walls from when it first opened. Those pieces of art feature traditional scenes of activities from the greater Houlton area, including one that shows a scene of children picking potatoes. Interestingly, that piece of art was crafted from a photograph of the Degenhardt children working in the field.

Heidi Abbotoni said the Houlton location has done extremely well over the years. At some point in the future, the restaurant may get a makeover, but for now no immediate plans are in place to change the historical setup.

And while the menu and how business is conducted has evolved over the years, the one constant for the Abbotonis has been working with so many wonderful crew members. The Houlton store is managed by Arnold Bulley.

“The (the crew) have been awesome and truly are the backbone of our company,” Heidi said. “We are very thankful and appreciative. We have one manager that has been there since opening day, Sue Blanchard. We couldn’t do it without our people!”