Illustration of a a hatchet on a yellow circle with red text with an outer red then white ring with white and blue text
THE WHITEHEAD & HOAG CO.
NEWARK N.J.
PATENTED
JULY 17 1894
APRIL 14, 1896, JAN 21, 1896
John Q. Twitchell and James P. Champlin started Twitchell, Champlin & Co., a wholesale grocer and extract bottler, around 1880 in Portland, Maine. In 1903, they added a canning business, selling canned peas, corn, string beans, raspberries, strawberries and fish. They later expanded to production in other parts of New England and sold their canned goods under the Hatchet brand name.
The historic Twitchell-Champlin Company building on Merrill’s Wharf was built in stages between 1884 and 1924. In 1962, it was converted into a cold storage warehouse. The boundaries of the Portland Waterfront National Register Historic District were expanded to include Merrill’s Wharf, making the building eligible for historic tax credits, which were used for rehabilitation of the building in 2011.