Rathbun Lumber Co., a legacy Presque Isle lumber yard, will be auctioned off in September after the company quietly shut its doors amid foreclosure in recent months.
Portland’s Keenan Auction Company is overseeing the live real estate auction at 10 a.m. on Sept. 8, as well as a complete liquidation of Rathbun Lumber’s equipment, inventory and fixtures in a timed online auction that began on Aug. 17.
The business appears to have closed in April or May of this year. It’s unclear when the foreclosure proceedings began. The company filed its 2024 annual report on April 12, according to filings with the Maine Department of the Secretary of State.
The city of Presque Isle filed a tax lien against the company for $1,621.37 in unpaid 2024 property taxes on Aug. 8.
The business opened at 43 State St. in 1948. It was run by the Rathbun family until 2016, when owner Alden Rathbun sold it to longtime employee James Mclaughlin.
The company’s attorney, Frank Bemis of Presque Isle, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Rathbun Lumber took out a loan for $1.13 million with Machias Savings Bank in Presque Isle some time around 2018, the first year it appears in annual reports of the Finance Authority of Maine.
The loan is publicly listed because FAME provided commercial loan insurance to Machias Savings Bank. It is shown in each of the authority’s annual reports from 2018 to 2023. In the latter year, the loan carried an outstanding balance of $607,103.67. It is not included in the 2024 report. It’s unclear if the business defaulted on that loan.
