The Paper Patch

The Paper Patch is located at 36 Market Street, on the northwest corner of Ladd and Market Streets.

A hardware store occupied this location for many years, dating back to at least 1902, when the vintage photograph below appeared in C. S. Gurney's book, Portsmouth . . . Historic and Picturesque. Frank L. Pryor and Edward C. Matthews owned the business at the turn of the 19th Century, from about 1892 to 1910. Pryor & Matthews advertised the following categories in the 1905 Portsmouth Business Directory:

• Agricultural Implements
• Artists' Materials
• Carriage Varnish
• Cutlery
• Garden & Farming Tools
• Hardware
• Paints Oils and Glass
• Paper and Twines
• Plumbers
• Pumps
• Scales
• Weather Strips

More recently, Peavey Hardware occupied this building from before World War II until 2004.


The Paper Patch, a purveyor of fine stationery and paper products, has been a Portsmouth staple since 1981. Previously located in the building directly across the street, the store moved to this location in 2009.