E. P. Kimball House

The palatial mansion formerly owned by E. P. Kimball is located on the northwest corner of Union and South Streets.

Edward Payson Kimball was born in Warner, New Hampshire on the Fourth of July, 1834. His parents were Reverend Reuben Kimball and Judith (Colby) Kimball. He married Martha Jane Thompson from Wilmot, NH in 1864, and they had three children: Elizabeth, Martha, and Edward. Of these, the best known is Martha Kimball, who supported the women’s suffrage movement and was involved in the Women’s City Club, the N.H. League of Women Voters, and a founder of the Graffort Club, named for Bridget Graffort, who was once the wife of Thomas Daniel.

After serving as a bank clerk, E.P. Kimball was elected the Cashier of the First National Bank of Portsmouth and the Piscataqua Savings Bank from 1872-1882. When the banks' president, former N.H. governor Ichabod Goodwin, died in 1882, Kimball succeeded him and served as bank president of the First National Bank and Piscataqua Savings Bank until 1910.

His impressive house on Union Street was built for him in 1897. 

During his lifetime, E .P. Kimball held many civic and elective offices, including a member of the NH legislature from 1885-1886, City  Alderman, Trustee of the public library, Deacon of the North Church, and Trustee of the Cottage Hospital. His wife served as President of the YMCA.’s Women’s Auxiliary.


E. P. Kimball died in 1910.

C. S. Gurney's vintage photograph from his book, Portsmouth . . . Historic and Picturesque, dates from 1902, only five years after it was constructed. Mine is from a slightly different angle, because the short evergreen trees seen in the center of the black-and-white photograph still exist and now completely obstruct the view!

The single-family home of the early 1900s is now a multi-home condominium building of the 2010s.