Dexter native buys Watering Hole; will reopen as Factory One

New owner also plans to
manufacture solar lights in building

By Mike Lange
Staff Writer

    DEXTER — A Dexter Regional High School graduate has bought the former Watering Hole tavern in Dexter and will reopen and rename it as Factory One by spring.
    Adrian Cronkhite has lived in Monument, Colo. for the past 21 years, but told the Observer that he will be moving back to the area sometime this spring.

Observer photo/Mike Lange

    COMING SOON — The former Watering Hole will be opening this spring as Factory One.

    “I also plan to manufacture solar panels in another part of the building,” Cronkhite said last week. “There’s 107,000 square feet, so there’s plenty of room. The folks who are trying to get shoe manufacturing restarted in town did a walk-through recently, and I’d like to get them in the building.”
    The building was a Dexter Shoe factory for more than 40 years until the owners moved all manufacturing overseas and closed most of the Maine plants in 2001.
    John Chappell, a Rhode Island native, opened the Watering Hole in 2005 and closed it late last year.
    Cronkhite said that the building is in “pretty good shape. The roof was leaking and the floors are cracked a little. But it’s all usable and everything wrong is fixable.”
    Renovations are already underway to “downsize” the bar area into a more cozy, comfortable atmosphere, Cronkhite said. “I’m shortening up the bar itself, repainting the walls, putting in a wooden floor and a stage for bands; adding about 10 more flat-screen TVs and a fireplace,” he said.
    Factory One will also have a walk-in refrigerator with a bigger selection of draft beers than the old tavern.
    Cronkhite, who graduated from Dexter Regional High School in 1984, served in the Army for 14 years — including six as a senior communications NCO with the 10th Special Forces — before he embarked on a career as a network scheduler for Lockheed Martin and Northrup Grumman. “I enjoyed the Army, but I was gone for 250 days a year and that’s tough on your family life,” he said.
    Since 2007, he’s been president and CEO of Securing the Gates, a firm that sells and installs solar-powered street lights and advanced perimeter security systems.
    Now, said Cronkhite, “I’m coming back home. My main goal is to create some jobs in the community.”
    He also has two partners with the Factory One venture: family friends Keith and Stephanie Busch, also of Monument, Colo. “If things go as planned, we’ll be open in April,” Cronkhite said. “The word is out and lots of people in town are very excited about it already.”
    The tavern’s liquor, victualer’s, pool hall and special amusement licenses are on the Feb. 12 Dexter town council agenda.