Timeline of Portland, Maine

The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Portland, Maine, USA.

This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by expanding it with reliably sourced entries.

Prior to 19th century

• 1633 - Casco settled.
• 1658 - Settlement renamed "Falmouth."
• 1668 - Eastern Cemetery established.
• 1676 - Village sacked by the Wampanoag during King Philip's War.
• 1690 - Battle of Fort Loyal.
• 1718 - Town of Falmouth established.^[1]
• 1740 - First Parish Church built.^[1]
• 1763 - Falmouth Library Society organized.
• 1775
  • Thompson's War^[2]
  • Town burned by British.^[1]
• 1785 - Falmouth Gazette newspaper begins publication.^[3]
• 1786 - Falmouth renamed "Portland."^[4]
• 1790
  • Gazette of Maine newspaper begins publication.^[5]
  • Population: 2,240.^[6]
  • Lighthouse built.^[7]
• 1796 - Portland Marine Society incorporated.^[8]

19th century

"Bird's Eye View of the City of Portland," 1876

• 1803 - Eastern Argus newspaper begins publication.^[9]
• 1805 - Portland Benevolent Society incorporated.^[8]
• 1806 - Gorham Academy built.
• 1807 - Portland Observatory built.^[1]
• 1819 - State constitutional convention held.^[10]
• 1820
  • Portland becomes capital of State of Maine.^[1]
  • Maine Council of Royal Masters instituted.^[8]
  • Population: 8,581.^[6]
• 1821
  • High School, Maine Mineralogical Society,^[8] and Maine Encampment of Knight Templars^[8] established.
• 1822 - Maine Historical Society founded.
• 1825 - First Parish Church built.
• 1826 - Portland Athenaeum founded.
• 1828
  • Abyssinian Meeting House established.
  • Mariner's Church built.
• 1829
  • Theatre built on Union Street.^[11][12]
  • Western Cemetery established.
• 1830 - Population - 12,598.^[6]
• 1831 - Westbrook Seminary chartered.^[1]
• 1832
  • State capital moves from Portland to Augusta.
  • City of Portland chartered.^[1]
  • Cumberland and Oxford Canal opened bringing interior trade to Portland harbor from Long Lake^[13]
• 1836 - Western Promenade laid out.^[11]
• 1839 - B. Thurston & Co. publishers established.^[14]
• 1843
  • Railway service began between Boston and Portland.^[15]
  • Portland Society of Natural History organized.^[1]
• 1844 - Portland Steam Packet Company organized.^[16]
• 1846 - Portland Company established to build railway locomotives.^[16]
• 1849 - Portland Gas Light Co. incorporated.^[17]
• 1850 - Curtis' chewing gum manufactory in business.^[18]
• 1851 - Kennebec and Portland Rail Road begins operating.^[19]
• 1853
  • Grand Trunk Railway to Montreal begins operating.
  • Portland Board of Trade established.^[20]
  • Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland established.
• 1855
  • Portland Rum Riot.
  • Evergreen Cemetery established.
• 1856 - Chestnut Street Methodist Church built.
• 1859 - Forest City Cemetery established.
• 1862 - Portland Daily Press newspaper begins publication.^[5]
• 1863
  • Battle of Portland Harbor.
  • Portland street car service began.^[21]
  • Galt wharf grain elevator completed for export of Canadian wheat.^[22]
• 1866 - Fire.^[1]
• 1867
  • Portland Institute and Public Library founded.^[23]
  • First Baptist Church built.
• 1868 - U.S. Customhouse and St. Paul's Church and Rectory built.
• 1869 - Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception built.
• 1870 - Cumberland and Oxford Canal abandoned when Portland and Ogdensburg Railroad reached Sebago Lake.^[24]
• 1875 - Southworth Press established.^[25]
• 1881 - Young People's Society of Christian Endeavor founded.^[26]
• 1882
  • Portland Society of Art founded.
  • Evening Express newspaper begins publication.
• 1884 - Maine Genealogical Society organized.
• 1886 - Portland centennial.^[27]
• 1888 - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Monument unveiled at Longfellow Square.
• 1890 - Population: 36,425.^[6]
• 1891 - Portland Soldiers and Sailors Monument dedicated on Monument Square.
• 1897
  • Jefferson Theatre opens.^[11]
  • Maine Music Festival begins.^[1]
  • St. Lawrence Church and Williston-West Church built.
• 1898 - Waynflete School established.
• 1899
  • Deering becomes part of Portland.^[1]
  • Portland Camera Club formed.^[28][29]

20th century

• 1901 - New England Elevator Company built the largest grain elevator on the Atlantic coast.^[30]
• 1906 - Portland Company ceased building railway locomotives.^[31]
• 1908 - Portland Society of Arts and Crafts organized.^[32]
• 1909 - City Hall built.
• 1910 - Memorial statue of Thomas Brackett Reed unveiled.^[33]
• 1911
  • L. D. M. Sweat Memorial Art Museum dedicated.^[34]
  • Portland Terminal Company formed.
• 1912
  • Kotzschmar Memorial Organ installed in City Hall's Merrill Auditorium.
  • Eastern Promenade laid out according to design by Olmsted Brothers.^[35]
• 1913
  • State of Maine Express began direct Pullman railway service from major US cities to Portland.^[36]
  • Historical pageant takes place on Eastern Promenade.^[37]
• 1914
  • Portland–Lewiston Interurban service began between Portland and Lewiston.^[21]
  • Portland Exposition Building and Green Memorial A.M.E. Zion Church built.
• 1916 - Million Dollar Bridge opens.
• 1918 - Queen's Hospital for women opens.^[11]
• 1919 - Portland designated eastern end of the Theodore Roosevelt International Highway.^[38]
• 1921 - Etz Chaim Synagogue built.
• 1923
  • Portland Symphony Orchestra and Children’s Theatre of Portland established.
  • Canadian National Railway began diverting export traffic from Portland to Canadian Maritime ports.^[39]
• 1924
  • Maine State Pier and Chapman Building constructed.
  • Longfellow Garden Club organized.^[40]
• 1926 - U.S. Route 1 linked Portland to the United States highway system.^[41]
• 1929 - State Theatre opens.
• 1930 - The Gull began international Pullman train service through Portland from the Maritimes.^[42]
• 1933
  • Portland-Westbrook Municipal Airport established.
  • End of interurban service from Portland to surrounding communities.^[21]
• 1934 - Flying Yankee began streamliner service to Portland.^[43]
• 1940 - East Wind began summer passenger train service to Portland for vacationers from major eastern cities.^[44]
• 1941
  • Portland–Montreal Pipe Line completed.^[45]
  • Portland became United States Navy destroyer base Sail during the Battle of the Atlantic.^[46]
  • Victoria Mansion museum opens.
  • Portland street car system dismantled.^[21]
• 1942 - Battery Steele built.
• 1944 - A-26 Invader crash near Portland airport was Maine's worst aircraft accident.^[47]
• 1946 - Baxter Woods municipal forest established.^[48]
• 1947 - Maine Turnpike connected Portland to what would become the Interstate Highway System.^[49]
• 1950 - Population: 77,634.^[6]
• 1953 - WCSH begins broadcasting.
• 1954 - WMTW begins broadcasting.
• 1960 - Tukey's Bridge built.
• 1961 - Demolition of Union Station ended daily passenger train service to Portland.^[50]
• 1964 - Greater Portland Landmarks preservation group formed.^[51]
• 1965 - Kennedy Park housing built.
• 1967 - Summer weekend passenger train service to Portland ended.^[52]
• 1970 - University of Southern Maine Portland campus established.
• 1973
  • Old Port Festival begins.
  • WMPG begins broadcasting.
  • Salt Institute for Documentary Studies founded.
• 1976 - Children's Museum of Maine founded.
• 1977 - Cumberland County Civic Center built.
• 1978 - Portland Stage Company active.
• 1984
  • Sister city relationship established with Shinagawa, Tokyo, Japan.^[53]
  • Portland Ice Arena opens.
• 1985 - Portland Monthly magazine begins publication.
• 1993
  • Portland Pirates ice hockey team formed.
  • Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad Museum opens.
• 1994
  • Portland Chamber Music Festival begins.
  • PORTopera founded.
  • Hadlock Field opens.
• 1997
  • Casco Bay Bridge opens.
  • City website online (approximate date).^[54]

21st century

• 2001 - Downeaster restored passenger train service to Portland.^[55]
• 2003 - Sister city relationship established with Mytilene, Greece.^[53]
• 2006 - Maine Roller Derby and Portland Society of Architects^[56] founded.
• 2007 - Whole Foods grocery in business.
• 2008 - Maine Mead Works in business.^[57]
• 2009
  • Port City Music Hall opens.^[58]
  • Congress Street designated an historic district.^[59]
• 2010
  • State Theatre reopens.
  • Trader Joe's grocery in business.
  • Population: 66,194 city;^[6] 514,098 metro.

See also

• History of Portland, Maine
• Neighborhoods of Portland, Maine
• List of mayors of Portland, Maine
• National Register of Historic Places listings in Portland, Maine
• Railroad history of Portland, Maine
• List of Portland, Maine schools
• Timeline of Maine^[60]

References

1. Britannica 1910.
2. Leamon, James S. Revolution Downeast: The War for American Independence in Maine (1995) University of Massachusetts Press pp.62-67
3. Joseph Griffin, ed. (1872), History of the press of Maine, Brunswick, Maine
4. Charter 1881.
5. "US Newspaper Directory". Chronicling America. Washington DC: Library of Congress. Retrieved August 25, 2012.
6. Fogler Library. "Population pre-1950". Maine Census Data. University of Maine. Retrieved August 25, 2012.
7. Phelps 1853.
8. Jewett 1823.
9. Directory 1912.
10. L.D. Carver (1902), Constitution of the State of Maine, formed in convention at Portland, October twenty-ninth, and adopted ... on the sixth day of December, A.D. 1819 ... together with amendments subsequently made thereto, Augusta: Kennebec Journal Print
11. Federal Writers' Project 1940.
12. Elwell 1876.
13. Ward, Ernest E. My First Sixty Years in Harrison, Maine Cardinal Printing 1967 p.7
14. Gregory 1887.
15. "History of Railroading in Maine". Maine Department of Transportation.
16. Beckett 1850.
17. Beckett 1858.
18. Steven Anzovin and Janet Podell, ed. (2000). Famous First Facts. H.W. Wilson Co. ISBN 0824209583.
19. Beckett 1856.
20. History of the Work of the Board of Trade of Portland, Maine, 1887
21. Robertson 1982.
22. Holt, Jeff (1985). The Grand Trunk in New England. Railfare. p. 88. ISBN 0-919130-43-7.
23. Dedicatory exercises of the Baxter Building: to the uses of the Portland Public Library and Maine Historical Society, Thursday, February 21, 1889. Auburn, Maine: Lakeside Press, Printers and Binders, 1889
24. Johnson, Ron (n.d.). Maine Central R.R. Mountain Division. 470 Railroad Club.
25. "Anthoensen Collection". Portland Room. Portland Public Library. Retrieved August 25, 2012.
26. Sargent 1916.
27. Centennial 1886.
28. Frank Roy Fraprie (June 1907). "Portland Camera Club". American Amateur Photographer and Camera and Dark Room 19.
29. Portland Camera Club
30. Holt, Jeff (1985). The Grand Trunk in New England. Railfare. p. 89. ISBN 0-919130-43-7.
31. Jones, Robert C. (1993). Two Feet to the Lakes. Pacific Fast Mail. p. 70. ISBN 0-915713-26-8.
32. American Art Annual. NY. 1911.
33. Thomas Brackett Reed Memorial Association (Portland, Me.) (1910), Exercises at the unveiling of the statue of Thomas Brackett Reed, at Portland, Maine, August thirty-first, nineteen hundred and ten, Portland, Me: The Association, OCLC 12031478
34. American Art Annual. NY. 1914.
35. "Eastern Promenade Master Plan" (PDF). City of Portland. 2004.
36. "State of Maine". James VanBokkelen.
37. Constance D'Arcy Mackay (1913), The historical pageant of Portland, Maine: produced on the Eastern Promenade as a free civic celebration of the Fourth of July 1913, Portland: Southworth Printing Company
38. Weingroff, Richard (April 7, 2011). "US 2: Houlton, Maine, to Everett, Washington". Federal Highway Administration. Retrieved September 5, 2011.
39. Holt, Jeff (1985). The Grand Trunk in New England. Railfare. p. 100. ISBN 0-919130-43-7.
40. "Longfellow Garden Club". Garden Club Federation of Maine. Retrieved August 25, 2012.
41. Weingroff, Richard F. (April 7, 2011). "From Names to Numbers: The Origins of the US Numbered Highway System". Highway History. Federal Highway Administration. Retrieved June 10, 2011.
42. Lowe, J. Norman Canadian National in the East volume 3 (1985) Calgary Group of the British Railway Modellers of North America ISBN 0-919487-14-9
43. Albert, Dave & Melvin, George F. (1975). New England Diesels. George R. Cockle and Associates. p. 58. ISBN 0-916160-01-7.
44. Jones, Robert Willoughby Boston and Maine (1991) Trans-Anglo Books ISBN 0-87046-101-X p.96
45. ::Portland Montreal Pipe Line:: About us
46. Morison, Samuel Eliot (1975). History of United States Naval Operations in World War II, Volume I The Battle of the Atlantic 1939-1943. Little, Brown and Company. p. 68.
47. Cornish, Caroline (11 July 2010). "Long Creek Air Tragedy Memorial is dedicated". WCSH. Retrieved 12 July 2010.
48. "Welcome to Mayor Baxter Woods" (PDF). City of Portland. Retrieved August 25, 2012.
49. "MTA History". Maine Turnpike Authority. Retrieved 2012-10-21.
50. Johnson, Ron. Maine Central R.R. Mountain Division. The 470 Railroad Club. p. 267.
51. "Greater Portland Landmarks". Retrieved August 25, 2012.
52. Holt, Jeff (1985). The Grand Trunk in New England. Railfare. p. 111. ISBN 0-919130-43-7.
53. "Portland's Sister Cities". City of Portland. Retrieved December 2014.
54. "Welcome to Portland, Maine". Archived from the original on May 1997 – via Internet Archive, Wayback Machine.
55. "Amtrak Downeaster Breaks Annual Ridership Record". Amtrak Downeaster. Retrieved 2012-10-21.
56. "Portland Society of Architects". Retrieved August 25, 2012.
57. "Drink of kings makes a comeback". BBC News. October 2, 2013.
58. L. Beehner (August 19, 2010). "36 Hours in Portland, Me.". New York Times.
59. "Historic Preservation". City of Portland. Retrieved August 25, 2012.
60. Federal Writers' Project (1937). "Chronology". Maine: a Guide 'Down East'. American Guide Series. Boston: Houghton Mifllin – via Hathi Trust.

Bibliography

Published in the 19th century

• Nathaniel G. Jewett (1823). Portland Directory & Register. Todd and Smith, printer.
• S.B. Beckett (1850). Portland Directory. Thurston & Co., printer.
• "Portland, Me.", Phelps' Hundred Cities and Large Towns of America, New York: Phelps, Fanning & Co., 1853, OCLC 2503582
• S.B. Beckett (1856). Portland Directory. Brown Thurston, printer.
• Joseph H. Bragdon (1857), "Portland", Seaboard towns: or, Traveller's guide book from Boston to Portland, Newburyport, Mass.: Moulton & Clark, OCLC 3443773
• S.B. Beckett (1858), Portland Directory, Brown Thurston, printer
• Guide book for Portland and vicinity, Portland, Me.: B. Thurston and J. F. Richardson, 1859, OCLC 29977128
• William Willis. The history of Portland, from 1632 to 1864, 2nd ed. Portland: Bailey & Noyes, 1865
• John Neal (1874), Portland illustrated, Portland, Me: W. S. Jones, OCLC 7153525
• Edward H. Elwell (1876), Portland and Vicinity, Portland, Me: Loring, Short, & Harmon, and W.S. Jones, OCLC 332651
• "Portland and its environs", New England: a handbook for travelers (7th ed.), Boston, Mass: James R. Osgood, 1880
• Charter and Ordinances of the City of Portland, Portland: Dresser, McLellan & Company, 1881
• Joseph Sabin, ed. (1885). "Portland, Maine". Bibliotheca Americana 15. New York. OCLC 13972268.
• J.T. Hull, ed. (1886), Centennial celebration: an account of the municipal celebration of the one hundreth anniversary of the incorporation of the town of Portland, July 4th, 5th and 6th, 1886, Portland: Printed by Owen, Strout & company, OCLC 7566292
• "City of Portland". Maine Register, or State Year-book and Legislative Manual. Portland, ME: J.B. Gregory. 1887.
• "City of Portland". Maine register or state year-book and legislative manual. Portland, ME: G.M. Donham. 1891.
• George F. Bacon (1891), Portland: its representative business men and its points of interest, Newark, N.J: Glenwood Publishing Company, OCLC 8015123
• Charles Bancroft Gillespie (1899), Portland past and present (Souvenir ed.), Portland, Me: Evening Express Publishing Co., OCLC 5630912

Published in the 20th century

• "Portland", Encyclopaedia Britannica (11th ed.), New York, 1910, OCLC 14782424 – via Internet Archive
• Directory of Portland, Portland Directory Co., 1912
• "Portland", Handbook of New England, Boston: Porter E. Sargent, 1916, OCLC 16726464
• Federal Writers' Project (1940), Portland City Guide, American Guide Series, Portland: Forest City Printing Company, OCLC 2291042
• Robertson, Edwin B. (1982). Remember the Portland, Maine, Trolleys. Robertson Books.

External links

• Historic images related to Portland (via Maine Memory Network)
• "Timeline: Selected Events in Maine History". Maine Memory Network. Maine Historical Society.
• John French. "Portland Maine History 1786 to Present" – via Facebook.
• Works related to Portland, various dates (via Digital Public Library of America).