Historic Portland Discussion

Not sure Mark, I always thought the Preble Hotel was located where the Chapman Building was erected?

* Check out the photo on post #96 and I think we have our answer. (y)
 
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Portlander said:
Not sure Mark, I always thought the Preble Hotel was located where the Chapman Building was erected?

* Check out the photo on post #96 and I think we have our answer. (y)
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Wow, you're right! I hadn't noticed it in that one (and there are two extant landmarks... the Commerce Building and the Longfellow House). Apparently that building was originally Commodore Preble's mansion (next door to the Wadsworth-Longfellows!) before becoming a hotel. I can't find the quotes now, but Dickens really savaged the place after he stayed there.
 
I always had the impression that Charles Dickens was a pleasant chap and I had heard he was pals with Longfellow which may explain his excursions to Portland. But trashing one of my hometown hotels is certainly uncalled for! :) Individuals of great intellect and unique talents can be very complex!
 
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I love the older photos of Congress Street and often think of Petula Clark's #1 hit "Downtown" which reminds me of my youth and was a major influence on why I became so interested in Main Street America.
 
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Take a cruise on the Casablanca; the piers aren't remarkably dissimilar to that view even today!
 
I love the idea behind a roundabout, or when the middle has something grand within to admire or inspire. If one desires, they can go around and around and around to look at this middle. Portland's old Monument Square design--from the pictures--must have been quite dynamic back then, though the modification to a de facto connecting walkable rambla to the corner at the Temple Street Garage was certainly a good idea to enhance the usage of public space. I think the new one next to USM is an embarrassment. Surely, something else can be done? I don't even know what it is.

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Huh? What can we call this? "Funny looking plants with rocks?"
 
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TC_zoid said:
I love the idea behind a roundabout, or when the middle has something grand within to admire or inspire. If one desires, they can go around and around and around to look at this middle. Portland's old Monument Square design--from the pictures--must have been quite dynamic back then, though the modification to a de facto connecting walkable rambla to the corner at the Temple Street Garage was certainly a good idea to enhance the usage of public space. I think the new one next to USM is an embarrassment. Surely, something else can be done? I don't even know what it is.


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Huh? What can we call this? "Funny looking plants with rocks?"
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The USM traffic circle is purely utilitarian. Similar to a couple of circles out near Gorham.

Portland needs a dozen more of these all over the city (and SoPo, Scarborough, Windham, etc etc) to make traffic flow better.

I think circles are so foreign to Portlanders that if you made it too interesting or grand (at least at this busy location), you'd get distracted idiots and lots of accidents. I agree it's dull, but I think given the location it may be best to be similar to a circle I lived near in Dorchester. Purely utilitarian. Although a grand circle could make for an interesting university "center point".

A beautiful circle tends to be a better combination of slower-moving traffic, dense buildings, and open pedestrian/pavilion space. I think a beautiful example of this is the Soldiers & Sailors Circle in Indianapolis. The Traffic moves slow enough that you won't be mowed over, but you can still walk around, shop, get a coffee, and enjoy the experience.

Monument Square in Portland is kind of a disappointment, as so many things in Portland are. It deserves some grand monuments, train stations, and so on. But the automobile won.

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Slum clearance prior to the construction of the Franklin Arterial, Franklin Towers and Interstate 295. Why they spared the Hub Furniture building is a mystery to me! :) Photo from Portland Public Library Archives.
 
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lunardinosaur said:
Franklin Arterial was a bad move. I'd really like to see that redesign project move forward!
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I remember seeing updated renderings a few years back- but probably was precovid. Yes the city would benefit greatly. I know some were concerned with the increase od traffic from the new office buildings by the water- but that is a very Maine thing to worry about. Portland is a city, traffic will be there regardless.
 
At the very least - in the short term - can someone PLEASE fix the Franklin and Marginal cluster of an intersection. So much confusion and road rage come from the lane shift. Put a circle there and call it a day.
 
Franklin Arterial was a necessity when it was constructed over a half century ago. Interstate 295 was vital to downtown Portland's survival do to extremely limited access to the peninsula and I remember life prior to the interstate and I would not want to return to those days. Almost every notable city across the country was having Interstate spurs, connectors or beltways built to accommodate the rapid increase in traffic entering and departing the downtown areas in a period where most suburban households owned two or more cars. We could disagree on whether Portland actually needed I295 and thankfully it was not located on the waterfront side, but once the Federal government decided it was going to happen the city and the DOT needed to make some difficult decisions.

Where to position the exits? We know the current ones were poorly designed and efforts to improve them will continue in the future. Focusing on Franklin Arterial specifically. This swath of land was the only logical place to funnel vehicles from the interstate into the city center and even more importantly, the waterfront. Franklin Street, being a two way mostly residential street could not accommodate rush hour traffic in and out of downtown without being completely rebuilt and expanded to four lanes. The mostly sub par houses that were demolished and a portion of Lincoln Park that was lost to make way for the project was a sad outcome but not unique to only Portland. Any better options as far as placement of the arterial? A little further north and you'd infringe on the Immaculate Conception church complex, continue north and you'd tear down even more housing and spend more money dealing with the elevation changes to Munjoy Hill. A little further south you'd infringe on Franklin Towers which was already under construction or run the four lane beside City Hall and Central Fire Station while destroying a chunk of the Old Port.

Am I happy with the end result? Maybe it could have been designed better but I'm not a traffic engineer or an urban planner. But the point I'm trying to convey is that options were limited over 50 years ago along with our way of life and it all could have turned out so much worse for Portland. I do think some improvements will eventually be made to the stretch between Marginal Way and Congress Street and as nomc mentioned, the traffic flow needs to improve at the bottom. The portion from Congress to Commercial Street will probably remain the same with the exception of opening another cross though street like Federal. On a side note. My mother (86) was visiting from Michigan last week and I drove her up Franklin Street and her unsolicited comment was how attractive the green space was and it reminded her of the Merritt Parkway, go figure!
 
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Portlander said:
I do think some improvements will eventually be made to the stretch between Marginal Way and Congress Street
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I recall reading, probably on this forum, that Franklin was widened the way it is to accommodate Cumberland/Congress underpasses. I’m fairly confident Portland won’t be needing that sort of infrastructure anytime soon. Using a part of the median as bus lanes would be an intriguing option, though. I believe the redesign didn’t have much for buses but focused more on the developable lots created, which of course is a plus.
 
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