Historic Portland Discussion

I've walked by the building hundreds of times and never knew until a historian pointed out the difference to me many years ago. The architect did an excellent job of blending the new with the old even though it was only a 7 year gap. Maine College of Art photo
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A Currier & Ives illustration of the Eastern Waterfront / Grand Trunk Railroad from the early 1880s. Based on the masthead flag, the foreground ship is likely a Dominion Line steamer.

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Looking at the East End from the South Portland side of the harbor in the summer of 1906.

Interesting historical side note: The ship docked at the Grand Trunk Pier in the center of the photo is Leyland Line steamer "Californian" which later became infamous for being within sight of the Titanic as it sank and failing to respond

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Thank you all for posting these images.

As an outsider, the fabric of the city has always bothered me when I have visited Portland. It felt like there was no there there, which didn’t make sense for an older city. Now I see what was there before, and it makes a lot more sense.
 
RandomWalk said:
Thank you all for posting these images.

As an outsider, the fabric of the city has always bothered me when I have visited Portland. It felt like there was no there there, which didn’t make sense for an older city. Now I see what was there before, and it makes a lot more sense.
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Much was destroyed, but it could’ve been even worse. The Spring St arterial was a 4-lane road which stretched from High St to Union St. Many buildings were destroyed to make way for this, but it was supposed to extend all the way to Franklin arterial. Luckily preservationists stopped this from slicing a whole through the heart of the Old Port. Spring St has since been converted back to a normal 2-lane road with street parking.
 
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Massive block at the top center was razed to make way for the 8500 seat Cumberland County Civic Center which opened in 1977 with a performance by ZZ Top. The venue had an amazing run of top tier concerts during the late 70's and 80's with many artists either starting or ending their tours in Portland.
 
Any photos/stories of how both East End towers came to be?
mainejeff said:
But these are neat, orderly and not leaning....and period appropriate.🙂
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Ohhhh the one in front of the Falmouth Hotel is leaning 😬
 
Are you referring to the Portland House (1969) and Promenade Towers (1975) condominium buildings?
 
TC_zoid said:
I've mentioned this before, but I was told that the primary reason they got rid of the pool was an incident from Ozzy Osbourne and his band. They got a bit too drunk after a concert at the Civic Center (hey, it's what they do), and they went up to that rooftop pool and threw some patio furniture over the edge. They should have just banned rock stars. I like the Hawaiian Hut thing. They should bring that back. And actor Tony Shalhoub worked as a waiter up there. Good find. Looks like it's from an old, old post card. Perhaps The Armature can bring back some of that pool fun (sans the furniture tossed over the edge).
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Googling this, you do get quick confirmation that Ozzy did in fact engage in some less-than-wholesome behavior there. Which is now why Portland can't have the nice thing which is an outdoor pool for the...

[checks Portland ME long-term climate averages]

ZERO days of the year that Portland, on average, ever gets above 80 degrees. Heck, the city doesn't even average above 75 degrees, other than for the 60-day window of July-August.

Not exactly congenial to a well-utilized outdoor pool, but, eh, whatever.

P.S. Portland's latitude is identical to that of Nice, France, where the average high in January is 56 degrees.... whereas the average high in Portland in January is 32. The Gulf Stream is a helluva thing!
 
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Photo from the late 60's and just prior to the construction of One Monument Square which started the rebirth of downtown Portland in 1970. Notice the site is a temporary park with signage announcing the future high rise. Great view of 201 Federal Street's new home to the right.
 
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Portlander said:
Photo from the late 60's and just prior to the construction of One Monument Square which started the rebirth of Downtown Portland in 1970. Notice the site is a temporary park with signage announcing the future high rise. Great view of 201 Federal Street's new home to the right.
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I wonder, was that building where the library is the original Preble Hotel? I know the hotel stood there, perhaps best remembered for Charles Dickens having stayed there and hated it, but I don't know if that was the same building.
 
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