Historic Portland Discussion

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Marketing add for Portland from the "Maine Invites You" campaign which may have been a Maine Publicity Bureau initiative. The 85K population figure must have been an estimate at the peak of WWII seeing that Portland's official high topped out at 78K in the 1950 census.
 
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Portlander said:
I'm guessing the late 20's and prior to the Great Depression. I was trying to pick out Mark's car in the Portland High lot but it's just too far away!
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It's a beautiful shot (I love the pointer to the Jetport atop the Fidelity Building), but I am afraid I must inform you that my car would be nowhere to be found in that photo. Although my mom and grandmother went to PHS, and my son and grandfather went to Deering, I am a proud Cheverus man. 🦌
 
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Trans East Airlines to Albany in the late 60's! Airline was originally based out of New York and Manchester and eventually moved most of their operations to Bangor in 1969 upon the closing of Dow AFB. First airline to hire "mini stewardesses" due to the limited cabin height of their aircraft and the flight attendants had to be 5 foot tall or shorter. Notice the Portland House under construction in the distance to the right. Portland Public Library Archives.
 
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Spring Street in the early 60's and many years prior to the Spring Street Garage and Civic Center being built next door to Sears. Portland Public Library Archives
 
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This appears to be a Veteran's Day parade due to the weather and military uniforms. Notice the Greyhound bus station to the left prior to opening a new terminal at the corner of High and Spring Street in the 60's. Portland Public Library Archives.
 
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I remember Maine Hardware being there (the Post Office Station A at the time was in the Libby Building, and when that was torn down for the museum they moved to that spot and Maine Hardware moved to the then-Portland Shopping Center after Arlan's had closed), but I have no recollection of Greyhound being at that spot (and only a very dim memory of it being at High & Spring).

Cathay Garden survived well into the 80's I believe, as did State Drug. A personal Holy Grail would be to find a pic of 630 Congress (currently Mi Sen, the place with the big arched windows) when it was a Howard Johnson's.

I wish Portland had held onto more distinctive storefront signage, whether Art Deco or neon. The one I remember best was the Rogers Jewelers awning near what is now Nosh.
 
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Amazing aerial of downtown Portland in 1971 which clearly shows the early stages of its impressive transformation underway. One Monument Square (Casco Bank) and Franklin Towers are complete. Holiday Inn and the Spring Street Garage are under construction. Spring Street Arterial has been extended to Center Street with demolition still progressing to Temple. Frankie Arterial is almost finished. Land has been cleared for One and Two Canal Plaza and also for the future construction of One City Center which was known as the "Golden Triangle" for many years. Sears (lower left) is on its last leg and preparing to bolt for the shopper's paradise known as the Maine Mall. The Civic Center, Portland Museum of Art, Two Monument Square, 511 Congress, One and Two Portland Square, Temple Street Garage, Three Canal Plaza, Two City Center, Elm Street Garage, Portland Police Headquarters and the Portland Public Library would all be added to the cityscape during the next two decades.
 
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The late 30's or early 40's and it appears to have been taken from the third floor of the Chapman Building with only a few buildings remaining today from this perspective. Christmas trees on top of Benoits waiting to be decorated for the upcoming holiday season? Mark's car is parked to the left. :) Portland Public Library Archives
 
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I need to show that one to my nieces... I've been looking for one that shows Monument Square as an out-of-control rotary! I remember Middle St. coming all the way up, but the Maineway project that built the Monument Square plaza was already well underway in my earliest recollections.
It still irks me that, when John Menario died, those who turned out to protest what his "urban renewal" had done to the city were mainly unknowingly standing in plazas he had built.
 
Portlander said:
Market Square prior to the addition of the statue and being renamed Monument Square.
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When the plaza was first built, there were four brass plaques in the pavement, marking the original corners of old City Hall. I have no idea when or why they were removed, but it may have been when the display describing the project (and the meaning of the plaques) was taken out. I was always amused by that display, which included a 3-D representation of the project and a description in raised brass letters and Braille.... all of which was under a sealed Plexiglas cover.

Seeing that Randall & McAllister sign makes me think of how all those old, long-time oil companies are now gone. A.R. Wright (now Wex), Harris Oil, Ballard Oil, etc., all gone... largely driven out of business by an undercutting upstart named Dead River. I have no idea if they all just closed or got bought out.
 
I've talked to a few councilors and previous mayors on the need to renovate Monument Square which is looking worn after almost 50 years of neglect to no avail. Repairs have been shoddy by public works who continue to pour asphalt into the broken granite and brick openings and frost heaves have made the plaza uneven in many areas. I liked the display and remember it well as it survived weather and vandals for many years.
 
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