Timeline of Portland, Maine

The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Portland, Maine, United States, from its settling in 1633 to the present day.

17th century

• 1632 - Casco settled.
• 1658 - Settlement renamed "Falmouth."
• 1659 - George Munjoy settled what became Munjoy Hill.
• 1668 - Eastern Cemetery established.
• 1676 - Village sacked by the Wampanoag during King Philip's War.
• 1690 - Battle of Fort Loyal.

18th century

• 1718 - Town of Falmouth established.
• 1740 - First Parish Church built.
• 1763 - Falmouth Library Society organized.
• 1764 - Population: about 2,000.
• 1768
• Portland Fire Department formed.
• Portland Farmers' Market established.
• 1775
• Thompson's War
• Town burned by British.
• 1785 - Falmouth Gazette newspaper begins publication.
• 1785/1786 - Peleg Wadsworth built what became known as the Wadsworth-Longfellow House.
• 1786 - Falmouth renamed "Portland."
• 1790
• Gazette of Maine newspaper began publication.
• Population: 2,240.
• Lighthouse built.
• 1791 - 159–161 Fore Street, the 1807 birthplace of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, built.
• 1794 - Fort Sumner built.
• 1796 - Portland Marine Society incorporated.

19th century

• 1800 - Population: 3,704.
• 1803
• Eastern Argus newspaper began publication.
• United States Hotel built in Haymarket Square (today's Monument Square).
• 1805 - Portland Benevolent Society incorporated.
• 1806 - Gorham Academy built.
• 1807
• Portland Observatory built.
• Birth of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
• Queen's Hospital opened (later renamed Northern Light Mercy)
• 1819 - State constitutional convention held.
• 1820
• Portland became the capital of the State of Maine.
• Maine Council of Royal Masters instituted.
• Population: 8,581.
• 1821
• High School established.
• Maine Mineralogical Society established.
• Maine Encampment of Knight Templars established.
• 1822 - Maine Historical Society founded.

• 1825
• First Parish Church built.
• Market (or Haymarket) House built Haymarket Square.
• 1826 - Portland Athenaeum founded.
• 1827 - John Neal opened the first public gymnasium in the U.S. founded by an American in the Market House.
• 1828
• Maine's first literary periodical, The Yankee, founded by John Neal.
• Abyssinian Meeting House established.
• Mariner's Church built.
• 1829
• Theatre built on Union Street.
• Western Cemetery established.
• 1830 - Population - 12,598.
• 1831 - Westbrook Seminary chartered.
• 1832
• State capital moved from Portland to Augusta.
• City of Portland chartered.
• Cumberland and Oxford Canal opened bringing interior trade to Portland harbor from Long Lake.
• 1833 - Market House converted into Portland's first City Hall.
• 1834 - Sylvester Graham Riot at the Temple Street Church.
• 1836 - Western Promenade laid out.
• 1839 - B. Thurston & Co. publishers established.
• 1843
• Railway service began between Boston and Portland.
• Portland Society of Natural History organized.
• 1844 - Portland Steam Packet Company organized.
• 1845 - The Pleasure Boat newspaper began publication.
• 1846 - Portland Company established to build railway locomotives.
• 1849 - Portland Gas Light Co. incorporated.
• 1850
• Population: 20,815.
• 1851 - Kennebec and Portland Railroad began operating.
• 1852 - Commercial Street completed on land reclaimed from the Fore River estuary.
• 1853
• Grand Trunk Railway to Montreal began operating.
• Portland Board of Trade established.
• Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland established.

• 1855
• Portland Rum Riot.
• Evergreen Cemetery established.
• United States Marine Hospital established.
• 1856 - Chestnut Street Methodist Church built.
• 1859
• Forest City Cemetery established.
• Mechanics' Hall completed.

• 1860
• Victoria Mansion built.
• Portland Railroad Company established.
• 1862
• Portland Daily Press newspaper began publication.
• Maine Central Railroad Company began operations.
• Second iteration of City Hall built on Congress Street.
• Portland Water Company established.
• 1863
• Battle of Portland Harbor.
• Portland street car service began.
• Galt wharf grain elevator completed for export of Canadian wheat.

• 1865 - Fort Gorges completed.
• 1866
• Fire.
• Lincoln Park established.
• 1867
• Portland Institute and Public Library founded.
• First Baptist Church built.
• Water company established to supply the city from Sebago Lake.
• 1868 - Third City Hall, St. Paul's Church and Rectory and the Falmouth Hotel built.
• 1869
• Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception construction completed.
• Portland Yacht Club established.
• 1870 - Cumberland and Oxford Canal abandoned when Portland and Ogdensburg Railroad reached Sebago Lake.
• 1872 - U.S. Customhouse built.
• 1874
• Deering High School established.
• Maine Medical Center established.
• 1875
• Southworth Press established.
• The Cumberland Club established.
• 1878 - University of Southern Maine established.
• 1879 - Deering Oaks Park established.
• 1881 - Young People's Society of Christian Endeavour founded by Francis Edward Clark.
• 1882
• Portland Society of Art founded.
• Evening Express newspaper begins publication.
• 1884 - Maine Genealogical Society organized.
• 1886
• Portland centennial.
• The Portland Club established.
• 1888
• Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Monument unveiled at Longfellow Square in West End.
• First City Hall demolished.
• Union Station built.
• 1890 - Population: 36,425.
• 1891
• Portland Soldiers and Sailors Monument, erected on the site of the first City Hall, dedicated in Monument Square.
• Maine Eye and Ear Infirmary building completed.
• 1892 - Six Towns Times established.
• 1895 - State of Maine Armory building completed.
• 1897
• Jefferson Theatre opened.
• Maine Music Festival began.
• St. Lawrence Church and Williston-West Church built.
• 1898 - Waynflete School established.
• 1899
• Deering became part of Portland.
• Portland Camera Club formed.
• 1900 - Population: 50,145.

20th century

• 1901 - New England Elevator Company built the largest grain elevator on the Atlantic coast.
• 1902 - First Amato's opened on India Street.
• 1906
• Portland Company ceased building railway locomotives.
• Grand Trunk Railway Station built on India Street.
• 1908
• Portland Society of Arts and Crafts organized.
• City Hall destroyed by fire.
• 1909
• The fourth and current City Hall built.
• Children's Hospital built at 68 High Street.
• 1910
• Memorial statue of Thomas Brackett Reed unveiled on the Western Promenade.
• Cumberland County Courthouse built.
• Population: 58,571.
• 1911
• L. D. M. Sweat Memorial Art Museum dedicated.
• Portland Terminal Company formed.
• Masonic Temple built.
• Edward T. Gignoux United States Courthouse built.
• 1912
• Merrill Auditorium built.
• Eastern Promenade laid out according to design by Olmsted Brothers.
• 1913
• State of Maine Express began direct Pullman railway service from major U.S. cities to Portland.
• Historical pageant took place on Eastern Promenade.
• B&M Baked Beans factory built.
• 1914
• Portland–Lewiston Interurban service began between Portland and Lewiston.
• Green Memorial A.M.E. Zion Church, Portland Exposition Building and Woodfords Club built.
• 1916 - Million Dollar Bridge opened.
• 1917
• Baxter Boulevard established at Back Cove.
• Cheverus High School established.
• Oakhurst Dairy established.
• 1919
• Portland designated eastern end of the Theodore Roosevelt International Highway.
• Casco Bay Lines established.
• 1921 - Etz Chaim Synagogue built.
• 1923
• Portland Symphony Orchestra and Children's Theatre of Portland established.
• Press Herald Building completed.
• Canadian National Railway began diverting export traffic from Portland to Canadian Maritime ports.
• 1924
• Maine State Pier and Chapman Building constructed.
• Longfellow Garden Club organized.
• 1925 - Central Fire Station built on part of Lincoln Park.
• 1926 - U.S. Route 1 linked Portland to the United States highway system.
• 1927 - Eastland Hotel opened.
• 1928 - James E. Barlow hired as second City Manager.
• 1929 - State Theatre opened.
• 1930
• The Gull began international Pullman train service through Portland from the Maritimes.
• Fitzpatrick Stadium built.
• 1931 - Portland-Westbrook Municipal Airport (later Portland International Jetport) opened.
• 1932 - Main Post Office building completed.
• 1933
• End of interurban service from Portland to surrounding communities.
• 1934 - Flying Yankee began streamliner service to Portland.
• 1936 - The Village Cafe opened on Newbury Street. It remained in business for 71 years.
• 1940 - East Wind began summer passenger train service to Portland for vacationers from major eastern cities.
• 1941
• Portland–Montreal Pipe Line completed.
• Portland became United States Navy destroyer base Sail during the Battle of the Atlantic.
• Victoria Mansion museum opened.
• Portland street car system dismantled.
• 1942 - Battery Steele built.
• 1944 - A-26 Invader crashed near Portland airport, Maine's worst aircraft accident.
• 1946 - Baxter Woods municipal forest established.
• 1947 - Maine Turnpike connected Portland to what became the Interstate Highway System.
• 1950 - Population: 77,634.
• 1953 - WCSH begins broadcasting.
• 1954
• WMTW begins broadcasting.
• Original Veterans Memorial Bridge built.
• 1960 - Tukey's Bridge built.
• 1961
• Demolition of Union Station ended daily passenger train service to Portland.
• Greyhound bus station built on St. John Street.
• 1963 - Falmouth Hotel demolished.
• 1964 - Greater Portland Landmarks preservation group formed.
• 1965
• Kennedy Park housing built.
• United States Hotel demolished in Monument Square.
• 1966
• Greater Portland Transit District established.
• Grand Trunk Railway Station demolished.

• 1967
• Summer weekend passenger train service to Portland ended.
• Franklin Street demolished, to be replaced by Franklin Arterial.
• 1969
• One Monument Square opened on the former site of the United States Hotel.
• Franklin Towers completed, becoming Maine's tallest residential building.
• Portland Rugby Football Club established.
• 1970 - University of Southern Maine's Portland campus established.
• 1971
• The Canal Bank Plaza is built on the site of the former Falmouth Hotel.
• Construction of Interstate 295 through Portland was completed.
• 1973
• Old Port Festival began.
• WMPG begins broadcasting.
• Salt Institute for Documentary Studies founded.
• 1974
• The Hollow Reed restaurant in the Old Port was founded.
• Profile Theatre established (later renamed Portland Stage Company).
• 1975 - Portland Pirates ice hockey team established.
• 1976 - Children's Museum of Maine founded.
• 1977
• Cumberland County Civic Center built.
• American Hockey League iteration of the Maine Mariners ice-hockey team established.
• 1978 - Portland Stage Company active.
• 1979 - East End Treatment Plant established.
• 1983 - Portland Museum of Art expanded into the Charles Shipman Payson Building.
• 1984
• Sister city relationship established with Shinagawa, Tokyo, Japan.
• Portland Ice Arena opened.
• 1985 - Portland Monthly magazine began publication.
• 1988
• Maine Island Trail Association established.
• Gritty McDuff's, considered Maine's first brewpub, opens on Fore Street.
• 1989 - East Coast Hockey League iteration of the Maine Mariners ice-hockey team established.
• 1992 - AHL Maine Mariners became defunct.
• 1993
• Portland Pirates ice hockey team formed.
• Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad Museum opened.
• Children's Museum moved to its third home, beside the Portland Museum of Art on Free Street.
• 1994
• Portland Chamber Music Festival began.
• PORTopera founded.
• Portland Sea Dogs minor-league baseball team established; Hadlock Field opened.
• Cumberland County Jail built.
• 1996
• Westbrook College merged with the University of New England, later assuming the name of the latter.
• Portland bus terminal opened at Thompson's Point.
• 1997
• Casco Bay Bridge opens.
• City website went online (approximate date).

21st century

• 2000 - First Friday Art Walk established.
• 2001
• Portland Transportation Center completed, incorporating a train station beside the bus station.
• Downeaster restored passenger train service to Portland.
• 2003 - Sister city relationship established with Mytilene, Greece.
• 2006 - Maine Roller Derby and Portland Society of Architects founded.
• 2008 - Ocean Gateway International Marine Passenger Terminal opened.
• 2009
• Port City Music Hall opened.
• Congress Street designated an historic district.
• Maine Celtics basketball team established.
• 2010
• State Theatre reopened.
• Population: 66,194 city; 514,098 metro.
• New Veterans Memorial Bridge completed.
• 2014 - The fourth and current iteration of the Martin's Point Bridge is completed.
• 2016
• Portland Pirates ice hockey team became defunct.
• First departure from International Marine Terminal.
• 2021- Children's Museum & Theatre of Maine opened at Thompson's Point.
• 2023
• Portland Hearts of Pine soccer team established.
• 201 Federal Street completed, surpassed Franklin Towers as Maine's tallest residential building.
• 2024 - Record tide level of the Fore River causes severe flooding.

See also

• History of Portland, Maine
• Neighborhoods in 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

References

Bibliography

Published in the 19th century

• William Willis. The history of Portland, from 1632 to 1864, 2nd ed. Portland: Bailey & Noyes, 1865

Published in the 20th century

External links

• Historic images related to Portland (via Maine Memory Network)
• Works related to Portland, various dates (via Digital Public Library of America).