Maine Memory Network

Home: The Longfellow House & the Emergence of Portland

The Wadsworth-Longfellow house is the oldest building on the Portland peninsula, the first historic site in Maine, a National Historic Landmark, home to three generations of Wadsworth and Longfellow family members -- including the boyhood home of the poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. The history of the house and its inhabitants provide a unique view of the growth and changes of Portland -- as well as of the immediate surroundings of the home.

Portland Hotels

Since the establishment of the area's first licensed hotel in 1681, Portland has had a dramatic, grand and boisterous hotel tradition. The Portland hotel industry has in many ways reflected the growth and development of the city itself. As Portland grew with greater numbers of people moving through the city or calling it home, the hotel business expanded to fit the increasing demand.

A City Awakes: Arts and Artisans of Early 19th Century Portland

Portland's growth from 1786 to 1860 spawned a unique social and cultural environment and fostered artistic opportunity and creative expression in a broad range of the arts, which flowered with the increasing wealth and opportunity in the city.

Hermann Kotzschmar: Portland's Musical Genius

During the second half of the 19th century, "Hermann Kotzschmar" was a familiar household name in Portland. He spent 59 years in his adopted city as a teacher, choral conductor, concert artist, and church organist.

A Snapshot of Portland, 1924: The Taxman Cometh

In 1924, with Portland was on the verge of profound changes, the Tax Assessors Office undertook a project to document every building in the city -- with photographs and detailed information that provide a unique view into Portland's architecture, neighborhoods, industries, and businesses.

Home: The Wadsworth-Longfellow House and Portland - The Wadsworth-Longfellow House and Portland

"Since then Portland has expanded, burned, and undergone dramatic changes, many of which reflect patterns of growth seen in other American cities."

Home: The Wadsworth-Longfellow House and Portland - Census, Timeline

"View Selective Time of Portland  The selected timeline of Portland with population figures also provides insight into the growth and changes in the…"

Home: The Wadsworth-Longfellow House and Portland - Researching Your Home

"335 Congress Street, Portland, 1924City of Portland - Planning & Development We invite you to explore the history of your home and neighborhood, to…"

Home: The Wadsworth-Longfellow House and Portland - The Privy

"Then individuals were licensed to remove the night soil, during the night, and dispose of it. These men became known as "night men." Privies served…"

Anshe Sfard, Portland's Early Chassidic Congregation

Chassidic Jews who came to Portland from Eastern Europe formed a congregation in the late 19th century and, in 1917, built a synagogue -- Anshe Sfard -- on Cumberland Avenue in Portland. By the early 1960s, the congregation was largely gone. The building was demolished in 1983.

Westbrook Seminary: Educating Women

Westbrook Seminary, built on Stevens Plain in 1831, was founded to educate young men and young women. Seminaries traditionally were a form of advanced secondary education. Westbrook Seminary served an important function in admitting women students, for whom education was less available in the early and mid nineteenth century.

The Irish on the Docks of Portland

Many of the dockworkers -- longshoremen -- in Portland were Irish or of Irish descent. The Irish language was spoken on the docks and Irish traditions followed, including that of giving nicknames to the workers, many of whose given names were similar.

Rum, Riot, and Reform - Politics and Enforcement

"… 1886Maine Historical Society Firemen in front of City Liquor Agency Portland, 1886 Collections of Maine Historical Society; gift of Mark Skinner…"

Rum, Riot, and Reform - Business as Usual

"… Great State of Maine Beer Book X Portland City Directory 1903 Collections of Maine Historical Society While it was illegal to sell alcohol…"

Rum, Riot, and Reform - Neal Dow

"Jordan, Jr., 1998 Portland City Hall, Market Square, ca. 1880Maine Historical Society City Hall in Market Square, Portland, ca."

Rum, Riot, and Reform - Bootleggers vs. Police

"Smaller vessels would buy up liquor and try to return to shore undetected. Confiscated liquor bottles, Portland, 1927Maine Historical…"

Rum, Riot, and Reform - Taverns, People, and Scenes

"In many of Maines small towns and cities, taverns were the center of social and political life. William McLellan Sr., Portland, ca.1800Maine…"

Rum, Riot, and Reform - 1820 to 1865: Temperance and the Maine Law

"One man was killed by Dow's forces. Portland's Rum Riot demonstrated the passionate, sometimes irrational, zeal of both factions."

Rum, Riot, and Reform - Reform and Repeal

"… We have a State Liquor Store in our Town (or City)?, 1936 Waterville Collections of Maine Historical Society, a gift from Charles E. Burden Coll."

Rum, Riot, and Reform - A Call to Temperance

"Neal Dow, Mayor of Portland and author of the Maine Liquor Law, New York, NY 1852 Collections of Maine Historical Society B D752m X The…"

Rum, Riot, and Reform - Drinking Implements

"… or United States Blown glass Collections of Portland Museum of Art, Maine; bequest of Margaret Jane Mussey Sweat Discovered in the foundation of…"

Rum, Riot, and Reform - Influential & Interesting Documents

"The log entry of August 31, 1812 records her most famous capture, the brig Dianna loaded with 212 puncheons of rum."

Rum, Riot, and Reform - Quenching the Thirst

"X Portland, Maine. Seeing Congress Square Lit Up ca. 1890s Postcard Collections of Maine Historical Society By the turn of the century, postcards…"

Port of Portland's Custom House and Collectors of Customs

The collector of Portland was the key to federal patronage in Maine, though other ports and towns had collectors. Through the 19th century, the revenue was the major source of Federal Government income. As in Colonial times, the person appointed to head the custom House in Casco Bay was almost always a leading community figure, or a well-connected political personage.