Local city information for Portland, ME

Portland is the largest city in the U.S. state of Maine and the county seat of Cumberland County. The city population was 64,249 at the 2000 Census. Portland is Maine's cultural, social and economic capital. It is also the principal city of the Portland–South Portland–Biddeford, Maine Metropolitan Statistical Area, which includes Cumberland, York, and Sagadahoc counties. Tourists are drawn to Portland's historic Old Port district along Portland Harbor, which is at the mouth of the Fore River and part of Casco Bay, and the Arts District, which runs along Congress Street in the center of the city. Portland Head Light in nearby Cape Elizabeth is also a popular tourist draw.

The city seal depicts a phoenix rising out of ashes, which aligns with its motto, Resurgam, Latin for "I will rise again", in reference to Portland's recoveries from four devastating fires. The city of Portland, Oregon, was named for Portland, Maine.

The Portland Public School District is the largest school system in Maine.


Native Americans called it Machigonne. The first European settler was Capt. Christopher Levett, an English naval captain granted by King Charles I of England in 1623 to found a settlement in Casco Bay. A member of the Council for New England and agent for Ferdinando Gorges, Levett built a stone house where he left a company of men, then returned to England and wrote a book about his voyage to drum up support for the settlement. The settlement failed, and the fate of Levett's colonists is unknown. The explorer sailed from England to the Massachusetts Bay Colony to meet John Winthrop in 1630, but never returned to Maine. Fort Levett in the harbor is named for him.

The peninsula was first permanently settled in 1633 as a fishing and trading village named Casco. When the Massachusetts took over Casco Bay in 1658, the town's name changed again to Falmouth. In 1676, the village was destroyed by the Wampanoags during King Philip's War. It was rebuilt, then destroyed again in 1690. On October 18, 1775, Falmouth was bombarded in the Revolution by the Royal Navy under command of Captain Henry Mowat.

Following the war, a section of Falmouth called The Neck developed as a commercial port and began to grow rapidly as a shipping center. In 1786, the citizens of Falmouth formed a separate town in Falmouth Neck and named it Portland. Portland's economy was greatly stressed by the Embargo Act of 1807 (prohibition of trade with the British), which ended in 1809, and the War of 1812, which ended in 1815.

In 1820, Maine became a state with Portland its capital. In 1832 the capital was moved to Augusta. In 1851, Maine led the nation by passing the first state law to prohibit the sale of alcohol except for "medicinal, mechanical or manufacturing purposes." The law subsequently became known as the Maine law as 18 states quickly followed Maine. On June 2, 1855, the Portland Rum Riot occurred.

Portland became the primary ice-free winter seaport for Canadian exports upon completion of the Grand Trunk Railway to Montreal in 1853. The Portland Company manufactured more than 600 19th century steam locomotives. Portland became a 20th century rail hub as five additional rail lines merged into Portland Terminal Company in 1911. Canadian export traffic was diverted from Portland to Halifax, Nova Scotia following nationalization of the Grand Trunk system in 1923; and 20th century icebreakers later enabled ships to reach Montreal in winter.

The Great Fire of July 4, 1866, ignited during the Independence Day celebration, destroyed most of the commercial buildings in the city, half the churches and hundreds of homes. More than 10,000 people were left homeless.

The erection of the Maine Mall, an indoor shopping center established in the suburb of South Portland during the 1970s, had an economically depressive effect on Portland's downtown. But that trend would reverse, as tourists and new businesses throng the vibrant old seaport. In the 1990s and 2000s, rapid development occurred and continues to occur in the historically industrial Bayside neighborhood, as well as the emerging harborside Ocean Gateway neighborhood at the base of Munjoy Hill.. The Maine College of Art has been a revitalizing force downtown, attracting students from around the country, and restoring as its main facility the historic Porteous building on Congress Street.

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