USA > Maine > Cumberland County > Portland > Portland by the sea; an historical treatise > Part 11
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MAINE A STATE-PORTLAND ITS CAPITAL 183
national instead of local. The constant danger of invasion also had contributed its part in keeping all alert and active.
Soon after the conclusion of peace in 1815 the subject of separate statehood was again revived. The population of Maine had become nearly two hundred and fifty thousand. Six new counties had been organized and also an increasingly large number of new towns. The interruption of water routes had led to the construction of highways and to communication by land.
In 1816 memorials were presented to the Gen- eral Court from about one hundred towns, some by official vote and others by individual petitions, urging the necessity of a separate government for Maine. The proposition asked for was treated with considerate fairness, and it was ordered that a referendum be had in all the towns and planta- tions upon the question whether the Legislature be requested to give its consent for separation of the District of Maine from Massachusetts. The vote was taken and the ballots showed a substantial majority in favor of division, but it also appeared that less than half of the voters had had sufficient interest to express an opinion. Nevertheless a bill was drawn prescribing terms of separation and this was referred to the people, with proviso that it should become a law if ratified by a five to four majority. It was approved by a bare plurality but was not allowed, not being in compliance with the terms of the submission. Two years later, many petitions having been presented, a bill was passed June 19, 1819, by
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both houses stating proposed terms of separation and this act was on the fourth Monday of July submitted to the voters of Maine. It was ac- cepted by a majority of about two and a half to one, and on August 24th the Governor issued his proclamation announcing the affirmatory re- sult.
The reasons for this large majority were not wholly sentimental or unselfish. It was a time of hot partisan feeling. Massachusetts proper was politically Federalist, while Maine was Dem- ocratic-Republican. The proposition was quite generally made a party measure, most of the Democrats, as they were then called, being favorable and the Federalists opposed. The Mas- sachusetts objection was also weakened by the fear that Maine, which was increasing fast in population, might soon be able to throw so many votes that, combined with those of their party friends in the old commonwealth, the Federalists would be outnumbered.
Another element which has been almost wholly forgotten had an important influence in the con- test. This was the question of the compulsory support of churches. From the earliest times in all the colonies the churches as well as the common schools were maintained, as a matter of course, out of the funds raised for public purposes by taxation. This had been done with little open objection. Massachusetts, like all the other states except Rhode Island, bad after the Revolution incorporated in its constitution a drastic provision for this purpose and had refused to make any
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MAINE A STATE-PORTLAND ITS CAPITAL 185
change. The Orthodox or Standing Order denom- ination, being largest in point of numbers, was the principal beneficiary. The Baptists had long voiced their indignant protest. The Orthodox people, who were mostly Federalist politically, insisted with all conscientious earnestness that to change the ancient provision would result in nothing less than the overthrow of religion and morality and the adoption of the infidelity of France. The dissenting societies and the unde- nominational people took sides quite generally with the Baptists. It was said that the Democrats in making their political canvass assumed that every Baptist, Methodist, Universalist, "Come Outer" and Liberal belonged as a matter of course to their party. The question assumed all the proverbial bitterness of religious quarrels, even to the breaking of personal friendships and family ties, and this as well as partisan feeling had no small effect upon the result.
The convention called to draft a constitution for the new state assembled, quite as a matter of course, in Portland on October 11, 1819, the court house there being the place of meeting. The instrument drafted by this gathering of able men was and still is a model of brevity, simplicity and completeness and was, with a few amendments, the same now in force. Its provisions relating to religious freedom are said to have been drawn by William King, after consultation with Thomas Jefferson. The doings of the constitutional con- vention are a matter of record. There was some controversy in regard to the state name but that
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of "The State of Maine" was after discussion decided upon. Portland was selected without opposition as the capital and place for meeting of the Legislature. The constitution was then sub- scribed by the president and secretary and most of the delegates and, having been ratified by the people with a few scattering votes of dissent, was declared on the first Wednesday of January, 1820 to be duly adopted. . Massachusetts and Maine having concurred and having mutually agreed upon terms of separation the request was forthwith made to Congress, then in session, for the admis- sion of Maine as a sovereign state. Instead of being admitted at once, according to the ordinary course, the application of Maine became com- plicated with that of Missouri and the extension of slavery then pending, but the objections were adjusted and the two states together became mem- bers of the Union, the act taking effect March 15, 1820. The admission, therefore, became a part of the famous Missouri Compromise. Maine had then nine counties, 236 corporate towns, and a population of 298,335. Portland upon its part numbered 8,581 inhabitants. The first State Leg- islature met in the Court House May 31, 1820.
The growth of Maine at this time was and continued to be rapid. The census of 1830 showed an increase of more than one hundred thousand. The Eastern part, with its timber lands and ship building was especially prominent in the general development. As there were no railroads and few public conveyances, it was thought best after a few years to select some
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place nearer the geographical center of the state for the legislative sessions and the keeping of public records. Accordingly, other locations were considered, and after canvassing the advantages of half a dozen other towns, Augusta, by reason of its interior location and convenience of access by the water connections of the Kennebec River as well as by land, was selected and in 1827 Governor Lincoln signed the legislative act, which provided both for the removal to the new location and for the construction of a state house there. The new building was three years in process of erection, and January 4, 1832 in it was held for the first time a session of the legislature, and Augusta became the permanent capital. Portland, although naturally regretting the change, made no protest and loyally acquiesced in the result. It still re- tained its priority as a port and as the principal business emporium of the state and kept upon its prosperous course with undiminished vigor.
XXI
PORTLAND EXPANDS AND BECOMES A CITY.
T HE development of a commercial town like Portland cannot be measured by its own internal growth alone. It had long been and continued to be peculiarly affected by extrinsic events both domestic and foreign. About the year 1820 may conveniently be regarded as the time when internal improvements within the United States, stimulated by the War of 1812, were definitely set in motion upon independent lines. In the East, factories which had been commenced upon a small scale were expanding and growing. The foreign competition that threatened the existence of our infant industries had been met by the passage of the first protective tariff act in 1816. Henry Clay, the special champion of what was called the American System of encourag- ing home development by national laws, had an enthusiastic following.
Willis gives a partial enumeration of business concerns in Portland in 1830, showing the progress of the town in a material way during the preceding ten years. There were then 1076 dwelling houses, exclusive of barns and out-houses, 280 stores for the sale of merchandise, 305 offices and shops for other purposes, 119 warehouses, S manufactories of tin plate, 3 of brass and iron, 3 furnaces for casting iron, 6 tanneries, 5 rope walks. Besides these
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there were establishments for making clocks and watches, carriage and coach builders and a wide variety of others, not particularly mentioned. This was exclusive of ships, shipyards and wharves.
The Western expansion of the country was then attracting universal attention. The new con- ditions suggested internal improvements and espec- ially better means of communication. The so- called Ohio fever in 1816 had slowed up because of the inadequacy of transport by "prairie schooners," as the covered wagons were called, and the absence of highways for travel. The Erie Canal, connecting the navigable Hudson River at Albany with Lake Erie at Buffalo, thus giving connection to all the western country bordering upon the great lakes with the East and the sea, was completed in 1825 and had not only in itself an effect almost revolutionary but also suggested everywhere the need of constructing highways and canals and opening river routes for interior communication. Portland, being in its conformation almost an island, had by its system of bridges already made good connections with the main land. Vaughan's Bridge and the Scarboro turnpike had shortened considerably the long route to Portsmouth and Boston. Roads to eastern Maine and to Vermont had been laid out for teams, and now came on the period of stage coaches and highway development. Old road- ways were straightened and widened and put into better condition for travel. Freighting and pas- senger services in the earlier times had been almost wholly by water but wheel vehicles and coaches
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soon came into operation, and with the ox teams for heavy articles, demanded better means of passage. The records of the old Court of Common Sessions show the widely applied response to the demand, which was likewise spurred along by frequent indictments of towns by the courts. A general impulse for good roads was awakened.
Mails had been carried first by post riders and then by wagons since 1775. In 1793 the first attempt was made to carry occasional passengers eastward. During the War of 1812 a somewhat irregular stage line to Boston was, while commu- nication was interrupted by British cruisers, kept up but was discontinued for want of patronage. In 1818 the first accommodation stage for passengers commenced running three times a week. The number of coaches increased with the demand, and Portland became a recognized center for stage coach travel. In 1832 there were twelve stages employed on different routes from this town, of which five arrived and departed every day, and the others three times a week. Seven of these carried mails and the rest took passengers only, while express teams transported freight. The common points of departure and arrival were the Elm Tavern which stood at the corner of Federal and Temple streets, now occupied by the Kendall & Whitney store, and the old American House, where the Clapp block now stands on Congress Street. The accommodation stages were two days on the passage to Boston, stopping over night at Portsmouth. They generally had four horses and in the time of bad roads, six. The driver with
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his horn and cracking whip would stimulate the plodding horses to a gallop as they dashed in great style into front yards of the frequent taverns along the route. People then, like those of the present time, liked to travel fast, and lines of express coaches were established that with their reckless speed became fashionable. The Boston trip could then be made in one day. By leaving Portland at two o'clock in the morning the well- shaken passenger could, if the roads were in good condition, reach Boston with aching bones and wearied body at ten o'clock in the evening.
Heavy freighting to Portland, when railways had not even been thought of, had to be done for the most part upon the snow in winter. Then the rear country sent in their lumber and produce and northern New Hampshire, Vermont, the Coos men, so-called, farther away, transported through the White Mountain Notch their articles of com- merce which they exchanged for groceries, goods and various merchandise.
As early as 1791 an attempt was made to construct a canal from Sebago Lake to Saccarappa, but it proved too much of an undertaking and the project was abandoned. In 1795 renewed effort was made but without success. When new life had been infused into all the channels of industry and trade, in 1821, a charter was procured to construct a canal from Waterford in Oxford County to the Fore River at Stroudwater to be called the Cumberland and Oxford Canal. A lottery was authorized in 1823 by which fifty thousand dollars was raised, and the present
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Canal Bank was incorporated, conditioned to take seventy-five thousand dollars in the Canal Com- pany stock. The work was completed and the canal, passing through Westbrook, Windham, Gor- ham, and Standish was put into successful opera- tion in 1830. During the boating season this waterway did an extensive business, chiefly in lumber and wood products and carrying supplies of goods sent from Portland in return.
At that time Maine was increasing rapidly in population and Portland was keeping pace in that respect with the rest of the state. Among other prominent buildings erected was an enlargement of the Court House that was built in 1816. This was moved and located at the upper part of present Exchange Street at about where the Union Mutual Building now stands, and that portion of the thoroughfare received the name of Court Street. With lateral additions attached and with porticoes and cupola it made a handsome appearance. A two-story structure with hip-roof was erected by public subscription on an adjoining lot. In the latter building were apartments for the Governor and State officers while the Senate held its sessions in the chamber of the upper story. This was ornamented by pediment and pilasters and was called the State House. The court room of the Court House was occupied as the Representative Hall. In 1825 a spacious new City Hall was erected upon the lot now occupied by the Soldiers Monument. This was needed for the accommoda- tion of the town meetings as well as for other public purposes. It was both a hall and a public
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market, for on the lower floor were shops which produced a substantial rental revenue.
Portland had been, from the time of its first organization, in its municipal capacity a New England town in which the whole body of citizens met and by majority vote determined all general business matters and directed their selectmen and officers in regard to the execution of their duties. The meetings of the inhabitants were held first in the meeting-house, afterwards in the court house, and later, until 1826, in a school-house on Congress Street, in which the lower room had been fitted up for that purpose. The population increased so much after 1820 that the accommo- dations were crowded and inconvenient. There were about two thousand legal voters and, although the new town hall would hold that number, the meetings were too large for the orderly dispatch of business. In July, 1828, a petition was ad- dressed to the selectmen "to see if the inhabitants would take measures for adopting a city govern- ment for said town." A meeting was held the next month and a committee of fifteen chosen to consider the matter. This committee made report in November following unfavorable to a change in the form of the town government, but recom- mending that the powers of the selectmen be enlarged so that they might appoint police officers and constables and attend to the laying out and care of streets and highways. The report was accepted and an act of the State Legislature was passed in conformity with its recommenda- tions, conditioned upon acceptance by vote of .
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the town. When this was submitted to the people it was rejected by a large majority. The next year a form of city charter was prepared and presented for popular vote. To this proposition the citizens also refused to give their approval, the conservative element fearing that a change would result in extravagance, and asserting that the old order was good enough. The matter then rested for a couple of years, while the complications in town business increased. In 1831, a large com- mittee was chosen who prepared with great care a form of city charter. This was approved by a majority at a town meeting and upon petition it received passage through the legislature. This charter was accepted by the town, though not without opposition, and April 30, 1832 a city government was regularly organized under its provisions. The city was divided into seven wards with a board of seven aldermen and a common council of twenty-one. Andrew L. Emerson, chairman of the selectmen, was chosen the first mayor. This is the charter which, with many amendments and additions, was in effect until the adoption of a commission form of government September 11, 1923.
There had been a period of remarkable growth throughout the country which continued without diminution. The popular enumeration of Maine was close to the half million point. She had ten . members in the twenty-fifth Congress. Portland, at the date of the charter, had a population of rising fourteen thousand and was fast increasing. This was also a time of fierce political differences
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which affected the financial affairs of the nation. President Jackson's warfare against the United States Bank had succeeded in preventing a re- newal of its charter, which was to expire in 1836, and in having the governmental deposits distrib- uted among private state banks. There was a branch of the United States Bank established here in 1828. The state banks multiplied and were all banks of paper currency issue. The rapid opening of government lands in the West after 1820 led to a vast amount of wild speculation. After 1830 the proposed railroad promotions, the distribution of the public deposits and the general issue of state bank bills intensified speculation into a craze. In 1837 there came a tremendous commercial crash, the worst this country has ever known. Banks everywhere suspended specie pay- ments and business generally for a time came to a standstill. Portland suffered with the rest, but the depression here was temporary. Losses were large but the test showed the general condition to be sound.
This flood tide of prosperity made exhibit of the loyalty and public spirit of the citizens in various ways and there was carried into effect one particular promotion which has been and still is of benefit difficult to measure. This was the opening of the promenades at the Eastern and Western ends of the city. In 1835, during the inflation period, a body of enterprising and success- ful individuals, whose names were not made prom- inent, proposed to the city the construction of spacious and ornamental highways around the
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hills at the extremities of the town. The prop- osition was received with general approbation and the next year, 1836, under the mayoralty adminis- tration of Levi Cutter, the avenues were laid out. The one on Munjoy Hill began at the eastern end of Fore Street and extended along the shoreward side of the hill 6,064 feet to Washington Street, with a varying width of five to nine rods. This received the name of Eastern Promenade. It presents an ocean view that is unsurpassed. The other along the brow of Bramhall Hill is a broad open avenue from Arsenal Street to Danforth Street and is 3,700 feet in length. This Western Prom- enade with its outlook presents a vista of country, landscape, hills and mountains that is acknowl- edged to be one of the finest found anywhere. A marginal way along the inner shore of Back Bay connecting the two was also laid out but this re- quired a considerable amount of filling and was never completed. That side of the bay having become commercialized and the City of Deering having grown into a residential section, a boule- vard as a substitute for the old connection has been laid out and built by the city over Rich- ardson Field and along the opposite shore and, while not fully completed, it is perhaps the most beautiful and attractive drive within the city lim- its. The whole is a monumental tribute to the foresight and patriotic energy of Mayor Cutter and his loyal coadjutors.
XXII
STEAM POWER, RAILROADS AND NEW ACTIVITIES.
I N the thirties the thoughts of men were taking a wider range than had been known before. It was due to no set program but was the product of natural mental and physical growth. The wars of Napoleon shattered for good and all the old autocratic foundations. The Congress of Vienna attempted to put the liberated eaglet of popular rights back into its cage and for a very brief time the proposition was successful, but the reign of the common people had begun and the good old times of absolutism could not be made to return to their former limits. People were not content to dwell by themselves in quiet neighborhoods, but sought acquaintance with the rest of the world. They were ready to adopt new ideas and were eager to make practical use of discoveries and inventions relating to living conditions.
It was by no accident that the early settle- ments were extended but a short distance back from the sea-coast and the navigable water routes. Pioneers who went to the resourceful interior lands and forests found themselves and their products excluded from markets by the difficulties of rough trails and undeveloped roads. Portland in 1842 · was the principal center for the stage coaches and
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express teams which had extended their routes to nearly all places within and without the state. Horse power and water power were considered about the only assistants to the efforts of men themselves. All at once, as it seemed, people awoke to the greater possibilities to be found in the use of steam. With surprising quickness rail- roads began to be constructed and steamboats put upon the rivers and waterways and the steam engine harnessed to power projects. James Watt had demonstrated as early as 1774 the forceful character of condensed steam, but his investiga- tions did not go far enough to be much more than a suggestion of practical use. Fulton's steamboat began its trips upon the Hudson in 1807, but it seemed hardly more than a novel and clumsy contrivance. In 1822 one Seward Porter ran about Casco Bay with a flat-bottomed scow propelled by steam which he exhibited as a curiosity. When it was discovered that an engine operated by steam could be made to draw heavy cars for the conveyance of passengers and freight. upon iron rails with speed before unknown and that coal could be used for fuel, the great fact came as a revelation, and at once the inventions were put into practical use. In 1830 there were but twenty-three miles of experimental railroads in the country. In 1837 there were more than fourteen hundred miles and four years later the number of miles in actual operation exceeded three thousand. By the use of steam power the world found many ways for the increase of wealth and the development of civilization. Enterprise took
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on enlargement and corporations were multiplied. This was the case in the older East but the vigorous West also branched out into new business prop- ositions, not only in rural districts and farming populations but in rapid growing towns and cities. Fertile government lands were given away to actual settlers, and emigrants flocked from the East to the West and foreign immigration assumed large proportions. The very manners of the people were changed to haste and energy. The great panic of 1837 was soon forgotten. Thinking men caught the vision of a greater future than had before been conceived of. Portland, always progressive, became ambitious to take its part in the widening fields of enterprise. It was not a place of financial abundance but railway promo- tions were promptly set on foot.
Massachusetts was among the earliest to make application of the new invention. There a rail- way to Lowell was chartered in 1830 and the next year roads were incorporated to Providence and Worcester. It was five years before these were completed so as to be put into operation. The actual results so much exceeded the public expec- tation that great impetus was given to this mode of conveyance. In 1833 the Boston and Maine was incorporated, but for nine years it operated only to Wilmington, fifteen miles beyond the terminus of the Lowell road whose tracks it used. In the meantime the first railroad leading from Portland, the Portland, Saco and Portsmouth, received a charter in 1837 and its building was hastened so that it was, in 1842, put into operation
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