USA > Maine > Cumberland County > Portland > Portland city guide > Part 10
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35
The value of 1938-40 foreign imports and exports as registered at the U. S. Customs House fell off considerably, especially of exports. This condition, of course, was logical in view of unsettled affairs abroad which tended to disrupt shipping in the Mediterranean and the Pacific; the Eu- ropean unrest also contributed toward a decrease in the city's commercial activities with South American ports. Japan and Mediterranean ports were markets for Portland's Solka; salt was imported from Spain; and an- thracite from the Russian Black Sea ports. Scrap iron was in 1937 a large item of export, the demand in that year being abnormal.
70
Portland City Guide
General Water-borne Tonnage and Valuation, 1937
Tonnage
Valuation
Foreign Imports
352,164
$ 8,803,664
Foreign Exports
155,356
$ 5,691,895
Coastwise Shipments
379,167
$18,637,011
Coastwise Receipts
2,367,785
$39,980,908
3,254,472
$73,103,478
Foreign arrivals: 118 steamers, 90 motor and 1 sailing vessel. Net reg- istered tonnage 433,331.
Foreign departures: 119 steamers, 84 motor and 4 sailing vessels. Net registered tonnage 438,956.
HUMISTON
INDUSTRY
Fishing and cutting cordwood were Portland's first industries, and were closely followed by shipbuilding. Agriculture was given scant attention as firewood could be sold at a good price in Boston and fish exported to all ports of the world; a sloop to carry them could be built in almost any door- yard, for Casco Bay waters literally lapped the steps of the houses. Lack- ing the abundant water power of its neighboring cities, Portland has never been important industrially, but has capitalized on market accessibility and today ranks first in importance as a distribution center for the entire State.
The small group of adventurers who comprised the pioneer white inhabi- tants of 'The Neck' developed it into a thriving community during the first half-century. The first local industry seems to have been a "corne mill" at Capisic Falls in Stroudwater, which was sold in 1684 by George Ingersoll to Sylvanus Davis. Previously the settlers had their corn ground in Boston where a power mill had been established. In addition to being one of the most enterprising of the early settlers, Davis conducted the first and only store in the community. As Falmouth's tradesman he carried on his busi- ness in the vicinity of India and Fore streets until the town's destruction by the French and Indians in 1690.
Following the French and Indian annihilation of 1690, a fresh start was made when a company of new settlers came to 'The Neck.' Dams were flung across nearly every waterway; gristmills and sawmills soon began to line the streams. Crude windmills were erected for grinding grist; present Free Street, center of much of this early industrial activity, was then known as Wind-Mill Lane. With the incorporation of Falmouth as a town in 1718 the citizens became industry-conscious and decided "that every saw-
72
Portland City Guide
mill already erected and that hereafter shall be erected, shall pay six pence per M. for each thousand sawed in said mills for three years next ensuing." In 1727 an important industry came to the settlement when the mast busi- ness between New England Colonies and the Royal Navy was transferred from Portsmouth, New Hampshire, to Falmouth, Colonel Thomas West- brook acting as mast agent for the English Crown.
During the early years of the 18th century the building of small sloops increased; about 1750 Falmouth became industrially important with the establishment of its first major shipyard on a cove east of India Street. Other shipyards soon followed, and Falmouth-built ships were widely en- gaged in foreign commerce. These vessels together with their cargoes were often sold when they reached their destinations. From interior communities to Falmouth's water front streamed an endless procession of teams trans- porting masts for the British Navy and Merchant Marine. So profitable was this mast industry that it was not unusual for a giant pine to bring as much as £100.
Established about 1744, the West Indian trade had by mid-century be- come fairly profitable; shooks and pipe staves were exchanged for molasses and rum, the latter having ready sale in the town's dozen stores and four taverns. Later the rising clouds of the Revolution cast their shadow over Falmouth's industry, somewhat retarding its progress until the recovery that followed the rehabilitation of the town several years after the Mowat bom- bardment in 1775.
Lumbering made great strides after the Revolution when the hewing of ton timber (large pine logs squared with an adz) became a major occupa- tion. Several distilleries, utilizing West Indian molasses brought here by Falmouth-owned ships, were erected; locally manufactured candles and soap were in turn exported to the West Indies. Business and industrial en- terprises, formerly centralized in the neighborhood of India Street, had gradually crept farther westward along Fore and Middle streets. By 1850 the local distilleries had been supplemented by several sugar refineries, a result of the rapidly expanding molasses trade. These refineries supplied not only local but out-of-State markets.
Construction of privateer ships for evading the Embargo Act of 1807 provided an incentive to local shipbuilding. The town became a haven also for other than locally owned privateers, and to a great extent it shared in the illegitimate profits made through merchandising of bootleg cargoes. Commerce, brought almost to a standstill by the Embargo, was over-
73
Industry
shadowed by the establishment of many small industries. Previously ac- customed to import even necessities in some cases, Portland was now forced to build up local manufactories. The continued commercial stag- nation of the country was an added factor in booming land possibilities which brought to the town many new arrivals eager to invest their remain- ing funds in almost any venture except shipping.
A new undertaking was the establishment of a foundry in 1823. When transportation facilities created a demand for locomotives, marine engines, boilers, and hundreds of incidental parts, Portland competed successfully for that type of business. By 1843 steam engines and machinery for rail- road construction were being manufactured in local foundries. An out- growth of these early foundries is the plant under construction in 1939 for the manufacturing of industrial and marine hardware. Occupying three and one-half acres in the northeastern end of the city, the plant has been termed "one of the finest drop forge plants in the country."
Yankee ingenuity saw another opportunity in the natural clay deposits found in the Portland area, and a pottery was erected in 1846 to manufac- ture drain tile, fire brick, flues, lawn vases, and umbrella stands. That first pottery has grown into a modern factory, the only one in New Eng- land supplying the peculiar kind of pipes necessitated by modern sewerage systems.
Commercial canning of food products in America is said to have ori- ginated in Portland in 1842 when Nathan Winslow attempted to pack corn. Based on ideas sent to him from France by his brother, Winslow's efforts were not successful until several years later. The process was further developed in 1863 when corn as well as other vegetables were packed in tins. Today the packing industry is one of Portland's largest enterprises and includes the preservation of fish, lobsters, crabmeat, shrimp, vegeta- bles, fruit, berries, and meat. This, together with the manufacture of metal, wooden, and cardboard containers, makes up a considerable part of the city's industrial activities.
The famous Portland Glass Factory, organized in 1864, went out of ex- istence in 1873, but it is still remembered for the beauty and artistic quality of a ware which had a country-wide reputation for superior workmanship. Today Portland Glass is avidly sought by collectors. Among designs which became popular throughout America during the life of this factory were the 'Tree of Life,' 'Portland Pattern,' 'Shell and Tassel,' 'Loop and
74
Portland City Guide
Dart,' 'Grape Leaf and Buckle,' 'Frosted Band,' and most noted of all- the 'Dahilla.' Even Maine's strong prohibition law passed in 1851 had little effect on one type of local glass production, for as late as 1867 more than 100,000 ale and whiskey glasses were being produced annually. During Lincoln's presidency a set of Portland Glass dishes valued at $45,000 was made for Mrs. Lincoln.
When Portland's John B. Davis in 1850 successfully developed his father's crude attempts to prepare and market spruce gum, he laid the foun- dation of the chewing gum industry, and started the tireless wagging of stenographers' jaws throughout the world. The establishment, in 1852, of a local factory to manufacture chewing gum was the forerunner of the present gum industry. His first factory started production with a chewing confection having spruce gum as its base. Later it was discovered that paraffin could be used for this purpose, and about 1871 chicle supplanted the use of both spruce gum and paraffin. During the early years of the in- dustry the original Portland company maintained a monopoly on produc- tion, but toward the end of the 19th century it merged with another firm and later suspended operation.
Fishing was a major industry during the early settlement of "The Neck,' and as late as a half-century ago salt bankers unloaded cod to be dried on flakes and shipped to out-of-State markets; on the 'bright of the moon' or with 'falling glass' a hundred 'sail' of seiners crowded the harbor. While jiggers rumbled along Commercial Street and fishermen, in their cups, lurched against iron-screened windows, Portland wharves were busy split- ting and salting mackerel. Now, though it is not first from an occupational standpoint, fishing, with its varied processes of packing and shipping, em- ploys a considerable number of local workers. Headquarters for a sizable fishing fleet, Portland is listed by the United States Department of Com- merce as one of the three principal New England fishing ports, and, based on figures compiled by the United States Bureau of Fisheries, in 1937 the local fleet, augmented by other New England fishing craft, landed on local wharves 17,121,512 pounds of fresh fish, valued at $403,886. While ac- tivities are spread over a major portion of the water front, the busiest fish piers are Central, Custom House, Brown's, and Union wharves. Tied up at any of these, one usually will find a colorful assortment of boats-large, steel beam trawlers, green trimmed 'guinea draggers,' two-masted, auxi- liary 'dory-fishermen,' fifty-foot 'gillnetters,' and small 'Hamptons.' Today
75
Industry
aside from the canning industry, local fishermen sell their catches of ground fish, the collective name for cod, hake, haddock, cusk, pollock, and other similar varieties, to wholesalers who ship them, packed in ice, to commission merchants in Boston, New York, and Western markets.
A majority of the boats leave during the night or early morning to fish in near-by grounds, the 'gill-netters' and small boats returning the same day. The large beam trawlers, although not locally owned, operate out of Portland particularly in the spring, when their large fares of ground fish can be absorbed by local packers. As most of these boats are equipped with wireless, their movements can be checked and directed from the owners' offices, so that canning operations can be co-ordinated with the amount of the catch and the arrivals of vessels. The small beam trawlers, ranging from two-masted schooners to 30-foot motor boats, drag for various species of flounders and red fish. A number of these draggers, from Boston and Glou- cester, are operated by Italians who sell their 'trips' in Portland while fishing Maine waters. The bright green and the blue hulls of these out-of-State boats lend an almost European touch to the everyday scene.
Sardine (small herring) fishing usually starts here early in May and continues until October. The various 'mother' boats of the fleet, with their seines, dories, and motor tenders cruise among the numerous coves and bays along the coast on dark nights until fish are sighted. After they are "stopped off', the canning factory is notified and it dispatches swift 'run boats' to transport the fish, which are dipped directly from the seine to the carrier. About once a week the seiners return to port or send their tenders for supplies. Mackerel seiners, their long white seine boats in tow, are frequent callers in the harbor during the late summer, loaded with catches for local markets.
Lobstering is carried on around the numerous islands and seaside hamlets. The fishing itself is done from small motor-propelled boats; larger boats, called lobster smacks, are equipped with wells in which to transport the catches, and these operate out of the local harbor, visiting near-by fishing communities to purchase for Portland wholesalers. Many of these lobster and ground fishermen, particularly those living on Casco Bay Islands, dig clams between trips, although some depend solely on clamming for their livelihood.
A new and separate branch of Maine fishery has been slowly developing since 1936, when Dr. Johan Hijort, a Norwegian fisheries expert from Oslo
76
Portland City Guide
University, dropped a net into near-by waters and secured a mass of small pink shrimp. Two years later a local boat secured a catch of 2,000 pounds, using a special net at a depth of 40 fathoms. The Maine Department of Sea and Shore Fisheries is continuing its experiments along the Gulf of Maine, but as yet this industry is still in its infancy.
Although overshadowed for many years by commercial and industrial activity, agriculture has never quite lost its local importance. The 1935 Maine Census of Agriculture listed 82 farms, comprising 2,522 acres, in Portland proper; their land and building valuation amounted to $592,308. The principal agricultural revenue comes from hay, sweet corn, potatoes, apples, and dairy products. Truck gardens produce peas, cabbage, bunched vegetables, and beans; early cucumbers, lettuce, spinach, and tomatoes are grown in greenhouses. A farmers' market occupies reserved space on Fed- eral Street, between Market and Franklin streets, and operates on Wednes- day and Saturday forenoons, except during the severe winter months. Pro- duce can be purchased directly from the farmer. This display of vegetables, fruit, and flowers, strikes a colorful note in the downtown business section. Occasionally a squawking hen, or honking goose, escaping from its crated companions, dashing in and out of traffic, and chased by an irate owner, adds a bit of excitement to the day's trading.
Maine's tourist business, with its many allied branches, has reached a peak where it is now referred to as a recreational industry. The Maine Publicity Bureau for August, 1938, recorded 53,560 cars entering the city from the west. Because of its geographical position near the entrance to the great northern section, the eastern shore, and the lake country, Portland receives a good percentage of the State's recreational industry total of over $100,000,000. The Maine Development Commission, in a report showing the various channels into which this money actually passes, lists the fol- lowing for the State as a whole: "Groceries, 11%; all other stores, 10%; garages and filling stations, 9%; hotels and sporting camps, 16%; rooms, overnight camps, and eating places, 7%; construction work, 7%; amuse- ments and sports, 6%; boys and girls camps, 5%; utilities and transporta- tion, 4%; insurance, 3%; farm produce and fuel, 3%; direct employment, 2%; antiques and gifts, 2%; all other items, 15%."
According to the 1937 Federal Census of Manufacturers, Portland led all other Maine cities in industrial activity for that year. An analysis of recent industrial census shows that although the number of manufactories
77
Industry
in the city has decreased during the 1930's, the total value of products manufactured nearly equals the peak year of 1929:
1937 1935
1933
1929
No. of Mfg. Establishments 151 159
155
213
Value of Mfd. Products $26,793,410 $21,715,382 $16,416,309 $28,291,351
In recent years several food canning and packing companies have erected large modern plants in Portland, and these, together with manufactories producing boxed bakery products, high-grade furniture, clay and foundry items, stoves, printing and publishing, and boots and shoes constitute a great part of the city's total valuation of industrial products. Located in and near Portland are several large lumber concerns and the storage tanks of various nationally known petroleum companies. Among miscellaneous articles manufactured in the city are confectionery, ice cream, wearing ap- parel, screens, card and portable pool tables, elevators, and metal, paper, and wood containers.
FINANCE
Growing from the first financial operations of British traders who were eager to exploit the seemingly limitless resources of the rich area surround- ing the 'The Neck,' Portland has become the financial center of the State of Maine. In Portland were organized the first two commercial banks, the first savings bank, and the first trust company in Maine. Local banks were organized toward the close of the 18th century; Portland, however, was the fifth city in Maine to change from State-governed banking to the present national system. Today Portland banks have over one-fifth of Maine's banking assets, including about one-fourth the value of its national bank- ing business, nearly one-third of its savings bank business, and approxi- mately four percent of its trust company assets. Operating in Portland in 1940 are three national banks, two savings banks, one industrial bank, two trust companies, ten loan and building associations, and seven other or- ganizations issuing loans. Fifty-nine insurance agencies issue policies cov- ering accident, fire, marine, life, workmen's compensation, automobile, and other types of risk. In addition there are numerous bond and other invest- ment companies.
In 1620 England's Council of Plymouth was formed. Made up largely of British merchants who financed men and ships to the new Province of Maine, the Council hoped to reap fabulous profits on their investments. Beaver, pipe staves, fish, oil, and sassafras filled the holds of their ships leaving these shores, and the vessels returned from England with neces- sities for the settlers and articles to carry on the rich Indian trade. When Robert Trelawny and Moses Goodyeare, merchants of Plymouth, England, sent their fellow-townsman, John Winter, to this region as their agent for the Richmond Island development, the rough graph of present-day Port- land's financial status was drawn. Winter received for a salary about £40 a year and also shared to the extent of one-tenth of the profits of the Rich-
79
Finance
mond Island trade. Spanish and English coins and bartered goods were the acceptable mediums of exchange through these pioneers days of local fi- nance.
When the United States Mint opened in 1793, a little specie began to be circulated. During this period checks and drafts were rarely used by mer- chants; they preferred bank notes when they were sure of their value, for it was inconvenient to trade with kegs of silver and coins. Farmers within a radius of a hundred miles came to Portland and made direct exchange of their produce for molasses, sugar, tea, and rum. Financial adventures too large for the personal capital of the parties directly interested were backed by the subscriptions of groups of local merchants, each willing to invest a certain sum or proportion of the whole. A shipowner, wishing to insure his vessel and cargo against shipwreck or capture, could readily find an agent who would secure a guaranty from half a dozen or more merchants that each would pay a stated sum if the vessel failed to return.
During the late 1700's most of the local banking transactions were handled through Massachusetts institutions; these banks had started print- ing paper money and, as this new medium of exchange trickled into Maine, local merchants were stimulated to plan banking accommodations nearer home. Petition was accordingly made to the General Court of Massa- chusetts, which had jurisdiction over the District of Maine, for the in- corporation of the Portland Bank, the first local financial institution. With a charter granted June 15, 1799, the Portland Bank opened its doors with a capital of $100,000, which the stockholders were privileged to increase later to $300,000. Although this initial commercial bank made liberal loans, the town's expanding commerce further increased the demand for currency, and in 1802 the Maine Bank was incorporated.
The dawn of the 19th century heralded a quarter-century of speculative fever. Through these years fortunes were made and lost almost overnight; glib-tongued schemers with fanciful plans for accumulating great wealth from a few invested dollars awaited every gullible investor. Often told in Portland is the 'gold brick' story of a group of venerable merchants who in 1803-4, invested in a scheme by which dew from Freeport was to be mi- raculously turned into silver, a king's ransom to be had from the mystical drops with which the world is bedecked at twilight. Into the town's count- ing houses one sunny morning glided a smooth-spoken Frenchman, immacu- lately dressed in top hat and tail coat; when he told of his great discovery of changing dew into virgin silver his sincerity and bland manner soon
80
Portland City Guide
quieted the skepticism of his listeners. A small group of Portland's early merchants literally cupped their hands to their ears the better to learn of the Frenchman's plan, and after some discussion, they unanimously agreed to form a 'dew-silver company' and make their fortunes from the several thousand dollars which the Frenchman had requested as an investment in his scheme. Later after the investors had been advised that dew collected in Freeport was adaptable to the needs of the project, the merchants collected with much labor several quarts of the magic liquid. Poured into a huge cauldron, it was brought to the boiling point, but to their dismay the Frenchman, after inspecting the boiling contents, informed them that the experiment was a dismal failure. Upon learning, however, that the dew had not been collected at exactly midnight, the Frenchman sent the mer- chant-investors scurrying back to Freeport for more. In the dark hours preceding dawn the weary group reassembled about the boiling cauldron, and to their astonishment, saw glimmering in the boiling depths shining pellets, later found to be silver. Subsequent boilings produced additional silver, and the investors, under the suave talk of the Frenchman, contributed additional money toward the cause, and envisioned for themselves a princely life in a personal world of silver. One morning, however, when the 'silver man' could not be found in Portland, the investors in the scheme carefully examined their pellets, and to their dismay found on several of them frag- ments of engraved Spanish words, similar to phrases that appeared on Spanish silver coins common to the period.
A more practical money-making plan was that of Portland's John Taber & Son. Their business firm enjoyed high credit, and in connection with it, the Tabers carried on a sort of banking business, which William Goold, local historian, records was operated "to the extent, certainly, of issuing bills whenever Daniel, the son, got hard up." Portland merchants of the period honored Taber notes quite as much as if they had been issued by the Port- land or Maine Bank. With the crash that followed the enactment of the Embargo, the Taber concern failed; old John Taber was obliged to say to a debtor who paid him with his own notes: "Why, that money ain't good for anything." To this the debtor replied: "I understand so, and thee should have made it better." Soon, however, issuance of personal notes by firms comparable to the Tabers, was corrected by legislative acts.
The Portland Bank suffered severely during the Embargo days, and it finally suspended operations in 1815, closing its doors with a loss of 25 percent of its capital stock. The second bank, the Maine, survived the
81
Finance
crisis, but its charter expired in 1812, and many of its stockholders joined in organizing the Cumberland Bank that same year. During this period of stagnation of American commerce and industry Portland, on its jutting peninsula surrounded by Casco Bay waters, feared British invasion from the sea; all the gold and silver in the town was carted in a six-ox team to Stan- dish, where it remained for two years. The Marrett House, where the treasure was hidden, remains practically unchanged from the days when its huge lock guarded the capital of Portland. Honesty, in those days, seems to have been taken for granted, because it is recorded that it was not un- usual to see stout wagons loaded with kegs of silver coins, guarded only by large dogs, parked in an inn yard at night. This was the sort of 'armored car' the Boston banks sent to this region to collect specie in return for the notes issued by the Banks of the District of Maine.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.