USA > Maine > Cumberland County > Portland > Portland city guide > Part 27
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69. Site of Parson Smith's House, 267-267B-269 Congress St. On October 9, 1726, a young divinity graduate of Harvard who had come to The Neck' briefly recorded in his diary that there was a "town meeting today. They voted to build me a house." Thus did Parson Thomas Smith (see Religion) briefly record that he had become the first permanent minister of old Falmouth. Smith's diary, covering nearly seventy years, has provided historians a valuable source of sidelights on the town in the days when it was emerging from a pioneer settlement to the most prosperous maritime port east of Boston.
70. The Church of the Messiah (Second Universalist), 260 Congress St., an ivy-covered brick structure with belfry surmounted by a tall steeple, was erected in 1870 as the India Street Universalist Church. The present Church of the Messiah Society was organized in 1881.
71. Site of Alice Greele's Tavern, SE cor. Congress and Hampshire Sts. Of this early inn William Willis, Portland's historian, wrote: "It was common for clubs and social parties to meet at the taverns in those days and Mrs. Greele's ... was a place of fashionable resort for old and young wags, be- fore as well as after the Revolution. It was the Eastcheap of Portland and was as famous for baked beans as the 'Boars' Head' was for sack, although we would by no means compare honest Dame Greele with the more cele- brated though less deserving hostess of Falstaff and Poins." The Greele Tavern survived the Mowat bombardment and in 1846 was moved to In- graham's Court, off Washington Street; 20 years later it burned in the 'Great Fire.'
72. Lincoln Park, Congress, Pearl, Federal, and Franklin Sts., was the first plot of land set off after the 1866 conflagration, during which this and ad- jacent sections of the city were completely razed (see History). The city purchased the park site "to provide a protection against the spread of fire and to promote the public health," and designated it Phoenix Square, so called, undoubtedly, because like the ancient fabled bird, it arose from the ashes of the disastrous fire. Shortly after it was formally opened the name was changed to Lincoln Park, and in February, 1909, on the 100th anniver- sary of Abraham Lincoln's birthday, the park was officially dedicated in his honor. Near the Franklin Street entrance is the Lincoln Elm, planted by the local G.A.R. organizations in tribute to the memory of the Great Emanci- pator. Near the Congress Street entrance is an old millstone, a relic of one of the earliest local windmills which in 1745 stood near by. The fountain, in the center of the park, is a rendezvous in summer for children of the
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city who arrive in throngs to splash and wade in the cool water of the basin. Along the Federal Street boundary of Lincoln Park is an area devoted to the Portland Public Market, where farmers from the surrounding rural areas spread their produce for sale.
73. The Cumberland County Court House, 142 Federal St., was erected in 1910 from designs by George Burnham, Portland architect. This four- story granite building houses all the county offices. On the third floor is the Nathan and Henry B. Cleaves Law Library, owned by the Cumberland County Bar Association; a valuable part of the collection is the Simeon Greenleaf Law Library. When Cumberland County was set off in 1760, court was held at the old meetinghouse on India Street in which town business also was conducted. Construction of a large courthouse was begun by the county in 1774 but it was destroyed in the Mowat bombardment the following year, and during the Revolutionary War court was held at Greele's Tavern on Congress Street. In 1787 Samuel Freeman was paid £9 "for his great chamber for the use of the Courts." Two years before a lot on Back Street was sold to the county, at which time they erected a small wooden building, but it was not until 1788 that a courtroom was fitted up for use on the second floor of this building; from that time until the present court- house was built town, county, and city offices were housed here. Five years before the burning of the City Hall in 1908 it was apparent that more ade- quate accommodations would be needed by the county. The fire precipi- tated matters, and the present courthouse was built two years later.
74. The Portland Police Station, 134 Federal St., a three-story yellow- brick design by George Burnham and E. Leander Higgins, local architects, was erected in 1912. In addition to the Bertillon fingerprint room, there are offices and quarters for the personnel, signal room, detention rooms, cells, shooting gallery, and a first aid room. The present Police Department consists of a chief, 13 officers, 89 regulars, and 16 provisionals.
In April, 1797, the young town of Falmouth became conscious of the need of some police protection and appointed William Joseph Symmes as "In- spector," the first actual policeman. Symmes served without pay until De- cember, 1798, when the town fathers voted him a salary of $100 a year and also decided to appoint eight watchmen to assist him in his duties, which mainly consisted of patroling the streets of the town to alarm the inhabi- tants in case of fire or "any other calamity." Not until 1860 were the policemen required to wear uniforms, and a local writer of police history states that "police efficiency improved from this time forward. There was a certain air of respect inspired by the sight of the pantaloons, the gold star
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and rosette, the dark blue frock coat and the glaze covered hat." In 1877 a pension system for patrolmen was established. The first police matron, Mrs. Mary J. Raymond, became a member of the department in 1884, hav- ing been appointed on the recommendation of the local Women's Christian Temperance Union. A police signal system was installed in 1887 with 20 call boxes placed in different parts of the city; a horse-drawn patrol wagon was added to the force at that time. By March, 1911, the horse-drawn "Black Maria" was replaced by the first motor-driven patrol, and in July, 1912, the first police boat was placed in operation in Portland Harbor; the present boat was acquired in 1937. The local department was the first in Maine to be equipped with police radios (see Radio) used in connection with their eight cruising patrol cars.
75. The Italian Methodist Episcopal Church, 130 Federal St., is a wooden structure, formerly the home of the Deaconess' organization of the Meth- odist Church. In 1904 the building was converted into the Methodist Social House for the use of the Italians, with living quarters on the second floor for the pastor. In 1931 the building was remodeled to include a church and parsonage.
76. Site of Fanny Fern and N. P. Willis Birthplace, 72 Franklin St. A two and one-half story house now occupies the site where Sarah Payson Willis (1811-72) and her brother Nathaniel Parker Willis (1806-67) were born. Sarah, better known as Fanny Fern, was a novelist and essayist and a pleader of special causes, particularly women's rights. Nathaniel, journal- ist, poet, editor, and dramatist, attained fame by writing of his travels in foreign lands (see Literature and Newspapers) .
77. St. Peter's Italian Catholic Church, 82 Federal St., completed and dedicated in August, 1930, was designed in the Renaissance style by the architect Michael Mastrangola. In an areaway east of the church is a shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes, modeled after the original at Lourdes, France, and dedicated August 14, 1937.
78. The Edward Mason Dispensary or Portland City Dispensary, 65 India St., a two-story brick building was built in 1914 by Hugh Chisholm, Jr., and given by him to Bowdoin Medical School as an out-patient ward for stu- dents. In 1923 the Medical School was discontinued, and the college gave the dispensary to the city with the stipulation that free clinics be conducted there under a board of managers, three to be chosen by the college, and three by the city; the City Health Officer is ex officio executive secretary. Dr. Edward Mason (1816-90), whose name the building commemorates,
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was a widely known Portland apothecary, conducting his business on Middle Street for 50 years. He was the maternal grandfather of the donor. Each of the 16 rooms of the Dispensary is equipped for clinical services, which is given free of charge by local physicians, or at a nominal cost.
79. Site of Meetinghouse of First Parish, corner of Middle and India Sts., now a gas station. The old meetinghouse was built on the northwest cor- ner of Middle and India (then King) streets in 1721-25, and here the Rev- erend Thomas Smith, first settled minister on 'The Neck,' was ordained in 1727 and preached until a new frame First Parish Meetinghouse was built in 1740 on the site of the present stone First Parish Unitarian Church at the head of Temple Street. The old building at Middle and India streets was used for town and parish meetings, occasionally for preaching, and for a courthouse until 1774, when it was removed to Hampshire Street and de- molished in the bombardment of 1775.
80. Site of Old Assembly Room, 33 India St. Here, in a wooden building erected in 1793 by Dr. Nathaniel Coffin, II, as his dwelling, was housed Portland's first theater. Originally there was a shop on the lower floor and an "Assembly Room," as it was called, on the upper. This second-floor room, later known as the New Theatre, had a floor space of 27 by 35 feet with a fireplace at each end, and accommodated about seventy-five people. In this, the first public hall on 'The Neck,' a group of Boston actors pre- sented the first local theatrical performance on October 7, 1794, featuring The Lyar, The Learned Pig, and The Merry Mourners - a comedy, a song, and a farce. Three years later Elizabeth Arnold, later the mother of Edgar Allen Poe, made her local debut and won the admiration of her Portland audience (see Theater). The old building survived the fire of 1866, but was razed in 1930.
81. The Grand Trunk Station, 15 India St., on the eastern end of the water front, a stone building with a tower, erected in 1903, supersedes an earlier structure of 1855. In 1853 the Grand Trunk Railway leased for 999 years the Atlantic and St. Lawrence Railroad which connected Portland with Montreal, and ran it until 1920 when the Grand Trunk Railway System was taken over by the Canadian Government; it is now a part of the Canadian National Railways. An engaging story connected with the selection of this city as the terminus of the proposed Atlantic and St. Lawrence R. R. re- lates that in 1845 there was a sharp dispute as to whether Portland or Bos- ton should be awarded the honor, and an unusual method was employed to settle the question. A Liverpool boat was to steam across the Atlantic bear- ing two bags of mail for Montreal, one to be left at Portland and the other
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at Boston; an overland vehicle would then set out from each city for Mon- treal, the first to arrive winning the prized position of New England termi- nus of the railroad. A tug was sent out from this city which intercepted the Liverpool steamer, and in February, 1845, the mail for Montreal left Port- land in a sleigh drawn by relays of horses. Northward it skimmed over the snow into the teeth of a severe Maine winter. The driver, Grovesnor Waterhouse, was provided with a handsome sleigh and swift horses when three miles from Montreal and he made an impressive entrance to the Canadian city. With an American flag "streaming from the whipsocket of his dashing sleigh, the majestic figure of Waterhouse delivered the mail well ahead of the Boston expedition, clinching for Portland the honor of port of entry and departure of the railroad."
A tablet at 1 India St. states that this was the Site of Fort Loyall, the first defense of early Falmouth. Here Thomas Danforth, as President of Maine, met with the people of the town to organize a local government. The fort, built of logs, mounting eight 18-pounders, and surrounded by a palisade, was a place of refuge for the local settlers during the frequent Indian uprisings. At the fort in May, 1690, the inhabitants were besieged for five days by the French and Indians, only to be massacred when the terms of a truce were violated by the enemy (see History) .
82. The Site of the Ross and Tyng House, 90 Middle St., is occupied by one of Portland's oldest drug stores. Alexander Ross (1710-68) came from Scotland and was one of the town's wealthiest merchants during the first half of the 18th century. His daughter, Elizabeth, was married to William Tyng (1739-1807), youngest son of Commodore Edward Tyng, who be- came a storm center during the years preceding the Revolution. It was through the instrumentality of Ross and Tyng that the first Masonic lodge in Maine was organized (see above: No. 14). An ardent Loyalist, his Col- onel's commission from Thomas Gage, Royal Governor of Massachusetts, added to William's local unpopularity. The house was spared in the Mowat bombardment of 1775 but was burned in the fire of 1866. The saving of his house by Mowat so incensed the populace that Tyng fled to New York.
83. Site of the Edward Payson House, 81 Middle St. The Reverend Ed- ward Payson (1783-1827), later one of the most eminent Congregational clergymen in New England and famed for his oratory, was ordained in 1807 as a colleague of the Reverend Elijah Kellogg of the Second Parish Church. During the early part of Payson's ministry religious differences be- tween the First and Second Parishes became decidedly marked. Payson was a member of the council which met for the ordination of Ichabod Nichols
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at which Payson negatived Nichols' appointment explaining that he "be- lieved it to be his duty to withold his assent to the ordination of that gen- tleman, on the ground that he was propagating an error; in fact that he was not a Christian minister." Payson was noted for his discourses to sea- men before the Bible Society and the Portland Benevolent Society; several of these were published and had an extensive circulation.
84. The Site of the Samuel Waldo House, 105 Middle St., is now occupied by the Waldo Block, the original house having been destroyed in the fire of 1866. Samuel Waldo (1721-60) was the son of Brigadier General Samuel Waldo (1695-1759), owner of the Waldo Patent in eastern Maine. Waldo, Sr., was admitted as an inhabitant of Falmouth in 1731 and with Thomas Westbrook as partner developed numerous enterprises in Falmouth (see History). The elder Waldo commanded a regiment in the American counterpart of the European wars of the Austrian Succession and distin- guished himself in the capture of Louisburg in 1745. Two years later he was appointed by Massachusetts to head an expedition against Crown Point. In 1753 he sent his son, Samuel, to Germany to bring over immi- grants to colonize his holdings in eastern Maine. For several years Samuel, Jr., was Falmouth representative to Massachusetts and in 1760 was ap- pointed first judge of Probate of the county. The present block houses the famous Southworth-Anthoensen Press (see Literature: Printers and Pub- lishers) which was established in 1875 as Southworth Brothers, also the Forest City Printing Co., printers of the Portland City Guide.
85. Site of the First Episcopal Church (St. Paul's), 127 Middle St. Here on September 4, 1764, the same day the first Episcopal parish was organ- ized, the cornerstone of a church 29 by 50 feet was laid; this church had a tower and bell. Many parishioners were buried in the churchyard near by, and after the church was burned by Mowat in 1775 the bodies were re- moved. John Wiswall (1731-1821), the first minister, was obliged to go to England to be ordained as there were no Episcopal bishops in the colonies (see Religion) .
86. The Bethel Mission, 13 Deer St., uses the building formerly occupied by the Curtis Gum Factory (see Industry) . The factory was erected in 1852 and claimed to be the first of its kind in the world, employing over two hundred men and women and having an output of 1,800 boxes of gum a day. The "C.C.C." gum manufactured by the original Curtis Gum Fac- tory was nationally known. The factory closed in 1920. The mission, or- ganized in 1926, is interdenominational, holds meetings six nights a week and is engaged in charitable activities.
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87. The Friendly Inn Building, 304 Fore St., is a two and one-half story wooden structure built on Cushing Island prior to the Revolution and dragged over the frozen harbor by oxen to its present location where in time it became a sailors' boarding house. "Lord Darrah" was once master of this inn and his name was known in nearly every port of the world. At that time Portland's water front was as rough and tough a place as could be found on the Atlantic seaboard. Sailors gathered at this inn after the triumphant capture of the Boxer by the Enterprise off Seguin, during the War of 1812, and it is said the following well-known chantey was com- posed at the time:
At length you sent your Boxer, To box us all about, But we had an Enterprising brig, That beat your Boxer out. We boxed her up in Portland, And moored her off the town, To show the Sons of Liberty, The Boxer of renown.
In 1896 the building became a machine shop specializing in the repair of marine engines, and the location is now known as Monkey Wrench Corner.
88. The U. S. Customs House, 312 Fore St., a massive granite structure of Grecian style, was formally opened April 1, 1872. A customs service has operated at this port for over two hundred years, Moses Pearson (1697- 1778), a British officer and the port's first collector, having been stationed here in 1730. The office of Collector of Customs was established in 1758, with Francis Waldo as first collector. During Colonial times Falmouth was the only Port of Entry in the District of Maine, the first customs office having been a dwelling on the corner of Middle and India streets. In 1849 the United States purchased from the City of Portland the Merchants' Ex- change on Exchange Street, in which were housed the Customs Service, Post Office, and offices of the United States Court until the destruction of the building by fire in 1854. Three years later a new building was erected on the site of the Exchange only to be so badly damaged in the fire of 1866 that it was subsequently demolished. Customs service was then housed in the Portland Savings Bank Block on Exchange Street until occupation of the present quarters.
89. Boothby Square, Fore St. from Market to Pearl St., is the only green area between Lincoln Park on Congress Street and the water front. The park, with a fountain on the north end, was given to the city in 1902 by
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Colonel Frederic E. Boothby (1845-1923) in memory of his wife. Born in Norway, Maine, Boothby lived many years in Portland. He served for a time as president of the local Board of Trade, was elected mayor for three consecutive terms, and was for 36 years General Passenger Agent for the Maine Central Railroad.
90. The State of Maine Armory, 20 Milk St., of brick and granite, was designed by Frederick A. Tompson and erected in 1895. The following units of the National Guard have their quarters in the building: Head- quarters Battery, Battery A, Battery D, the regimental band, the Medical Detachment, all of the 240th Coast Artillery (Harbor Defense), the Serv- ice Company and Howitzer Company of the 103rd Infantry, and Company C and 2nd Battalion Headquarters of the 118th Quartermasters Regiment. The Regimental Headquarters of the 240th C. A. is also located here, and these various outfits use the armory for drill purposes once a week. The building is State-owned and is open to the public at all times.
91. The First National Bank Building, 57 Exchange St., erected in 1884, houses the local weather bureau and numerous offices. Topping the clock tower at the corner of Exchange and Middle streets is the famous weather- cock carved by an Englishman about 1788 which adorned the old court- house.
92. The Canal National Bank, 188 Middle St., is on the site of Maine's first bank, the Portland Bank, organized in 1799. The Canal Bank was established in 1825 to facilitate the building of the Cumberland and Ox- ford Canal which it had been hoped would be financed by a lottery (see Stroudwater Section: No. 4). For a year after its opening the Canal Bank engaged in business on Union Street, and in 1826 purchased the Middle Street site and erected a three-story brick building. In 1865 it became the Canal National Bank. The old building was destroyed in the fire of 1866, and the present structure was then erected; it was remodeled in 1930. The bank still has on its book vaults the doors that were in use in the early Port- land bank. An object of curiosity is the key to the original vault, a large affair in two pieces. The president and cashier each took a piece home with him at night to eliminate the possibility of theft on the part of a bank offi- cial for neither of them could enter the vault without the other half of the key.
93. The Falmouth Hotel, 212-214 Middle St., a six-story brick structure with stone trimmings and a front of Albert freestone, was designed by Charles Alexander, of New York City, and opened in 1868. Built for John
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B. Brown after the 'Great Fire,' it has been called the "hotel of a million banquets," the most notable occurring in 1898 when General William Tecumseh Sherman and many of the war heroes then living were enter- tained there. It was long a center of political activity, and one room is still known as the State of Maine Room.
94. The Mariners' Church Building, 366-378 Fore St., was erected in 1828 by a society organized as "The Trustees of the Mariners' Church." The third floor was devoted to a spacious chapel where religious services were held, and where the Portland Mariners' Society met and maintained a marine museum. In the first edition of his History of Portland William Willis wrote: "The object of the society meets with universal approbation, and is one in which all persons engaged, however remotely, in commercial pursuits are interested. To furnish religious instruction to a class of people, to whom so much property is confided, and who from their irregular mode of life are subjected to unusual temptations, is entitled to unqualified support." In A Pictorial Geography of the World published by S. G. Good- rich in Boston in 1849, the Mariners' Church is described as the largest building in Portland, "a handsome edifice of stone in front, and compris- ing besides a hall for religious exercises, many rooms for school libraries, etc."
95. The Veteran Firemens Building (open week days free), 30 South St., was raised by the city in 1836 on the site of what was known as Mariner's Spring which was used as early as 1718 and then called the Great Spring. Renamed several times, it may have received its title from James and Adam Mariner, early proprietors who owned land which included the spring, or because old-time sailors came to refill their water casks at the spring before leaving on an extended voyage; it has long been a matter of controversy. The spring was filled in when the fire house was built. The first company to oc- cupy the new quarter was Casco, No. 1. A fire engine had been purchased by subscription and had been brought from England about 1787. Six years later an appropriation was made for another engine. These were known as bucket tubs. The Cataract, No. 2 also came from England, be- gan service in 1802, and was used until destroyed in the fire of 1866. The old Atlantic, on display on the first floor, was built in Portland in 1848 by Leonard Crockett. The Forest City, built in 1853, was reputed to be one of New England's crack engines. Included in the collection of relics is a leather bucket used as early as 1816, and a century-old square lantern which was carried over the shoulder of a fireman whose duty it was to run ahead of his red-shirted companions, shouting "Fire!" as a warning to the inhabitants.
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The carved armchair on a platform in the assembly room on the second floor was the work of a former engineer, Nahum Littlefield, the wood from which it is made coming from the elm tree planted by Lafayette when he visited Portland in 1825 and which was uprooted during a storm in 1880. A collection of historical pictures and maps, one a large map of Portland streets before the fire of 1866 with the course of that fire traced in red, are on the second floor. The small library of old books includes a Portland Directory of 1800. The Portland Firemen's Association was organized in November 17, 1891.
96. The Children's Hospital, 68 High St., is a three-story light-colored brick building in Early Colonial architecture with the traditional four chimneys and a flat roof. The front entrance with its fan window and side lights and heavy paneled door are exceptionally beautiful and the halls and stair- cases are considered the best architectural studies west of Wiscasset. This was once the home of a distinguished Revolutionary officer, Ebenezer Storer (1759-1846), who was one of the prominent builders in the reconstruction period following Mowat's bombardment. Here he lived from 1801 until obliged to relinquish his ownership during the financial disasters caused by the Embargo. The house was purchased by John Mussey (1751-1823) in 1817 and was occupied by the Mussey family during most of the 19th cen- tury. For a short period the Bellows School had quarters in the building. In 1908 the Children's Hospital was organized as a charitable corporation to care for the crippled and deformed children of the State, and through the efforts of Dr. Edville G. Abbott (1871-1928) and his associates, the Mussey house was equipped for this purpose. Additions were made in 1910.
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