USA > Maine > Cumberland County > Portland > Portland city guide > Part 9
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In addition to being Maine's largest city, Portland is the seat of Cum- berland County and the center of many activities of the Federal Govern- ment. Until 1760 the whole territory of Maine formed a single province under the rule of Massachusetts, but in that year Cumberland and Lincoln counties were set off. A term of the Superior Court was granted about this time to Cumberland County, and its sessions were held in the vicinity of "The Neck'; from 1735 a Court of General Sessions had been summoned in private homes or public taverns. In 1768 a courthouse was erected on the site of the present Portland City Hall; the rude, wooden building was re- placed in 1816 by a brick structure. Today the county's activities are cen- tered in Cumberland County Courthouse (see Points of Interest), and Federal courts and agencies are housed in the Federal Court Building and the Customs House (see Points of Interest) .
The Port of Portland Authority is a public agency charged with the duty of making plans for the comprehensive development of the harbor. The Authority has jurisdiction over the Port of Portland including South Portland, operates the Maine State Pier, and can acquire or build for the State of Maine other piers and terminal facilities, but must keep them, as property of the State of Maine, open to all teaming and lighterage traffic. It must also provide ample pier trackage to all railroads entering the city. The Authority has a board of five directors, four of whom are
57
Government
appointed by the Governor and State Executive Council, and one by the Portland City Council; the directors elect their own president. This board is not subordinate to the Portland Board of Harbor Commissioners, which has separate functions.
In conformity with the early laws of Massachusetts, every able-bodied man in Maine was enrolled in a company of militia. Twenty-three years after Maine became a State 641 companies were enrolled, and Maine was divided into nine military areas, similar to the Corps Areas into which the United States is now divided for military adminstration of the War De- partment's activities; Portland was in the fifth area. In 1854 the companies in and around Portland were organized as the First Regiment. When Lincoln called for 75,000 volunteers in 1861, the State Legislature au- thorized the organization of the First Maine Volunteers. In September of that year, however, this organization ceased to exist, and on September 28 the 10th Maine Regiment was formed and entrained in October for the South. The regiment returned home in April, 1863, having served at Har- per's Ferry, the Battle of Cedar Mountain, and the Battle of Antietam. Mustered out on their return, the men re-enlisted to form the 29th Maine Veterans Volunteer Regiment; the 10th Maine Battalion was also organized from the three-year men of the 10th Maine Infantry Regiment, and were afterwards assigned to the 29th. All of these men served gallantly until the end of the Civil War.
In the Spanish-American War, the First Maine Regiment was sent to Georgia for training but was returned in hospital trains after nearly a hun- dred and fifty men had been stricken with typhoid. The 1st Infantry was transferred to the Coast Artillery in January, 1910. The unit was again mobilized in July, 1917, for World War duty. The 56th Pioneer Infantry, begun in Portland by Portland men, and known as the First Maine (Milli- ken) Heavy Field Artillery, was under the command of Colonel Arthur T. Ballantine. The Maine National Guard, the 240th Coast Artillery, as now organized, is composed of three battalions and is under the command of Colonel George E. Fogg.
The Coast Artillery Organized Reserves were enlisted in June, 1922, and has a present personnel of two U. S. Army officers and 239 men from all parts of Maine, New Hampshire, and from parts of Vermont. A training course for Reserve Officers of the 303rd Infantry and the 303rd Field Ar- tillery in Maine is conducted by a Staff Sergeant of the 97th Division.
In the immediate vicinity of the city, on Cape Elizabeth and on islands in
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Portland City Guide
Casco Bay, are four United States fortifications: Fort Williams at Cape Cottage, Fort Preble at South Portland, Fort Mckinley at Great Diamond Island, and Fort Levett at Cushing Island. There are Installation Barracks at Peak and Long islands.
In 1898 the Fleet Naval Reserve was organized as a volunteer unit to serve in the Spanish-American War aboard the Montauk, an obsolete moni- tor-type ship sent to protect the local harbor (see History). It was re-or- ganized a year later as the Maine Naval Militia, and in 1917 its members were mustered into regular U. S. Navy service. At present there is in the State of Maine the 3rd Battalion, 19th and 20th Divisions, of the United States Naval Reserves. The personnel consists of one line and two staff officers, 69 fleet reserves, and several volunteers.
INHI
THE PATTERN OF THE PEOPLE
In 1633 when two Englishmen, George Cleeve and Richard Tucker, built their log cabin on "The Neck,' they were the pioneers of a city which has ever since been composed predominately of descendants of former British subjects. The early English immigrants to the eastern area of the New World along with the Scotch and Irish who soon followed, produced a dour type known as the Yankee, a name which later came to be applied to all New Englanders of the same general ancestry. Today the people of Port- land are largely of English-Scotch-Irish extraction, with a generous inter- mixture of Canadians and French-Canadians. According to the 1930 Fed- eral census, the city's total population (70,810) is 55 percent native white of native-born parentage (38,318) ; slightly less than two out of every four persons are either foreign-born or of foreign and mixed parentage (20,502) ; and about one out of every six persons is foreign-born (11,671). Ap- proximately three-sevenths of Portland's foreign-born and native of foreign and mixed parentage is Canadian and French-Canadian (12,270) ; those of English-Scotch-Irish extraction run a close second (9,554).
From earliest times Portland's population has steadily increased; the offi- cial census figures never show a decrease. In 1790 the population of The Neck' was 2,240; by 1810 it had swelled more than 158 percent. The great- est increase came during the decade just prior to the War of 1812, with its intense shipbuilding activity and the expansion of trade with the West Indies and Caribbean ports; there was a spurt of 87 percent. During the middle of the 19th century with commercial developments sweeping the city as a result of the advent of the railroad, the population grew by leaps and bounds to 36,425 in 1890. The annexation of Deering in 1899 added significantly to the city's population; by 1900 it was 50,145. Following the World War and through the period of 'great prosperity,' there was healthy
60
Portland City Guide
and steady growth. The 1939 City Report estimated the population at 72,000, with a density of 3,278 people per square mile.
To England's Cleeve and Tucker belongs the title of the 'first immi- grants.' Possibly there were Irish here soon after; it is certain that in 1718 a vessel carrying 20 families of immigrants from Ireland anchored off The Neck.' Many of these families, descendants of a colony which went from Argyleshire in Scotland and settled in the north of Ireland about the mid- dle of the 17th century, remained as settlers; others drifted inland. In the summer of 1828 the Oxford Canal Corporation started construction of their 'big ditch' from Fore River inland to Sebago Lake and Thomas Pond. Hundreds of burly Irishmen and their families were drawn here; the canal bank was soon dotted with their rude shacks. Many of these canal laborers, originally immigrants to eastern Atlantic ports, stayed on after the canal was completed; their descendants form a vital design in the pattern of the city's life. More Irish trickled into Portland in the middle 1800's, just fol- lowing Ireland's famines of 1846-47. Portland's foreign-born Irish popula- tion in 1930 was nearly 7,000.
Although Scotch immigrants had settled in this vicinity in the 17th cen- tury, it was not until the late 1760's that any significant number came here, possibly as a result of the border wars between England and Scotland. A large majority of the city's Canadians came from the Provinces-Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward's Island; many of the French Canadians are from the metropolitan cities of Montreal and Quebec.
Although occasional Italians drifted into Portland prior to 1800, the con- struction of the railroad from 1837-42 drew many; but it was not until around 1900 that the nucleus of the present Italian quarter was formed. These immigrants and those who have followed came principally from the south of Italy-Sicily, Sardinia, Apulia, and Calabria.
Early immigrant groups settling in the city showed a natural tendency to live near others of the same race, and although this quartering has since been greatly modified by migrations from ward to ward and by intermar- riage, there is some semblance of sectional division. The largest group of Negroes settled in the eastern end of the city on Munjoy Hill, which in past years was known as Nigger Hill; a smaller group lives in Ward Seven, the vicinity of Union Station. The Italians remained in the vicinity of lower Middle Street, and their colony includes the area from Congress Street south to the water front and from Pearl Street east to Waterville Street; the area's early name of 'Gunmen's Tour' is little heard today. The
61
Pattern of the People
Poles are clustered around Salem Street, in the western part of the city, and Syrians and Greeks live generally within a district bounded by Wash- ington Avenue, Preble Street, Cumberland Avenue, and Back Bay. Other groups, including the Jews, are scattered throughout the city, although many Jews are residents of Middle Street; in the past Fore Street was locally known as 'Jew Town,' probably due to the number of pawnshops and secondhand stores that lined its borders. There is no predominately Irish section, although a large percentage live from Center Street west to Brackett Street, and from Congress Street south to the water front.
Although intermarriage and assimilation of Portland's more recent im- migrants have brought them closer to descendants of old Yankee stock, traditions and customs of "the old country" are preserved in some quarters of the city. The Italians of Portland, in conjunction with the Feast of the Assumption, commemorate their patron, Saint Rocco, with a turtle race, the climbing of a greased pole, a long and colorful parade, a street fair near the steps of St. Peter's on Federal Street, and the making of pizza, a baked dish in which sardines, peppers, tomatoes, and flour are blended. Finns in their occasional meetings sing Maamme Laulu (Our Fatherland), their national anthem, and a few families journey inland to Paris to join the Finnish colony there in a celebration of the harvest season. In many Port- land Greek families there is a koumbaros, or godfather who maintains a position of authority in the household; in their gatherings the Greeks sing the lovesong Emnos, and dance the waltzlike sirots or the tsamekos, com- parable to the minuet; they celebrate Easter with a special soup in which are small pieces of beef, eggs, and lemon juice; and on March 25 rejoice over Greek Independence Day. The Scotch gather annually on Robert Burns' birthday to read his poetry, sing his songs, recite in Scotch dialect, and dance the spirited Sword Dance. The Germans no longer have their meistersinger but family groups still assemble about the lighted Christmas tree to pray, and sing O Tannenbaum, O Tannenbaum (O Evergreen, O Evergreen). Scandinavians retain little of their homeland customs, although the Swedish prepare smorgasbord several times a year, and the Danes hold 'socials' in their church, singing I Alle De Riger Id Lande (In All The Places In The Land), and on Christmas Eve the Nuharvijulaean (Christ- mas Again). Portland's Poles occasionally dance the mazurka and the krakowiak at family parties. The orthodox Jewry of the city celebrates the miraculous crossing of the Red Sea by Moses and the Children of Israel with their Passover, and during Succoth occasional Jewish families build
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Portland City Guide
small booth-like houses in their dooryards, where the men of the family have their meals in commemoration of the 40-year wanderings of the Jews in the wilderness.
Portland is still an active port of entry for immigrants; during 1938, 49 aliens arrived. A general lowering of admission quotas is responsible for this decrease from figures of past years, notably 1913 when 26,421 aliens passed through the local port. House Island, in Casco Bay, is owned by the Federal Government, and until November, 1923, was Northern New Eng- land's miniature Ellis Island. Of the immigrants unloaded at this port only a few remained in Portland, the majority moving on to western states or northward into Canada.
Portland's population from the earliest census to 1930:
Year
Population
Increase over preceding census
Number
Percent
1940
73,464*
2,654
3.7
1930
70,810
1,538
2.2
1920
69,272
10,701
18.3
1910
58,571
8,426
16.8
1900
50,145
13,720
37.7
1890
36,425
2,615
7.7
1880
33,810
2,397
7.6
1870
31,413
5,072
19.3
1860
26,341
5,526
26.5
1850
20,815
5,597
36.8
1840
15,218
2,620
20.8
1830
12,598
4,017
46.8
1820
8,581
1,412
19.7
1810
7,169
3,347
87.6
1800
3,822
1,582
70.6
1790
2,240
* Preliminary, U. S. Bureau of the Census.
Part II Economic and Social Development
COMMERCE
Portland's splendid harbor, three and one-half miles from open sea, was undoubtedly responsible for the city's rapid growth into the most important commercial center north of Boston. Ice-free in winter and sheltered by the numerous Casco Bay islands, the harbor was as readily navigable by the tacking windjammer of 600 tons, laden perhaps, with masts for England's navy, as it is by today's freighter of several thousand tons burthen. Fish and lumber were the first exports of Portland, then called "The Neck,' and its shipping industry created by this commercial expansion dates from be- fore 1634-its shipbuilding from 1637. England, Spain, Portugal, and the West Indies were its customers, as were the colonies along the Atlantic coast.
Richmond Island, south of Cape Elizabeth and just outside Casco Bay, was the first noteworthy center of commercial activity. Here, in 1634, it is recorded that as many as 17 trading ships were anchored. John Winter, the aggressive agent for Robert Trelawny in the commercial battle to de- termine whether the Trelawny interests or those of George Cleeve and Richard Tucker should control this profitable area, developed the island and the adjacent mainland. Winter employed 60 men in his early fishing busi- ness alone, and his trade with the Indians was a considerable source of profit.
Casco, or Falmouth as it soon came to be called, was also developing an extensive commerce in pipe staves (wood for the manufacture of oil and wine casks), clapboards, fish, fish oil, and salt fish-trade that soon gave way to the more important export of masts and timber. In this latter in- dustry Thomas Westbrook was particularly interested, and in 1727 he be- came mast agent for England's king. During this decade, under the in- fluence of Westbrook, the establishment and operation of sawmills was the most important single industry in the region. Early settlers became so
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Portland City Guide
engrossed in their lumbering operations that they neglected agriculture and were compelled to import foodstuffs which they could have raised. Al- though this importing of necessities to a rich and fertile area may have been false economy, it was stimulus for Falmouth's commerce; it forged another link to bind Portland's early fortune with the sea.
British ships carried all of the mast shipments, and a lion's share of other shipments; for Falmouth in 1752, although it had shipyards, could claim only seven schooners and 15 sloops, the largest being 80 tons. Falmouth sold its ships abroad, and Falmouth sailors fished and lumbered, limiting their sailoring to coasting down to Massachusetts settlements to trade their fish and wood for the needs of this frontier town. Yet commerce flourished and about 1730 a British naval officer was sent to this port to collect duties. In 1758 a regular collection province was established in the Province of Maine, with Falmouth as its seat.
During the last of the 18th century when Tory merchants came to be looked upon with enmity and their imported luxuries with scorn, and more especially after Captain Henry Mowat, a British naval officer, destroyed the town in 1775, commerce reached a low ebb. There was necessarily a lull during the Revolution; though 99 vessels cleared from this port in 1787- all but ten of them bound for foreign ports-not a single ship was owned by citizens of 'The Neck' in that year. Six years later, however, the citizens could boast ownership of 100 schooners, besides brigs and sloops, all total- ing more than 11,000 tons. By 1807 the town's tonnage had increased to slightly more than 39,000, and the collection of customs reached $346,000. Molasses for the town's distilleries and rum were the chief imports; sawed timber, fish, cordwood, masts, and spars the chief exports.
When shipping was embarrassed in 1807 by the American Embargo Act, as well as by the Berlin and Milan decrees of Napoleon and the policies of the British government toward American shipping, many Portland business houses failed and commerce almost reached a standstill. This commercial disruption all along the Atlantic coast caused considerable movement of population and brought many new families to the frontier District of Maine. Not until 1815 did commerce reach normalcy. In the meantime privateer- ing had grown extensively-first, in evasion of the embargo, and later to prey upon British shipping during the War of 1812.
During this period of privateering the clipper design for ships and brigs was developed, for speed was at a premium. Falmouth bid for its share of
7
-
1-4,4
I. HAY
Southwest Section of Portland
----
INAL COMPANY
Q. .
Baled Pulp
Drying Nets
Longshoremen
O
Fishing Boats
Food Packing
Portland is Important as a Petroleum Distributing Center
Pottery Kilns
Many Modern Industrial Plants Are Located in the City
-
1
خيطفة
C
Coal Pockets
67
Commerce
this lucrative, risky, and not altogether legitimate trade with several rakish ships manned by adventuresome Yankees. This port was a favorite with privateers of other states, some of them maintaining an agent here to watch over their prizes. A New York privateer captured the Peter Waldo, an English ship out of Newcastle, with a cargo of crockery; haled into this port the ship's cargo was sold at auction to local retailers who immediately displayed it for sale in their shop windows, and today, in many china closets of old Portland families, may be seen pieces of 'Peter Waldo Ware.' An- other profitable prize was the brig Diana out of London with a cargo of rum. The Diana was seized by the famous Portland privateer Dart and haled into the harbor. Long after the District of Maine had become a State, Old Dart Rum was sold at fancy prices and advertised as "from the original casks"-although no claim was made that it was the original rum.
With the close of the War of 1812 regular lines of commerce were rapidly recovered, and for many years there was an extensive reciprocal trade with the West Indies. Molasses was imported, and boxes and casks in which molasses and sugar were shipped, were exported. Mills, not only in the vicinity of Portland, but throughout Maine, New Hamp- shire, and Vermont, sent cargoes of bundled shooks here in vessels and by rail for shipment to Cuba and Puerto Rico; Portland also was the distribut- ing point for the imported molasses, and especially for the sugar and rum into which it was converted by local refineries and distilleries. This exten- sive trade reached its height during the last half of the 19th century, with 1868 as the peak year; not only Maine, but Canada, Boston, New York, and Philadelphia were served by Portland's West Indies trade. Keener competition that came with the introduction of the centrifugal system of sugar refining, Maine's prohibitory laws which closed Portland's distilleries, the shipping of molasses in bulk cargoes instead of in hogsheads, and of sugar shipments in bags instead of boxes to save expense-all tended to end the molasses trade here.
The War of 1812 had demonstrated the need of manufactories; later glass, woolens, metal, and cotton goods began to be produced. Thus, a de- crease in commercial activity was paralleled by growing industrial con- sciousness. Checked temporarily by the effects of the panic of 1857 and the Civil War, Portland's trade appeared to increase steadily thereafter. In 1872 the total value of imports and exports of the city was $45,000,000.
During the same half-century of the expanding West Indies trade, Port-
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Portland City Guide
land had developed as a center for receiving and trans-shipping grain, to- gether with other agricultural products, principally livestock, animal products, and apples. The agricultural expansion in the western states and in Canada had sent a stream of commerce via the Great Lakes to Montreal, and down the St. Lawrence River; during winter months, however, the St. Lawrence could not be navigated, and to hold its commerce Canada was forced to find an Atlantic port to which goods could be shipped by rail and reloaded on transatlantic cargo vessels. Portland, with its natural harbor facilities and flourishing commerce, was chosen instead of Boston. This influx of commercial activity greatly expanded the port of Portland, an ex- pansion which continued until the 1920's when Canada started the develop- ment of Halifax and St. John as winter shipping ports. In 1899 Portland's peak year in this winter trade, 21,894,423 bushels of grain were received here; 12,831,248 bushels, or about 58 percent, were shipped as foreign ex- port. During the 'boom' that came with the World War, more grain was exported annually than the total which had been received in 1899; by 1921 this export figure had reached 554,264 tons. Six years later when Canadian ports had absorbed a great deal of the trade, not quite 150,000 tons were shipped locally, and in 1931 this figure had tapered to less than 50,000 tons. In 1940 with England again at war, Canadian grain once more flowed through Portland's elevators en route to Europe.
Anthracite coal was brought to Portland for the first time in 1830, in a hogshead. Since that time commerce in coal has steadily increased in im- portance, although the growing demand for petroleum products within the last ten years is beginning to be shown in tonnage figures. The following table combines figures on foreign imports and coastwise receipts of fuel products, in approximate five year periods:
Receipts in Tons
1921
1927
1931
1937
Anthracite Coal
88,043
111,774
67,074
39,205
Bituminous Coal
1,156,406
1,679,768
1,061,317
1,066,595
Petroleum Products,
292,202
360,559
532,728
972,894
including gasoline,
kerosene, fuel oil, etc.
Coastwise shipping of these products is increasing, except anthracite, which is giving way to bituminous and petroleum products. In 1937 all
69
Commerce
of the bituminous coal and about 10,000 tons of anthracite came from American coal mines, via Hampton Roads; 29,000 tons of anthracite came from the Russian Black Sea ports.
Fish and wood products are still important items of Portland's com- merce, but in constrast with Colonial days, shipment of these products is into the city and not from it. Paper mills in the immediate vicinity are re- sponsible for coastwise pulpwood shipping and the 200,000 tons of manu- factured pulp imported annually from Baltic ports. China clay and sulphur used in sizing and manufacturing paper are brought here in quantities of approximately 50,000 tons annually; the clay is mostly used in paper mills in Maine, and some is shipped from here to mills in Michigan. Much of the clay is imported from England, with some from Georgia; the sulphur is entirely shipped here from southern states. Annually exported are ap- proximately 34,000 tons of printing paper, and 49,000 tons of Solka, a cellulose product developed and manufactured from wood pulp and shipped from the United States exclusively through Portland since 1935.
Local packing plants in 1937 produced 22,000 tons of fresh and canned fish and shellfish, and, although much of this canned and processed fish was shipped overland, 17,000 tons of canned goods were shipped that year by water.
The total annual traffic through the Port of Portland, including imports, exports, and coastwise receipts and shipments, has averaged approximately 2,500,000 tons annually during the period 1891-1937. There was a notice- able increase about 1900, the average for the years prior to that date being 1,374,584 tons. The average for 38 years, beginning with 1900, has been 2,762,938 tons. The peak year was 1916 when 3,738,074 tons passed through the port at a valuation of $217,325,014. The tonnage figure in 1937 was 3,254,472, valued at $73,103,478.
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