USA > Maine > Cumberland County > Portland > The history of Portland, from 1632 to 1864: with a notice of previous settlements, colonial grants, and changes of government in Maine > Part 40
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HISTORY OF PORTLAND.
work previous to the revolution above Waite's. Mr. Mayo did his business at Distillery wharf, and was a proprietor with the Waites and Major Daniel Ilsley in the distillery. Brigadier Preble and the Oxnards had stores on Preble's wharf, and Ephraim Broad kept a large grocery store there a short time before the war.
Having now made a hasty review of the commercial charac- ter of the town to the period of the revolution, we propose to close this chapter with a notice of its general situation and ap- pearance.
The condition of the town even so late as the revolution, can hardly be conceived of by those who have lived but one
Deacon Milk, married Mary, a sister of Mr. Deering, which was followed the next year by the marriage of Nathaniel Deering with Dorcas, a daughter of Deacon Milk, and in 1766, by the marriage of his brother John with Eunice, another daughter of Mr. Milk. This quadruple alliance formed a strong family cement, and concentrated the efforts and extended the influence of prominent and enterprising men, which enabled them to accumulate property and created a large business. His mother died in 1769, at the age of fifty-eight, and in 1772 Deacon Milk died, leaving a large estate to be divided among his seven children. Among other portions was the now very valuable tract lying between Exchange and Lime streets, and extending from Middle street to low water mark, a large part of which still remains in the family. He lived in a house which stood on the river bank at the corner of Fore and Exchange streets, overlooking the har- bor,; his brother John lived about half way up Exchange street, and John Nich- ols and Joseph H. Ingraham, who married daughters of Deacon Milk, lived below on Fore street. Nathaniel Deering died in 1795, and his widow in 1826, at the advanced age of eighty-five, leaving two children, James and Mary; the latter married in 1801, the justly distinguished commodore, Edward Preble, by whom she had an only child, who bore his father's name.
Mr. Deering was a man of energy and business capacity ; he was twice one of the selectmen ; after the war he engaged largely in commercial business, to ac- commodate which and promote the facilities of mercantile affairs in town, he en- gaged in the enterprise of extending the pier or breast-work, which had belonged to Deacon Milk and his own boat yard, near the foot of Exchange street, into the spacious wharf, which from its extent took the name of Long wharf, and was for many years the principal commercial center for the shipping of the port. It was commenced in 1793. The death of such a man in the vigor of life and in he midst of large enterprises was a serious loss to the community.
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GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE NECK.
generation. A bare statement of the fact that in 1769 a bear was killed in Brackett's swamp; and still later, in 1772 that a moose was started in the field north of Congress street, and kil- led upon the flats of Back Cove, will make a deeper impression of the narrow extent of our settlement and the thinness of the population than any detailed description that we could give. Where these wild animals then strayed, we find streets and permanent buildings and cultivated gardens. At that time there was no house upon the Neck north of Congress street, and the back fields as they were then called, were covered with bushes intermixed with tall forest trees.1
At the time of the destruction of that part of Falmouth which is now Portland, there were upon the Neck two hundred and thirty dwelling-houses. The public buildings were the meeting-house of the first parish, the episcopal church which stood on the corner of Church and Middle streets, a new court- house nearly finished, on the corner of India and Middle streets, a town house in Greele's Lane, now Hampshire street, originally the first meeting-house, and a jail which stood where the old city hall now strnds. These buildings were all of wood, few were painted, and those few generally red.2 Two or three houses had brick ends,3 and about the same number
1 We hear from Falmouth, Casco Bay, that since last spring, there has been raised the frames of above fifty dwelling-houses, within half a mile of each other .- Boston Eve. Post, July 15, 1765.
2 Deacon Codman's house stood on the corner of Temple and Middle streets, with a spacious front yard extending to Middle street; it was built in 1762, one of the best houses in town; it was burnt about 1845. Dr. Watts' house fronted on Middle street, and was a spacious mansion, as may still be seen on Lime street opposite the Post-office, although shorn of its beauty by rough usage and mod- ern deformity. Mr. Waldo's, below the Freeman house on Middle street, and two or three others were painted a light color. The meeting-houses were not painted.
3 One of these was John Butler's, on the west side of India street near the foot ; another was John Greenwood's which stood on the spot now occupied by the Middle street part of Wood's hotel. It was removed to make room for that structure. It was built in 1774 by John Greenwood, a cabinet-maker, son of
1
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HISTORY OF PORTLAND.
were three-stories high.' The most ancient and dense part of the town was destroyed, the oldest house which now remains is one built by Enoch Moody in 1740 : it now belongs to his heirs, and stands on the corner of Congress and Franklin streets. Another ancient one stands in the rear of Warren & Hersey's brick building in Fore street, one-story high, and was built by Benjamin Proctor on his father's lot. The M'Lellan house in Congress street, just above Brown street, was built in 1755 by Hugh M'Lellan of Gorham, who brought the frame from that place, for his daughter, who married Joseph M'Lellan. The lot when the house was erected, was five acres, and extended from Congress to Spring street. Down to the period of the revolution, there was but one house above this on the same side of Congress street until you come to Mr. Frost's, near Stroudwater Bridge ; the land was entirely vacant on the one side to Anthony Brackett's house, which stood where Brackett street now joins Danforth street, and on the other the view of the harbor was uninterrupted. All the upper part of the town above this five acre lot was owned by Joshua and Anthony Brackett, by inheritance from their father, Joshua, the son of Thomas Brackett and Mary Mitton, and was improved by them
! Butler's, Watts'; Greenwood's, and Brigadier Preble's; the latter, after the war, was reduced a story, but was afterward restored. It stood in the rear of where the Casco Bank is, and was quite famous. Pres. John Adams boarded there with Jonathan Webb. Savage the collector lived there when the revolution broke out; the Prebles occupied it; Commodore Preble lived there at the time of his death and was buried from it. In more recent times it was used as a hotel, and Burnham, Mitchell, Morehead, Thompson, and others, sumptuously entertained their guests there. It was burnt in June, 1856.
Prof. Isaac Greenwood of Harvard College. He bought the lot of John Proc- tor in 1772, for twenty-six pounds lawful, or eighty-six dollars. In 1783 he sold the lot and house, then unfinished, to Joseph Jewett, of Scarborough, for five hundred pounds, equivalent then to one hundred and thirty-seven silver dollars. Mr. Jewett finished it and moved into it in 1786. He kept a store and did a large business in the lower eastern room. He died in 1796, leaving a large family of children, of whom Sarah, Joseph S., and George, survive.
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DESCRIPTION OF THE NECK.
as a farm, a large part of it being covered with wood.1 In 1745, the hill from High street, westerly, was covered so thick with sapling pines that in the expressive language of an old settler, a dog could hardly get through them ; but that year the inhabitants were so much alarmed lest the Indians and French should find shelter among them, that they entirely cleared the land. A new growth of hard wood sprung up, and on the south side of this tract large trees were standing at the beginning of the war; the large oaks which now stand on the Vaughan land, now owned by Mr. Hersey, were about five feet high in 1776. In 1745, there was little better than a foot path over this hill, where Congress street now is, through the woods to the settlement. The densest part of the population was be- tween King, now India, and Exchange streets, but even in that quarter there were large spaces of unoccupied land. Be- tween Congress, then called Queen or the Back street and Mid- dle street, west of Franklin street, then called Fiddle Lane, where Federal street now passes, was a continued swamp to Temple street, in which grew alder and whortleberry bushes five or six
1 Joshua Brackett was born in Greenland, N. H., where his father lived after the first Indian war, in 1701; Anthony was born in the same place in 1707. When they came here we cannot ascertain, it was however previous to 1728. Joshua, built a log hut in the woods where Gray street now is, and cleared a spot for cultivation ; for many years he sent large quantities of wood cut upon this land to Boston ; he said that he had worked many a night by moonlight, in order to have enough wood cut for the coaster when she returned. He lived for several years in his log house, and then built a framed one opposite the head of High street, which survived the revolution and its owner's life, and was sub- sequently burnt. He died in March 1794, aged ninety-three years. Anthony died 1784. When the Bracketts came here, and for some years after, the In- dians had their wigwams around the swamp above their houses. Anthony lived with Joshua until his marriage in 1733. They each left a numerous posterity, and their blood is mingled with that of the Trotts, Smiths, Fabyans, Lunts, Skillings, Greens, and Larrabees.
I annex a fac-simile of Joshua Brackett's signature.
Joshua Bracket
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HISTORY OF PORTLAND.
feet high and some large trees, the stumps of which were stand- ing as late as the revolution. Near the junction of Federal and Court streets was a pond, which continued until after the war discharging itself into Fore river, by a brook of considerable siez. This brook crossed Fore street, a little eact of Exchange street, over which was a stone bridge about fifteen feet wide.1 At the time of which we are speaking, the water flowed up from Clay Cove to Turkey lane, now Sumner street, in a creek sufi- ciently large to allow boats to pass ; an arch was thrown over it in Middle street, under which they sailed ; persons recently living can remember having seen boats in the creek as high as Turkey lane. There was also a swamp as late as 1750, in the rear of Judge Freeman's house, and another until 1790, at the head of Free street, in both of which the children used to gather whortleberries. The land was wet and swampy from Middle to Centre street, where Free street is, so that it was difficult to pass over it; on the south of where the latter street is, Deacon Cotton had a tan yard and a large orchard. There were also orchards where Lime street is, in the rear of Dr. Deane's house in Congress street, at the corner of Congress and Temple streets, at both the Bracketts, and on other parts of the Neck.
In 1739 the large square bounded by Fore, Middle, and Exchange streets, and extending about twelve rods west of Exchange street, containing four acres, with a dwelling-house and barn upon it,? was sold by Benjamin Ingersoll to Phineas
1 Mr. James Deering, in digging for a "foundation for the brick stores at the foot of Exchange street in 1797, found at the depth of seventeen feet below the surface two oak planks lying side by side across what appeared to be the gulley; he supposed them to have been placed there for passing over the brook. In Fore street there were other gullies over which bridges were thrown, one was above Centre street, near where the Oxnard house is, another was a little west of Clay Cove.
2 These were the only buildings on the tract for a number of years, The house was occupied by Mr. Jones until his death in 1743, and afterward by Jabez Fox, who married his widow ; it was built by Benjamin Ingersoll, who, kept tavern in
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DESCRIPTION OF THE NECK.
Jones for four hundred and eighty pounds, equivalent to six- teen hundred and thirty-three dollars ; it is now one of the most valuable spots in town. The house stood on the west side of Exchange street, a little above where the Merchants' bank now stands. In 1740, the north-easterly corner of Ex- change street extending on that street fourteen rods or about half way down,1 was sold by Deacon James Milk to Joshua Freeman for eighty pounds, old tenor, equal to about seventy- five dollars in silver. Upon this lot Mr. Freeman built, soon after, the house which formerly stood on the corner of the street, but was moved in 1826, a little east on Middle stecet to make room for the brick building now standing on the corner. Mr.
. Freeman occupied the house several years as a tavern and store. It passed from his hands to John Tyng, who conveyed it to John Fox for four hundred pounds ; Mr. Fox occupied it until he built the house in Fore street after the revolution, in which he died in 1795. The only buildings on Exchange street at the time of the revolution, were on the west side, a wooden store two stories high with a gambrel roof,2 occupied by Deacon Richard Codman, the Jones house and a small one-story store
at the foot of the street, kept by John Fox. On the east side were Nathaniel Deering's shop at the foot, John Deering's house, a one-story house occupied by Nathaniel Fosdic, after- ward collector, and the Joshua Freeman house on the corner. At this period, the street was considered much too far up for business, and the property there, of comparatively small value ; it is now the center of commercial operations, and real estate
I Exchange street is five hundred feet long from Middle to Fore street.
2 This was moved when Mr. Boyd built his brick stores in 1803 on that spot, to Congress street, near the head of Green street, where it was burnt in 1860.
it in 1728, probably the first public house in town after the resettlement; it was for many years the best house on the Neck, and in 1754, Gov. Shirley lodged there when he held his conference with the Indians. The house was taken down by William Widgery to make improvements on the lot.
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HISTORY OF PORTLAND.
is probably as high there as in any other part of the town. At the time we are speaking of, the square from Plumb street to Centre street, was principally a mowing field.
We propose to close this general survey of the Neck, with a brief notice of the streets which were opened previous to the revolution.
India street. In the settlement under Danforth in 1680, this was called Broad street ; it was propably opened before that time, having been the principal route out of town. On the resettlement, it was formally laid out by the selectmen four rods wide, and accepted by the town April 1, 1724, when the name of "High King street," was given to it. After the revo- lution, some persons who lived on the street endeavored to change the name to State street, and for some years a struggle between the two was kept up, but the old name triumphed at that time ; it finally yielded to the present title in 1837.
Congress street. This was anciently called the country road, afterward the Back street and Queen street, which latter was its proper name; it was laid out four rods wide from the head of King, now India street, to its junction with Middle street, and was accepted April 1, 1724. Lots were granted upon it as early as 1720, when it was noticed as Queen street. The usual route from the country to the harbor was in early times through this road and King street ; it also led toward the mill at Cap- isic, which was erected as early as 1680, it was this circumstance which gave to it the familiar name of the country road ; the creek from Clay Cove and the marshes in the central parts of the Neck intercepted the passing on a more direct course. Its present name was applied to it by the town in 1823. The por- tion east of the head of King street to the Munjoy line was laid out in 1792 and called Smith street, from the Rev. Mr. Smith. West of its junction with Middle street it was called the Main street, receiving there the two other streets running from the village. It became the main trunk road into town. It was extended afterward easterly up Munjoy's hill and over
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the brow to the eastern promenade. In 1823 the whole line received from the city government the name of Congress street. In 1863 it was extended still further east to the bay shore un- der the same name ; so that this grand avenue now extends from Casco Bay to the western extremity of the city, passing through the center of the peninsula, a distance of nearly three miles.
Exchange Street. This street was laid out in 1724, three rods wide and then called Fish street, which name it retained until 1810, when its present one was given to it. It had prob- ably not been opened earlier than 1724, as it is not noticed in the grants made in that quarter. From Middle street to Fore street it is five hundred feet long. In 1837 Court street from Middle to Congress street which was laid out in 1793, three rods wide, was made part of Exchange street, and the whole is now under one name.
Middle street was accepted by the town April 1, 1724, from King to Main street four rods wide ; a path had been opened before that time, but at what period, we have no means of as- certaining; from India street to the cove was opened by the ancient settlers. It was originally called "the Middle street," from its relative situation between Fore and the Back streets, which name it has ever since borne.
Fore street. In the grants made by Danforth in 1680, on the south side of the Neck, a highway three rods wide was reserved from India street "towards the meeting house," which was that part of Fore street lying east of India street. On the west side of Clay Cove, a reservation was made for a road four rods wide ; how far up the road was opened at this time is not known, and no name appears to have been given to it. In 1724 the street was regularly laid out by the town four rods wide "from meeting-house point" to the foot of Exchange street, and in 1727, it was extended to the head of Round Marsh, but has never been opened higher than the Portland bridge. It
31
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HISTORY OF PORTLAND.
never has been formally named by the town, but has ever borne its present appellation from the circumstance of its being the fore or front street. The part east of India street has been considerably driven back by the washing of the sea; there were formerly buildings south of where it now passes upon the margin of the beach. That part of the street which crosses Clay Cove was not made until 1765, when Alexander Ross, Enoch Ilsley, and James Hope contracted "to build a good and sufficient breast-work across Clay Cove, and make a good road thereon."
Thames street. This was an ancient street leading from the ferry ways to India street, on the bank. It was adopted by the town April 1, 1724. It was relaid out 1760, thiree rods wide, and extended to low water mark. It is absorbed in Com- mercial street, and no longer exists.
School street was laid out in 1724 two rods wide, and then called "The Lane," which name it retained for many years. It probably took its present title from the fact that a town school- house formerly stood on the corner where it joins Middle street. The name was altered to Pearl in 1837.
Plum street was opened by Phineas Jones through his own land in 1742; it was called Jones's lane for many years. The town gave it the name of Plum street from the numerous plum trees in the large garden of Deacon Titcomb at the head of the street.
Center street. This street was laid out in 1742 by Samuel Skillings, two rods wide, through land which descended to him from his father, John Skillings, and which had formerly be- longed to Rev. Geo. Burroughs. It was accepted by the town in March, 1743, and was familiarly called Love lane until it received its present name in 1812 from its central situation, and is thirty-five feet wide.
Munjoy street. This was laid out in 1727, from the head of India street to the top of Munjoy's hill, and thence to Sandy Point ; the street was not opened until 1795. The portion of
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this street extending from Congress street to Sandy Point, was called North street, and in 1837 the whole-Munjoy, Congress or Back, and Main streets-were united under the name of Con- gress street, extending from Casco Bay to the Westbrook line at Libby's Corner.
Main street was formally laid out April 4, 1727, "beginning at the head of Middle street where it cometh into said way" (Queen street) to the head of Round marsh, various courses four rods wide. It had for many years been the only road which led off the Neck in that direction. It was called the Main street, but no name was given it by the town until 1823, when the town gave to a portion of it the name of Congress street, which name in 1837 was formally extended over the whole line from one extremity of the city to the other.
Spring street was laid out as far as the spring, in 1754, from Love lane, and accepted, but no name given toit. It was laid out anew in 1760, and in 1788 it was continued to Ann, now Park street, and received its present name. In 1811 it was con- tinued to State street; in 1827 to Brackett, and in 1833 to Vaughan street.
Willow street. This street was opened in 1760, one rod and a half wide, passing through the land of Samuel Proctor and Moses Pearson. No name was given to it, but it received its present appellation from the willow trees through which it passed. It was originally called Pearson's lane.
Free street. A portion of this street was laid out two rods wide east of Love lane, now Center street, in 1772, over the northerly end of Deacon Wm. Cotton's land; but it continued a mere bog, over which foot passengers could hardly pass until after the revolution. In 1784, it was continued through to Congress street, three rods wide, and in 1788 the lower part was opened the same width, and its present name given. From Center street up, it was first called Windmill lane, from a wind mill which then stood on the hill where the Anderson house now stands.
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HISTORY OF PORTLAND.
Temple street. This street was laid out in 1757, two rods wide, and was called before the revolution, Codman's lane, passing by his house and through his land ; it was not opened until 1762. Its present name was given to it by common con- sent after the war, but it has no recorded title.
Lime street was opened in 1768, twenty-nine feet wide and called Lime alley, from Middle to Back streets. In 1837 the name was extended over Market street lying between Middle and Fore streets, which was originally laid out partly in 1805, from Fore through Mr. Ingraham's land to the Market-house, and the remainder to Middle street in 1824, through Mr. Deering's property. The passage way leading to Commercial street and wharf was incorporated with it in 1856, so that the street un- der the same name now extends from Commercial to Congress street.
Franklin street was laid out in 1756 from Middle to Back street, two rods wide, and named Fiddle street. From Back street to Back Cove a street was laid out on the same course with Fiddle street, two and a half rods wide, in 1798, and called Franklin street. In 1814 the name of Fiddle was changed to Essex, and in 1837 the name of Franklin was given to the whole line from Fore street to Back Cove. This included the angling street which extended from Clay Cove to Middle street laid out 1759 but never named until 1837. In 1853 the street was extended on a straight line to Commercial street, and in 1863 to low water mark on Back Cove. It is the only street which passes directly across the peninsula from water to water under one name.
Hampshire street. There was a court here, which ran down from Back street to where Federal street now is, before the rev- olution, and called Greele's lane. It was opened to Middle street, one and a half rods wide, in 1784, and named Hamp- shire lane. Chub lane now a part of it from Middle to Fore street, was opened by George Warren's land in 1784, one and a half rods wide. It was relaid in 1785, and named Chub
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lane. It owed its original title, Greele's lane, to the good and time honored Alice Greele, who kept a noted tavern, they did not have hotels in those days, on the corner of the lane and Back street.
Sumner street. There was a street here before 1690, called Fleet street ; but its ancient name had perished before the re- vival of the town ; this passed near the head of the Creek, which made up from Clay Cove ; and before Middle street was ex- tended over the stream, was a street of some consequence ; it bore the name of Turkey lane until it was altered to Newbury street by a vote of the town in 1814. It was formally laid out two rods wide in 1750. In 1800 a street named Sumner street was laid out from India street to Hancock street, three rods wide, and afterward extended easterly into Fore street. The whole were constituted one street from Franklin to Fore in 1837 and named Sumner. The name was originally given from Gov. Increase Sumner of Massachusetts, who died in 1799 in office.
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