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 49
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Among the improvements suggested by the commissioners is the establishment of a line extending from the Gas Compa- ny's wharf above Portland bridge on nearly a straight line to Fish Point, outside of which no obstruction should be placed, and that the part of wharves now projecting over that line should be removed. These projecting wharves were Smith's, Brown's, and Union. A similar line was recommended for Back Cove. A system of dredging is earnestly pressed, and the city government is advised to keep a jealous watch over the waters of the reservoir or receiving basin above Portland bridge ; that there should be a strict prohibition against throw- ing ballast or dirt of any kind into the harbor ; that the break- water be completed, and that the care of the waters of the harbor be assigned to a suitable person whose duty it shall be to resist encroachments and prevent all abuses.
The following interesting comparison is furnished in the re- port : "It is worth while to mention that when the new water front has been permanently established on both sides, the com- mon anchorage of the inner harbor between Cape Elizabeth and Portland bridge will comprise an area of three hundred and fif- ty-two acres, and the water area of the docks on both sides will altogether amount to about one hundred and fifteen acres, as- suming one-half of the inclosed space to be water space. The water area of the London docksis about one hundred and eighty acres, that of the Liverpool docks is less than one hundred acres. Thus it will be perceived, that sufficient accommoda- tions are provided for the greatest probable increase of tonnage." The commissioners close their able and interesting report in the following encouraging terms : "It sometimes happens that good harbors are wanting where other elements of commercial
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BREAKWATER-LIGHT-HOUSES.
greatness are found in abundance, and conversely, that good harbors exist where the materials of trade are absent. In this instance the facilities of nature, territorial position, and the legitimate courses of commerce all combine to create a large commercial emporium."
In pursuance of the recommendation of the commissioners, the city government procured an act to be passed by the legis- lature in 1856, establishing a line as proposed by them, and authorizing the Governor and Council to appoint three harbor commissioners to control and regulate the construction of wharves, to prevent encroachments and encumbrances on the tidal waters, and to preserve the harbor from obstructions and deposits and injuries of all kinds.
In connection with harbor improvements was the construction of the breakwater on the south-east side of the harbor, begin- ning at Staniford's Point near the ferry landing, and extending north-easterly to the termination of the commissioner's line on that side of the harbor. It was commenced in 1836, under an appropriation made by the United States that year, of ten thou- sand dollars, on the application of our citizens, for the protection of the shipping in south-easterly gales. It is not yet finished, although the board of engineers who examined our harbor in 1854, earnestly recommended its completion. In 1854 an ap- propriation of three thousand five hundred dollars was made by the United States government for a light-house to be placed at the extremity of the breakwater, which was soon after erected to the great convenience and security of vessels entering and leaving the harbor in the night.
After the close of the war of the revolution, as our commerce began rapidly to increase, a want was felt for a light-house on the main channel into our harbor. In 1785 an application was made to the government of Massachusetts, under whose colors we were then sailing, for an appropriation for such a structure, but the request was at that time denied. In a year
37
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HISTORY OF PORTLAND.
or two afterward, the State became sensible of the importance of the work and commenced it; they had not however pro- ceeded far, when the national government, succeeding to the general maritime jurisdiction of the States, undertook the work. In August, 1790, Congress appropriated fifteen hundred dol. lars to finish the undertaking ; this revived the lingering work; it was completed within five months from that time, and lighted January 10, 1791. The stone work was seventy-two feet high, and the lantern fifteen feet, making the whole eighty-seven feet.' The master builders were John Nichols and Jonathan Bryant, masons of this town.
The headland of Cape Elizabeth being one of the most prominent objects on our coast, and the projecting promontory of Casco Bay, in which a large commerce was carried on, the safety of the increasing navigation on our shores re- quired that this point should be prominently distinguished. The government, therefore, of the United States, in 1827, de- termined to erect upon that spot two light-houses, and appro- priated for that purpose three thousand dollars, under which the work was commenced, and in 1828 completed by a further appropriation of four thousand five hundred dollars. They are conspicuous guides to the nightly wanderer on the ocean. A fog bell has since been erected which gives its timely warn- ing to the bewildered mariner. Buoys and spindels have been placed upon Alden's rock and other shoals and dangerous places lying in the approaches to our harbor. Other like im- provements caused by recent losses, particularly of the English steamer Bohemian, in 1864, are in contemplation.
As banking is german to the subject of commerce, a notice of the institutions established here for that object, may not be inappropriate to this place. The first bank which was incor- porated in Maine, was the Portland Bank in June, 1799. Its capital was one hundred thousand dollars, with the privilege
1 This was afterward considered too high, and twenty feet were taken off.
2
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BANKS AND BANKING.
of being increased to three hundred thousand dollars, at the pleasure of the stockholders. The privilege was improved and the whole amount, limited by the charter, was taken up. Hugh McLellan was the first president, and John Abbott the first cashier. A dwelling-house which stood in Middle street on the site of the present Canal Bank was used by the company for several years, and was removed in 1806 to make room for the beautiful building now occupied by that Bank.' The Portland Bank suffered severely in the commercial embarrass- ments of the town in 1808, and met with such losses that they suspended their business and finally closed it in 1815, four years before their charter expired, with a loss of twenty-five per cent of their capital stock.
The Maine Bank incorporated in June, 1802, was the second in this State; by its charter its capital was allowed to be from one hundred and fifty thousand dollars to three hundred thou- sand dollars, at the pleasure of the stockholders. The whole amount was taken up; Samuel Freeman was appointed the first president, and David Hale the first cashier ; their office was kept in Jones' row in Exchange street. It was incorporated for only ten years, and at the end of that time it closed its con- cerns and was succeeded the same year by the Cumberland Bank, which was incorporated in 1812, with a capital of three hundred thousand dollars and took the banking-house occupied by the Maine Bank. They subsequently reduced their capital to two hundred thousand dollars' and carried on a successful business to the close of their charter in 1831.
The Bank of Portland with a capital of two hundred thou- sand dollars was incorporated in 1819, and was the fourth bank established here; the Casco Bank was incorporated in 1824, with a capital of two hundred thousand dollars; the Mer- chants Bank with a capital of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, in 1825 ; the Canal Bank the same year with a capital
! This house now stands on the east side of Chestnut street, belonging to the estate of Elias Merrill.
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HISTORY OF PORTLAND.
of three hundred thousand dollars, of which twenty-five per cent was to be invested in the Cumberland and Oxford canal. The capital of this bank was increased one hundred thousand dollars by charter in 1832, and subsequently to six hundred thousand dollars. The Maine Bank was incorporated in 1831, with a capital of one hundred thousand dollars, and in 1832 the Exchange, and Manufacturers and Traders Banks were incorporated with a capital each of one hundred thousand dollars. A branch of the Bank of the United States was es- tablished here in 1828, with facilities of doing business equal to a capital of three hundred thousand dollars. The whole bank capital in Portland at the close of 1832, employed by eight banks, was one million five hundred and fifty thousand dollars, and the amount of their loans two million three hund- red thousand dollars. Their average circulation, exclusive of the Branch Bank, was about three hundred and thirty thou- sand dollars ; the average deposits with the same exception, about three hundred and seventy thousand dollars ; and the average amount of specie about seventy-five thousand dollars.
The banks in Portland and over the whole country suffered severely from the commercial revulsion of 1837 and 1838 ; those in Portland lost nearly half their capital. In May, 1837, they were compelled to suspend specie payments after the example of the large cities. The number of banks in the city, in January, 1838, was nine, having an aggregate capital of two million one hundred and fifty-five thousand dollars. Their names were, Bank of Portland, Bank of Cumberland, Canal, Casco, City, Exchange, Maine, Manufacturers and Traders, and Merchants. Four of these, viz., the Bank of Portland, City, Exchange, and Maine, have long ceased to ex- ist, and closed their concerns with some loss of capital. The number of banks in Portland at the close of 1863 was seven, viz., Bank of Cumberland, Canal, Casco, International, Manu- facturers and Traders, Mechanics, and Merchants, with an ag- gregate capital of two million six hundred and seventy-five
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BANKS AND BANKING.
thousand dollars. Their aggregate loans were five million six hundred and thirty thousand dollars ; circulation, one million six hundred and seventy thousand dollars ; deposits, two mil- lion three hundred and forty-eight thousand eight hundred and ninety-five dollars ; specie, one hundred and seventy-one thou- sand nine hundred and twenty-three dollars.
In addition to these banks, there are two savings banks in the city, one, Portland Savings' Bank, incorporated in 1852, the other, the Portland Five Cents Savings Bank, incorporated in 1859. These, in 1863, had an aggregate amount of deposits of eight hundred and sixty-six thousand three hundred and twenty-two dollars, from five thousand and twenty-five depos- itors, to whom they pay six per cent interest per annum. The Portland Savings Bank has invested in government secu- rities three hundred and fifteen thousand seven hundred and. seventeen dollars, of which about two hundred and ninety-three thousand dollars is in National loans, the other bank has sixty- two thousand dollars in U. S. securities ; the banks of discount in the city have included in their loans, over a million and a half dollars in the United States government loans. Our banks suspended specie payments near the close of 1861, with all other banks in the country. The International Bank in 1864 changed its character to a National Bank, under the laws of the United States, and became the First National Bank of Port- land, giving up its State charter.
The aggregate bank capital of the sixty-nine banks in the State, was eight million eight thousand dollars ; loans, fourteen million nine hundred and eighty-four thousand dollars ; circu- lation, six million twenty thousand dollars ; deposits, six mil- lion four hundred and twenty-one thousand ; specie, six hund- red and seventy-eight thousand and forty-three dollars.
The town went on with almost uninterrupted success in its commercial enterprises, until toward the close of 1807, when
¿ Our commerce in common with that of the whole country suffered loss and vexation from French aggression toward the close of the last century. In 1802,
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HISTORY OF PORTLAND.
our inhabitants, in consequence of the suspension of intercourse with Great Britain in 1806, followed by the embargo in 1807, were at once cast down from their enviable prosperity. A number of large ships owned here had been engaged in the freighting business, and the rest of our navigation which had been employed in the fisheries and the transportation of lumber abroad, were now deprived of employment and laid up to decay. What was spared in this domestic system of protection was doomed to perish in the conflict for dominion which was raging between the English and French. In the two years following 1807, the navigation of this port fell off nine thousand tons, and the amount received for duties which in 1806, was three hundred and forty-two thousand nine hundred and nine dol- lars, declined in 1808 to forty-one thousand three hundred and sixty-nine dollars. In 1807 the same intelligent traveler, whose visit in 1797, we have noticed, thus speaks of our pros- perous condition ; "No place in our route hitherto, could for its improvement be compared with Portland. We found the buildings extended quite to the cove, doubled in their number, and still more increased in their appearance. Few towns in New England are equally beautiful and brilliant. Its wealth and business are probably quadrupled."1
The sudden check given to this unexampled prosperity, pros- trated at once all the fair prospects of our people, and produced a reverse more gloomy by contrast. The shipping which was valued, before the embargo, at a million and a half of dollars, and all the various classes of persons to whom it gave support,
1Dwight's Travels, vol ii. p. 208. In 1807, the Observatory was erected eighty- two feet high; the hill at its base is one hundred and forty-one feet above high . water mark : a good telescope was placed in it. The brick academy and the meeting-house of the third parish were also erected this year.
the merchants in this town and vicinity transmitted a petition to Congress, in which they stated that the losses sustained by them from captures by the French amounted to five hundred thousand dollars.
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COMMERCIAL EMBARRASSMENTS.
were thrown out of employment. Eleven commercial houses stopped payment in the latter part of 1807, among which were the largest ship-owners, and persons possessing the firmest credit of any in town. This was followed next year by a mul- titude of others, occasioned partly by the same causes which had produced the former, and partly by the shock given to commer- cial credit by the preceding failures. Great distress prevailed throughout this community, most of the laboring classes were deprived of work, and the people generally were reduced to the necessity of materially curtailing their expenses.1 So en- tirely paralyzed was commercial business, that the grass literally grew upon the wharves. The town did not wholly recover from this severe blow until after the peace of 1815.
Dr. Deane in his valuable diary under the year 1807, says, "Broken merchants this year, John Taber and Son, Dr. Stephen Cummings, Ebenezer Storer, Samuel Stephenson, Pritchard and Barneville, David Green, Weeks and Son, Jo- seph Mclellan and Son, Mclellan and Browne, Daniel Tucker, and John P. Thurston." Other failures followed among the most considerable of which were, Thomas Webster, one of our largest ship-owners, Joseph H. Ingraham, the largest owner of real estate with the exception of William Vaughan, Stevens and Hovey, Jacob Noyes, Thomas Cross, Samuel Butts, Neal Shaw, James Fosdick, Munroe and Tuttle, David Hale, Daniel Johnson, Woodbury Storer, Todd and Worthley, etc.
Taber and Son were Quakers ; John, the father, was a tanner and came here from Vassalborough, and formed a commer- cial connection with Samuel F. Hussey and Isaiah Hacker. That was dissolved and he took his son Daniel into partnership. They had so high a position for honesty and pecuniary ability, that their promises issued in the shape of bank bills passed as
' In January, 1808, by the influence of some liberal spirited individuals, a soup charity was established, where the poor of the town were daily supplied wih a good soup dinner.
.
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HISTORY OF PORTLAND.
currently as those of any bank. They were called "Taber's bills," and the failure of the firm caused much distress among the holders of the bills, which were never redeemed. It is said that when Daniel wanted money, and that was pretty often, he would issue a batch of Taber's bills.
Among the large merchants who survived the storm were Mathew Cobb, Asa Clapp, William Chadwick, Albert Newhall, Joseph Cross, Ralph Cross, Arthur Mclellan, James Deering, Benjamin Willis, Samuel Trask, Reuben Morton, etc.
The following extracts relating to Portland are taken from "Travels through the United States of North America and Can- ada, in 1795, 1796, and 1797," by the Duke de la Rochefoucault, published in London in 1799. He thus speaks of Portland :
PORTLAND,-"I came on Sunday to Portland, and was surprised to find the Inns so decent and well kept, in a part of the country so remote, and so rarely visited by travellers.
Portland is situated on a peninsula, which juts out into the bay. I entered it by the way of the isthmus which connects the peninsula with the land. You are obliged, in coming from North Yarmouth, to go more than three miles about. But a bridge is now building across that arm of the bay, which gives occasion for the present circuitous approach to the town. The bridge is built by sub- scription and is half finished.
This town of Portland may be reckoned handsome. That part of it which is called the new town, really consists of houses of a very good appearance. The old town, which was burnt by the English in the war that ended in the freedom of America, is a parcel of mean houses, the habitations of the poorer people. The quays are few ; and under them ships receiving or discharging their ladings can lie with safety; adjoining, are spacious store-houses for the reception of goods.
They are at present constructing, on the site of an old earthern breastwork, a fortification, which they expect to command the town, and to render it at least · secure from the invasions of an enemy. This new fortification stands at the ex- treme point of the peninsula on which Portland is established, and consists of a battery of fifteen or twenty heavy cannon, of large calibre, commanding that wide entrance of the bay which was above mentioned. This battery is to have by means of a covered way, a communication with a small fort at a distance of four or five hundred toises, which it has been thought necessary to erect on the highest part of the isthmus. The fort is sufficient to hold two hundred men.1
1 This refers to Fort Sumner which was commenced in 1794 under an appro- priation made by the general government in March of that year for the defense
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A FOREIGNER'S VIEW OF PORTLAND.
The trade of Portland is carried on in seventy ships, of various burthens, all belonging to the town. Many of them sail to Europe, though oftener to the Antilles. About twenty are engaged in the fishing of cod, which are taken among the islands at the mouth of the bay.
The merchants of Portland are numerous : but none of them possess great capital, as Portland, and the parts adjacent, are not equal to the consumption of the cargoes which the ships import in return for their exports ; these are generally carried to Boston, which is the principal mart for foreign commodi- ties.
The want of money occasions a greater proportion among them to be sent to the capital than is for the advantage of the place ; and here while the store-houses of Portland are neglected, the goods which might be bought and sold here, at a more reasonable rate, are bought by the people of this neighborhood, at an exorbitant price at Boston.
In 1785 the tonnage of the united townships of Falmouth and Portland, amounted to five thousand three hundred and forty tons in the foreign trade, one thousand six hundred and twenty-eight in the fishing and the coasting trade ; in all, six thousand nine hundred and sixty-nine tons. In October, 1795, the
of certain harbors. The barracks were erected on the summit of Munjoy's hill, surrounded by an earthern embankment beneath which was a deep, dry ditch. It was connected by a covered way with a battery erected on the southerly brow of the hill, near where Adams street now passes. Guns were mounted at both places; but the barracks for the accommodation of the men, and the parade ground, were within the enclosure on the hill. A company was stationed here for several years, and in 1809 it was the only fortified position in our harbor. In 1799, Capt. Amos Stoddard took command of the fort; in October, 1802, he was ordered to the Ohio with his company, which was replaced by another, under Lieut. Titcomb. The fort and breastwork were kept up until after the war of 1812, when the forces were withdrawn, and the works were suffered to go to decay. It was named for Increase Sumner, an honored Judge of the Su- preme Court of Massachusetts, and Governor of the State from 1797 to the time of his death in 1799.
Captain Stoddard was a lawyer in Hallowell from 1792 to 1798, when the war with France having been declared, he joined the army with a captain's com- mission : he had served in the army of the revolution three or four years. At the battle of Fort Meigs in May, 1813, he was wounded by a shell, and died soon after at the age of fifty-four, having attained the rank of Major in the reg- ular army. At one time he was commander of Upper Louisiana, and a military station there. Fort Stoddard was named for him. He was a man of education and talents ; he had published in London a work called "The Political Crisis," and afterward, "Sketches of Upper Louisiana." He delivered the 4th of July oration in Portland, in 1799.
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HISTORY OF PORTLAND.
tonnage of the ships registered for the year, was eight thousand four hundred and eight tons in the foreign trade ; five thousand three hundred and ninety in the coasting trade and fishing ; in all, thirteen thousand seven hundred and ninety tons. The value of the exports for Portland in 1791, seventy-four thou- sand eight hundred and four dollars ; in 1792, one hundred and five thousand one hundred and ninety dollars; in 1793, one hundred and forty-six thousand nine hundred and twenty-one; in 1794, one hundred and sixteen thousand six hundred and twelve dollars; in 1795, one hundred and sixty-five thousand six hundred and eighty-two dollars.
There is, as yet, no regular market for provisions in Portland. This small though handsome town consists of about three hundred houses which may con- tain two thousand three hundred souls. The presbyterians have here two churches; the episcopalians, one. Schools have also been established here, which are said to be pretty good. Lots of ground, for building in the town, are at a price which may be reckoned high; and land within a mile of the town costs twenty dollars an acre. Portland is the principal town in the county of Cumberland, which contains about twenty-four thousand inhabitants.
In Portland I lodged at the house of Mr. Davis, a young lawyer, whom, as well as Mr. Lee, I had seen at the house of Gen. Knox, by whom he is much es- teemed, on account of his agreeable manners, integrity and skill in his profes- sion."'1
1 Daniel Davis, the late solicitor general.
CHAPTER XXI.
DIVISION OF THE TOWN-ITS SIZE AND POPULATION-POST-OFFICE AND MAILS-STAGES-NEWSPAPERS -ADOPTION OF THE CONSTITUTION-REPRESENTATIVES TO CONGRESS-FRENCH MANIA-POLITICS OF THE TOWN IN 1793-REPUBLICAN SOCIETY.
Having anticipated many particulars which belong to a later period of our history, for the purpose of presenting a connected view of the growth and commercial character of the town, we must recur again for other interesting details to the period im- mediately subsequent to the revolution. After the prelimina- ries of peace were entered into, and fear of future 'invasion was removed, the subject of separating the Neck from the other part of Falmouth, and forming it into a distinct town, became a topic of discussion. A geographical division had always ex- isted, and the people in the two parts, by the pursuit of differ- ent interests, and still more, by the secession from the ancient parish of most of the inhabitants who lived in the other sections of the town, had become gradually alienated from each other. All the meetings of the town had been held upon the Neck, and the people there had generally exercised a controlling in- fluence in municipal affairs ;1 and a feeling of jealousy, no doubt existed, which, aided by the inconvenience to the out in-
1 From 1719, the first year in which the town was represented in the General Court, until Portland was incorporated, but three representatives were chosen from any other part of the town than the Neck.
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