# Timeline of Portland, Maine

The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Portland, Maine, USA.

## Prior to 19th century

* 1633 - Casco settled.
* 1658 - Settlement renamed "Falmouth."
* 1659 - George Munjoy settled what became Munjoy Hill
* 1668 - Eastern Cemetery established.
* 1676 - Village sacked by the Wampanoag during King Philip's War.
* 1690 - Battle of Fort Loyal.
* 1718 - Town of Falmouth established.
* 1740 - First Parish Church built.
* 1763 - Falmouth Library Society organized.
* 1764 - Population: about 2,000.
* 1768 - Portland Fire Department formed, March 29.
* 1775
** Thompson's War
** Town burned by British.
* 1785 - Falmouth Gazette newspaper begins publication.
* 1785/6 - Wadsworth-Longfellow House built.
* 1786 - Falmouth renamed "Portland."
* 1790
** Gazette of Maine newspaper begins publication.
** Population: 2,240.
** Lighthouse built.
* 1796 - Portland Marine Society incorporated.

## 19th century

* 1800 - Population: 3,704.
* 1803 - Eastern Argus newspaper begins publication.
* 1805 - Portland Benevolent Society incorporated.
* 1806 - Gorham Academy built.
* 1807
** Portland Observatory built.
** Birth of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
* 1819 - State constitutional convention held.
* 1820
** Portland becomes capital of State of Maine.
** Maine Council of Royal Masters instituted.
** Population: 8,581.
* 1821
** High School established.
** Maine Mineralogical Society established.
** Maine Encampment of Knight Templars established.
* 1822 - Maine Historical Society founded.
* 1825 - First Parish Church built.
* 1826 - Portland Athenaeum founded.
* 1827 - John Neal opened the first public gymnasium in the US founded by an American in the Market House.
* 1828
** Maine's first literary periodical, The Yankee, founded by John Neal.
** Abyssinian Meeting House established.
** Mariner's Church built.
* 1829
** Theatre built on Union Street.
** Western Cemetery established.
* 1830 - Population - 12,598.
* 1831 - Westbrook Seminary chartered.
* 1832
** State capital moves from Portland to Augusta.
** City of Portland chartered.
** Cumberland and Oxford Canal opened bringing interior trade to Portland harbor from Long Lake
* 1836 - Western Promenade laid out.
* 1839 - B. Thurston & Co. publishers established.
* 1843
** Railway service began between Boston and Portland.
** Portland Society of Natural History organized.
* 1844 - Portland Steam Packet Company organized.
* 1845 - The Pleasure Boat newspaper begins publication.
* 1846 - Portland Company established to build railway locomotives.
* 1849 - Portland Gas Light Co. incorporated.
* 1850
** Curtis' chewing gum manufactory in business.
** Population: 20,815.
* 1851 - Kennebec and Portland Rail Road begins operating.
* 1853
** Grand Trunk Railway to Montreal begins operating.
** Portland Board of Trade established.
** Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland established.
* 1855
** Portland Rum Riot.
** Evergreen Cemetery established.
** United States Marine Hospital established.
* 1856 - Chestnut Street Methodist Church built.
* 1859 - Forest City Cemetery established.
* 1862
** Portland Daily Press newspaper begins publication.
** Maine Central Railroad Company begins operations.
* 1863
** Battle of Portland Harbor.
** Portland street car service began.
** Galt wharf grain elevator completed for export of Canadian wheat.
* 1866 - Fire.
* 1867
** Portland Institute and Public Library founded.
** First Baptist Church built.
** Water company established to supply the city from Sebago Lake.
* 1868 - U.S. Customhouse and St. Paul's Church and Rectory built.
* 1869 - Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception construction completed.
* 1870 - Cumberland and Oxford Canal abandoned when Portland and Ogdensburg Railroad reached Sebago Lake.
* 1875 - Southworth Press established.
* 1881 - Young People's Society of Christian Endeavour founded by Francis Edward Clark.
* 1882
** Portland Society of Art founded.
** Evening Express newspaper begins publication.
* 1884 - Maine Genealogical Society organized.
* 1886 - Portland centennial.
* 1888 - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Monument unveiled at Longfellow Square in West End.
* 1890 - Population: 36,425.
* 1891 - Portland Soldiers and Sailors Monument dedicated on Monument Square.
* 1897
** Jefferson Theatre opens.
** Maine Music Festival begins.
** St. Lawrence Church and Williston-West Church built.
* 1898 - Waynflete School established.
* 1899
** Deering becomes part of Portland.
** Portland Camera Club formed.
* 1900 - Population: 50,145.

## 20th century

* 1901 - New England Elevator Company built the largest grain elevator on the Atlantic coast.
* 1906 - Portland Company ceased building railway locomotives.
* 1908 - Portland Society of Arts and Crafts organized.
* 1909 - City Hall re-built.
* 1910
** Memorial statue of Thomas Brackett Reed unveiled.
** Population: 58,571.
* 1911
** L. D. M. Sweat Memorial Art Museum dedicated.
** Portland Terminal Company formed.
* 1912
** Kotzschmar Memorial Organ installed in City Hall's Merrill Auditorium.
** Eastern Promenade laid out according to design by Olmsted Brothers.
* 1913
** State of Maine Express began direct Pullman railway service from major US cities to Portland.
** Historical pageant takes place on Eastern Promenade.
* 1914
** Portland–Lewiston Interurban service began between Portland and Lewiston.
** Green Memorial A.M.E. Zion Church and Portland Exposition Building built.
* 1916 - Million Dollar Bridge opens.
* 1918 - Queen's Hospital for women opens.
* 1919 - Portland designated eastern end of the Theodore Roosevelt International Highway.
* 1921 - Etz Chaim Synagogue built.
* 1923
** Portland Symphony Orchestra and Children's Theatre of Portland established.
** Canadian National Railway began diverting export traffic from Portland to Canadian Maritime ports.
* 1924
** Maine State Pier and Chapman Building constructed.
** Longfellow Garden Club organized.
* 1926 - U.S. Route 1 linked Portland to the United States highway system.
* 1928 - James E. Barlow hired as second City Manager
* 1929 - State Theatre opens.
* 1930 - The Gull began international Pullman train service through Portland from the Maritimes.
* 1933
** Portland-Westbrook Municipal Airport established.
** End of interurban service from Portland to surrounding communities.
* 1934 - Flying Yankee began streamliner service to Portland.
* 1940 - East Wind began summer passenger train service to Portland for vacationers from major eastern cities.
* 1941
** Portland–Montreal Pipe Line completed.
** Portland became United States Navy destroyer base Sail during the Battle of the Atlantic.
** Victoria Mansion museum opens.
** Portland street car system dismantled.
* 1942 - Battery Steele built.
* 1944 - A-26 Invader crash near Portland airport was Maine's worst aircraft accident.
* 1946 - Baxter Woods municipal forest established.
* 1947 - Maine Turnpike connected Portland to what would become the Interstate Highway System.
* 1950 - Population: 77,634.
* 1953 - WCSH begins broadcasting.
* 1954 - WMTW begins broadcasting.
* 1960 - Tukey's Bridge built.
* 1961 - Demolition of Union Station ended daily passenger train service to Portland.
* 1964 - Greater Portland Landmarks preservation group formed.
* 1965 - Kennedy Park housing built.
* 1967 - Summer weekend passenger train service to Portland ended.
* 1970 - University of Southern Maine Portland campus established.
* 1973
** Old Port Festival begins.
** WMPG begins broadcasting.
** Salt Institute for Documentary Studies founded.
* 1974 - The Hollow Reed restaurant in the Old Port is founded.
* 1976 - Children's Museum of Maine founded.
* 1977 - Cumberland County Civic Center built.
* 1978 - Portland Stage Company active.
* 1984
** Sister city relationship established with Shinagawa, Tokyo, Japan.
** Portland Ice Arena opens.
* 1985 - Portland Monthly magazine begins publication.
* 1993
** Portland Pirates ice hockey team formed.
** Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad Museum opens.
* 1994
** Portland Chamber Music Festival begins.
** PORTopera founded.
** Hadlock Field opens.
* 1997
** Casco Bay Bridge opens.
** City website online (approximate date).

## 21st century

* 2001 - Downeaster restores passenger train service to Portland.
* 2003 - Sister city relationship established with Mytilene, Greece.
* 2006 - Maine Roller Derby and Portland Society of Architects founded
* 2008 - Maine Mead Works in business.
* 2009
** Port City Music Hall opens.
** Congress Street designated an historic district.
* 2010
** State Theatre reopens.
** Population: 66,194 city; 514,098 metro.