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Boston architect Henri Desmond designed the Portland Theater, opened as a vaudeville
theater in 1909.
Hollywood director John Ford's (born in Portland in 1896) real name was Sean Aloysius O'Feeny.
Portland station WLOB was known as "the powerhouse popular music station" during the
early 1960's.
The First Radio Parish Church of America, which premiered on WCSH radio in Portland in 1926,
is the oldest continuously broadcast religious radio program in the nation.
The Italian Street Festival is held in Portland in August.
The Portland dancer in the movie Carousel, is Jacques D'Amboise, who danced in the
ballet scene.
Sean O'Feeny (John Ford) played running back and defensive lineman on the Portland High
School football team.
As of May 1998, Portland's Deering Ice Cream Company had been in business for 112 years.
The seafood restaurant at 6 Custom House Wharf in Portland is Boone's, "On the Waterfront
Since 1898" as its slogan once claimed.
The Maine Antique Paper Show is at the Italian Heritage Center in Portland.
Maine's Annual Rockhound Roundup is held in Portland, in June.
The first "talking" picture, The Jazz Singer, was first shown in Maine in February 1928, at
Portland's Empire Theater.
Broadway actor "Captain" Lloyd Knight was the star of a children's hour on Portland's WGME-TV.
Portland is Maine's largest city
Portland is Maine's busiest seaport.
Portland, Maine was the first capital of the state.
Portland International is Maine's busiest airport.
Portland, Maine was the city first named Machigonne.
In 1906 Sarah Bernhardt visited Portland, Maine.
Henry P. Rines owned the first commercial radio station in Maine.
The state theater in Portland, Maine was the only one in 1929 to have its own supply of power.
TV star Linda Lavin (Alice) attended Wayneflete, a private school in Portland.
The call letters of WCSH-TV, the NBC affiliate in Portland, stand for Congress Square Hotel,
owned by the founder of WCSH radio and television.
As of 1998, Kim Block, of Portland's WGME-TV, was Maine's longest-working television
news anchor.
John Ford, of Portland, won an Academy Award in 1940 for directing The Grapes of Wrath.
The World of Carl Sandburg, starring Bette Davis and Gary Merrill, had its world premiere
at Portland's State Theater in September 1959.
Mildred Elizabeth Gillars, born on November 29, 1900, was the Portland-born woman
known as "Axis Sally," a Nazi propoganda broadcaster during World War II.
The Old Port Festival celebrates Portland's revitalization with a huge block party every June.
The Portland City Hall Auditorium's organ is named for Herman Kotzschmar, a
nineteenth-century organist/composer and friend of publishing magnate Cyrus Curtis,
who in 1912 donated the funds for the sixty-thousand-dollar organ.
Composer William C. MacFarlane, composer of "America the Beautiful," was chosen when
Portland became the first city in America to hire a municipal organist.
Maine's largest gem and mineral show is in Portland each June.
John Knowles Paine, a student of Herman Kotzschmar's in Portland, was known as
"the Dean of American Composers."
The first McDonald's to open in Maine was on Saint John Street in Portland, in May of 1963.
Capt. Lemuel Moody built the Portland Observatory in 1807.
Edward Francis White, of Portland, was the first name drawn in the national draft during the Civil
War.
Three streets in Portland are named after William Pitt Fessenden: William Street, Pitt Street, and
Fessenden Street.
Neal Dow was the mayor of Portland who ran for U.S. president on the Prohibition Party ticket in
1880.
Boss Reed was Thomas Brackett Reed, of Portland, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives,
1895-1899.
The Great Portland Fire was in 1866.
Reed's Rules are Parliamentary guidelines established by Speaker Thomas Brackett Reed, of
Portland, that are still in use in the Maine legislature.
Maine's first State House was on Congress Street in Portland, the capital from 1820 to 1833.
Rum was one of the port of Portland's most profitable nineteenth-century imports.
The Falmouth Gazette, printed in Portland on January 1, 1785, was the first newspaper published
in Maine.
Navel Commander Edward Preble, of Portland (1761-1807) is said to have sunk every ship he
ever engaged.
A Queen Atlantic is a massive kitchen stove manufactured by the Portland Foundry.
There were 105 telephones in Portland in 1880.
There were three carriages in the Portland parade honoring Lafayette in the summer of 1825.
The first telegraph lines were strung from Portland to Bangor in 1848.
Franklin Simmons, born in Portland in 1839 was the first American to win national fame as a
sculptor.
Composer John Knowles Paine, of Portland, wrote the first American oratorio, Saint Peter, in
1873.
The statue of William Wadsworth Longfellow in Portland's Longfellow Square was sculpted by
Franklin Simmons.
The Portland Symphony Orchestra premiered Walter Piston's Pine Tree Fantasy, in 1965.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wore such a full beard to hide scars acquired during his unsuccessful
attempt to rescue his second wife after she accidentally set her dress on fire at the Portland home.
The song composed by Portland composer Harvey S. Murray that was sung at the Maine Music
Festival in October 1897 was "When Richelieu the Red Robe Wore."
Eugene Francis Johnson, of Portland, wrote the song "Old Robin Bids Farewell.
Gen. Peleg Wadsworth, maternal grandfather of poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, built Portland's
Wadsworth-Longfellow house.
Franklin Simmons, of Portland, sculpted busts of the men in Lincoln's cabinet.
The Rossini Club of Portland was first organized in 1869 and is said to be one of the oldest
musical
clubs in the nation.
John Knowles Paine, of Portland, composed the "Harvard Hymn" as a tribute to the institution
where he was a music professor for forty years.
Art critic Edgar Allen Beem called Claude Montgomery, of Portland, "Maine's most noted portrait
artist."
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, of Portland, is the only American honored by a memorial bust in the
Poet's Corner of Westminster Abbey in London.
The children's book "Marmelstein for President" was written in 1978 by Marjorie Weiman Sharmat,
of Portland.
Contemporary Maine painter Robert Solotaire, of Portland, is best known for his portraits of Maine
cities.
Marine artist Franklin Stanwood was born at the Portland Alms House on March 16, 1852.
Portland-born Carolyn Chute wrote "The Beans of Egypt, Maine."
Poet Leo Connellan, a three-time Pulitzer nominee, was born in Portland and he grew up in
Rockland.
Portland resident Alfred Depew won the 1990 Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction.
The Wadsworth-Longfellow House, at 487 Congress Street, was the first brick building erected in
Portland.
Poet and prose writer John Neal (1794-1876) once lived at 173 State Street in Portland.
Paul Akers sculpted the figure "Dead Pearl Diver," part of the Sweat Museum's permanent
collection in Portland.
The letters of Rachel Carson were edited by Portland woman Martha Freeman, whose
book "Always, Rachel" was published in 1994.
Portland artist Harrison B. Brown was elected president of the Society of Art in 1892.
The Hustlers was the name of the 1930 Portland baseball team.
Livan Hernandez, of the Florida Marlins, former pitcher for the Portland Sea Dogs was named the
Most Valuable Player in the 1997 World Series
Hockey Hall of Fame forward Bryan Trottier coached the Portland Pirates hockey team in the 1997-
98 season.
Snowmobile driver Perry Kerry, of Portland, jumped nine cars at Scarborough Downs on February
11, 1977.
The Pirates is the nickname of the Portland professional hockey team.
The Maine Mariners was the nickname of Portland's first professional hockey team.
The Portland Sea Dogs play their home games at Hadlock Field.
The first person to climb to the peak of New Hampshire's Mount Washington is recorded as
Portland
businessman, Jedediah Preble.
A mascot named Slugger belongs to the Portland Sea Dogs.
The Portland Pirates play their home hockey games at the Cumberland County Civic Center.
Mark Plummer, of Portland, won ten Maine amateur golf championships, more than anyone else.
Fredi Gonzalez managed the Portland Sea Dogs in 1997.
Major-league pitcher Robert William "Stanley Steamer" Stanley was born in Portland.
About 200 species of birds have been seen in Portland's Back Cove.
The record snowfall for Portland in one winter was 141.5 inches, in 1970-71.
Portland's shortest day has a little fewer than nine hours of daylight.
There are almost sixteen hours of daylight in Portland's longest day.
Town Nicknames: America's Sunrise Gateway, Beautiful Town That Is Seated By The Sea
Town Nicknames: Beautiful City By The Sea, Vacation City On Casco Bay, Forest City, Hill City
Portland, Maine was originally called Machigonne (Great Neck) by the Native
Americans who first lived there. It was settled by the British in 1632 as a
fishing and trading settlement and renamed Casco. In 1658 its name was
changed again, this time to Falmouth.
In 1675 the city was completely destroyed by Indians during King Philips War.
The city was rebuilt, to be destroyed by the same Indians again several years
later. In 1775 the city was destroyed yet again, this time by bombardment by the
Royal Navy during the American Revolutionary War.
Following the war, Falmouth developed as a commercial port and began to
grow rapidly as a shipping center. In 1786 the citizens of Falmouth changed the
name to Portland. Portland's economy was greatly stressed by the Embargo Act
of 1807 (prohibition of trade with the British) and the War of 1812. In 1820 Maine
became a state and Portland was selected as its capital. By this time both the
Embargo Act and the war had ended, and Portland's economy began to recover.
In 1832 the capital was moved to Augusta.
On July 4, 1866 a fire ignited during the 4th of July celebration, destroyed most
of the commercial buildings in the city, half the churches and hundreds of
homes. More than 10,000 people were left homeless. After this fire, Portland
was rebuilt with brick and took on a Victorian appearance. Citizens began
building huge Victorian mansions along Portland's (now famous) western
promenade.
The high quality of architecture in Portland is in large part due to the succession
of talented architects who worked here. Charles A. Alexander (1822-1882)
provided many of the designs for Portland's Victorian mansions. Henry Rowe
(1810-1870) specialized in Gothic cottages. George M. Harding (1827-1910)
designed many of the commercial buildings in Portland's Old Port as well as
many of Portland's ornate residential buildings. Around the turn of the century
Frederick A. Tompson (1857-1906) designed many of Portland's residential
buildings.
But by far the most influential and prolific architects of the Western Promenade
area were Francis Fassett (1823-1906) and John Calvin Stevens (1855-1940).
In the 1870s Fassett was the undisputed leader in his profession. He was
commissioned to build the Maine General Building (now a wing of the Maine
Medical Center) and the Williston West Church as well as several schools and
his own home. From the early 1880s to the 1930s Stevens worked in a wide
range of styles from the Queen Anne and Romanesque popular at the beginning
of his career, to the Mission style of the 1920s, but the architect is best known for
his pioneering efforts in the Shingle and Colonial Revival styles, examples of
which abound in this area.
After being destroyed four times, Portland stands as one of the most beautiful
cities in New England. The Victorian style architecture, which was popular
during Portland's rebuilding, has been preserved very well by the city's strong
emphasis on preservation. Most cities have only small traces of architecture
from this era. Portland's unique history and determination to survive have made
it one of the best places to live and visit in the country. In 1982 the area was
entered on the National Register of Historic Places. In modern lifestyle surveys,
it is often cited as one of the best small cities to live in in America.
Submitted By: Wikipedia
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