Portland (Maine)

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Portland
Nickname : The Forest City
View of Portland
View of Portland
Seal of Portland
seal
Portland flag
flag
Location in Maine
Portland (Maine)
Portland
Portland
Basic data
Foundation : 1632
State : United States
State : Maine
County : Cumberland County
Coordinates : 43 ° 38 ′  N , 70 ° 11 ′  W Coordinates: 43 ° 38 ′  N , 70 ° 11 ′  W
Time zone : Eastern ( UTC − 5 / −4 )
Inhabitants :
Metropolitan Area :
66,937 (as of 2016)
529,657 (as of 2016)
Population density : 1,219.3 inhabitants per km 2
Area : 136.2 km 2  (approx. 53 mi 2 ) of
which 54.9 km 2  (approx. 21 mi 2 ) is land
Height : 19 m
Area code : +1 207
FIPS : 23-60545
GNIS ID : 0573692
Website : www.portlandmaine.gov
Mayor : Ethan K. Strimling

Portland is a city in Cumberland County in the US state of Maine . Portland had a population of 66,194 in the 2010 US census, covering an area of ​​136.2 km². The port city with a large seaport is the largest city in the state of Maine and Shire Town of the county.

geography

According to the United States Census Bureau , the place has a total area of ​​136.2 km², of which 54.9 km² is land and 81.3 km² is water.

Geographical location

Portland is a city in southern Cumberland County and is located on Casco Bay on the Atlantic Ocean . The port city of Portland is located on a 5 km long and 1.6 km wide peninsula at the mouth of the Fore River in Casco Bay, across from South Portland, to which it is connected by a bridge. The City of Portland also includes other islands in Casco Bay, which can only be reached by ship or ferry. Portland is the United States' closest port city to Europe.

Neighboring communities

All distances are given as straight lines between the official coordinates of the places from the 2010 census.

City structure

Portland is divided into neighborhoods. These include:

  • Arts District with galleries, theaters, museums and the Maine College of Art .
  • Back Cove is an urban area that borders the Portland Estuary Basin.
  • North Deering is the northernmost part of the city, in North Deering most of the historic buildings have been preserved, as North Deering was mostly spared from the fires.
  • East Deering is the easternmost district, in East Deering is Payson Park with the Longfellow Arboretum.
  • Deering Highlands was built on a hill in the 19th century.
  • Libbytown is a borough in the south of Portland, Interstate 295 runs through Libbytown.
  • Nasons Corner originally belonged to the Town of Deering, was incorporated into Portland in 1899 together with Deering.
  • Rosemont , located between Oakdale, Nasons Corner, Libbytown and Deering Center, is one of the areas of Portland that is not on the peninsula.
  • Oakdale in Oakdale is the campus of the University of Southern Maine
  • East Bayside on the Back Cove estuary was Portland's second seaport in the 19th century.
  • Deering Center originally an independent town was incorporated into Portland in 1899.
  • Munjoy Hill with the Portland Observatory
  • Old Port is the district known for its pebbled streets, boutiques, restaurants and bars.
  • Saint John Valley is a district that was only founded in 2008 between Libbyton, Parkside and the West End.
  • Stroudwater is the most southwestern part of Portland, and Portland (Maine) Airport is located there.
  • Portland Financial District , where many banks such as Key Bank, Bank of America, or TD Commerce Bank are located.
  • The West End is home to some of Portland's historic buildings, as well as Mercy Hospital
  • Islands: Portland also includes part of the islands in Casco Bay, e.g. E.g .: Little Diamond Island, Great Diamond Island and Peaks Island.

climate

Climate table

Portland, Maine
Climate diagram
J F. M. A. M. J J A. S. O N D.
 
 
90
 
-1
-11
 
 
85
 
1
-10
 
 
93
 
5
-4
 
 
104
 
11
1
 
 
92
 
17th
6th
 
 
87
 
23
11
 
 
79
 
26th
15th
 
 
73
 
25th
14th
 
 
79
 
21st
9
 
 
99
 
15th
4th
 
 
131
 
8th
-1
 
 
116
 
2
-8th
Temperature in ° Cprecipitation in mm
Source:
Average monthly temperatures and rainfall for Portland, Maine
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Max. Temperature ( ° C ) −0.9 0.6 5.2 11.3 17.3 22.6 26.0 25.2 20.7 14.8 8.3 1.7 O 12.8
Min. Temperature (° C) −11.4 −10.3 −4.2 1.2 6.3 11.2 14.6 13.9 9.4 3.5 −0.9 −7.9 O 2.2
Precipitation ( mm ) 89.7 84.6 93.2 103.6 91.9 87.4 78.5 72.9 78.5 99.1 131.3 115.6 Σ 1,126.3
Rainy days ( d ) 8.5 7.5 8.9 8.9 9.2 9.1 7.7 7.5 6.7 7.5 9.6 9.7 Σ 100.8
T
e
m
p
e
r
a
t
u
r
−0.9
−11.4
0.6
−10.3
5.2
−4.2
11.3
1.2
17.3
6.3
22.6
11.2
26.0
14.6
25.2
13.9
20.7
9.4
14.8
3.5
8.3
−0.9
1.7
−7.9
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
N
i
e
d
e
r
s
c
h
l
a
g
89.7
84.6
93.2
103.6
91.9
87.4
78.5
72.9
78.5
99.1
131.3
115.6
  Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Source:

history

The Abenaki who populated the area called them Machigonne (Big Neck). The port city of Portland was founded as a trading and fishing settlement as early as 1632. Indian raids in 1675 and 1690 decimated the white population. In 1690 all settlers were killed in the raid. Samuel Moody founded the Port of Portland in 1716. He named it Falmouth Neck . During the American Revolutionary War , Portland was bombed and burned by British forces. It was rebuilt in 1786.

With independence from Massachusetts in 1820, Portland became the capital of Maine until 1831. Cyrus Hermann Kotzschmar Curtis Verleger, son of the city and born in 1850, offered the City to build an organ in the new City Hall after a fire in 1908 which damaged the City Hall. This was built by the Austin Organ Company of Hartford and was intended to be a memorial to Hermann Kotzschmar. Kotzschmar, a German immigrant, was the organist of the first Unitarian Universalist parish in Portland for 47 years . The Kotzschmar Memorial Organ is a key feature of Portland City Hall to this day.

A great fire on Independence Day, July 4th 1866, destroyed a large part of Portland. A carelessly thrown fireworks set a store on Commercial Street on fire, the fire spreading to the Brown Sugar House and from there diagonally across the city. It spread in a fan shape. Entire streets, including massive warehouses, churches and apartment buildings, were destroyed. The fire ended near Munjoy Hills. Around 1,500 buildings in 58 streets were destroyed. This left around 10,000 people homeless. In the course of the reconstruction, the old streets were widened and straightened. After about ten years the rubble was cleared and Portland was almost completely rebuilt.

Trade collapsed in Portland during World War I, but revived after the war ended.

Population development

Census Results - City of Portland, Maine
year 1700 1710 1720 1730 1740 1750 1760 1770 1780 1790
Residents 2240
year 1800 1810 1820 1830 1840 1850 1860 1870 1880 1890
Residents 3704 7169 8581 12598 15218 20815 26341 31413 33810 36425
year 1900 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990
Residents 50145 58571 69272 70810 73643 77634 72566 65116 61572 64358
year 2000 2010 2020 2030 2040 2050 2060 2070 2080 2090
Residents 64249 66194

politics

Town twinning

Culture and sights

Museums

Extension to the Portland Museum of Art

The Portland Museum of Art was founded in 1882. It is the largest art museum in Maine and shows a collection of European art from impressionism to the present, especially paintings by artists working in Maine.

Historical objects

Portland is home to the historic McLellan Sweat Mansion (also known as the LDM Sweat Memorial Art Museum or Sweat Mansion ). The mansion is located on 111 High Street. Erected in 1800, the building was listed on March 5, 1970 by the National Register of Historic Places as a Historic Monument with the number 70000073. It was also inscribed on the National Historic Landmark . Portland has 88 properties on the National Register of Historic Places. Among them the Tate House, built in 1755, now a museum, or the Fort Gorges.

The Portland Observatory was built in 1807. The tower is a timber lattice tower with a stone foundation. It is the last maritime signal tower in the United States. In 2006 he was added to the List of Historic Civil Engineering Landmarks by the American Society of Civil Engineers .

Parks

One of the oldest parks in Portland is Riverton Trolley Park . It was built in 1896. At the turn of the century, it was one of Portland's greatest attractions. It existed until 1929. In the park there were hiking trails through the woods, a casino, an amphitheater, a dance hall and a petting zoo. For visitors arriving from Portland in trolleys, boat trips on the Presumpscot River, concerts in the bandstand, croquet games and variety shows in the open-air theater were offered. Today it is preserved as a hiking area.

Sports

The Maine Red Claws play basketball in the NBA Development League . They carry out their home games at the Portland Exposition Building and are the farm team of the Boston Celtics .

Economy and Infrastructure

Portland is known nationwide for the headquarters of large insurance companies and banks (Portland Financial District), but especially for its old port, which attracts many tourists, and for the famous lighthouse, the Portland Head Light.

traffic

Portland has an international airport and several train stations . Portland also had a streetcar operation from 1863 to 1941 .

In 1873 the Boston and Maine Railroad was expanded from South Berwick to Portland and in 1875 the Portland and Rochester Railroad was completed. In the same year also the Portland and Ogdensburg Railway .

Public facilities

The Maine General Hospital opened in 1874 with 40 beds. The Maine Eye and Ear Infirmary , in 1890, and the Children's Hospital in 1908. These three facilities merged into the Maine Medical Center in 1951. The Catholic Diocese of Portland opened Queens Hospital in 1918 for victims of the flu epidemic from 1918. It was operated by the Sisters of Mercy and later renamed Mercy Hospital.

graveyards

There are 16 cemeteries in the City of Portland area, with only 21 dead from the 1812 War on the smallest . Most of these cemeteries are rarely used for funerals. Only two of the cemeteries, Evergreen and Forest City, have a total of around 300 burials a year.

education

Eleven elementary schools, four middle schools and five high schools are available to students.

There are also campuses of the University of Southern Maine , the private University of New England and the Maine College of Art in Portland. The Maine College of Art was founded in 1882 to complement the art museum and is the oldest art education institution in Maine.

The Portland public library is distributed in five locations across the city.

Personalities

Portland is the birthplace of writers Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and Stephen King , composer John Knowles Paine , investment banker Edson Mitchell and actress Anna Kendrick . King has repeatedly incorporated Portland into his work by letting parts of the plot of his books happen there.

Trivia

Portland has voted to legalize the cannabis trade , as had previously happened under similar conditions in the states of Washington and Colorado .

The city of the same name Portland in Oregon was founded by Francis Pettygrove from Portland (Maine), who named the city after his hometown.

literature

  • John F. Bauman: Gateway to Vacationland: The Making of Portland, Maine. University of Massachusetts Press, Amherst 2012, ISBN 978-1-55849-909-6 .

Web links

Commons : Portland (Maine)  - Collection of pictures, videos, and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. Portland in the Geographic Names Information System of the United States Geological Survey , accessed March 18, 2018
  2. Maine 2010 Census Results ; official publication of the Census Authority, (English; PDF; 32.5 MB)
  3. Coordinates of the locations of the Census Authority 2010
  4. Interactive Map of the City of Portland. Retrieved November 1, 2018 .
  5. ^ National Weather Service, US Dept of Commerce
  6. a b c d e f History of Portland, Maine. In: us-history.com. www.us-history.com, accessed December 13, 2015 .
  7. a b History of Portland, Maine. In: rays-place.com. history.rays-place.com, accessed December 13, 2015 .
  8. Population 1790–2010 according to the census results
  9. Home | Portland Museum of Art. In: portlandmuseum.org. Retrieved December 20, 2015 .
  10. NRIS
  11. National Historic Landmarks Program (McLellan-Sweat Mansion) ( Memento of the original from September 23, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / tps.cr.nps.gov
  12. Riverton Trolley Park | Portland Trails. In: trails.org. Retrieved December 13, 2015 .
  13. Cemeteries | Portland, ME. In: portlandmaine.gov. Retrieved December 13, 2015 .
  14. ^ Home - Portland Public Schools. In: portlandschools.org. Retrieved December 13, 2015 .
  15. ^ Home - Portland Public Library. In: portlandlibrary.com. Portland Public Library, accessed December 13, 2015 (American English).
  16. US Small Town Legalizes Marijuana , accessed November 8, 2013.