Congress Street (Portland, Maine)

Last updated
The Hay Block, at the intersection of Free, High and Congress Streets in Congress Square. Congress Street, Portland ME.jpg
The Hay Block, at the intersection of Free, High and Congress Streets in Congress Square.
First Parish Church, located at 425 Congress Street. First Parish Church in Portland.jpg
First Parish Church, located at 425 Congress Street.
The Portland Museum of Art as viewed from Congress Square Park. Portland arts district 4.jpg
The Portland Museum of Art as viewed from Congress Square Park.

Congress Street is the main street in Portland, Maine. Congress stretches from Portland's southwestern border with Westbrook through a number of neighborhoods before ending overlooking the Eastern Promenade on Munjoy Hill. In March 2009, the Portland City Council designated much of the inner portion of Congress Street a historic district. [1] [2] The western section of the street includes the city's Arts District.

Contents

The street was formerly known as both Country Road and Back Street. [3]

History

When what is now Portland was founded by British colonists in the early 18th century, the population settled primarily on the waterfront near what is now India Street. Congress was laid out and originally known as Back Street and later Queen Street. The first prominent structures on the street were the First Parish Meeting House, built in 1740 and replaced to the present structure in the 1820s as well as the hay scales in Market Square, later known as Monument Square. From the early settlement of Portland until the American Revolutionary War period, Back Street was considered the far edge of the town. It took the name of Congress Street beginning in 1823. [4]

In 1921, the Etz Chaim Synagogue was built on the eastern end of Congress Street approaching Munjoy Hill. As of 2011, it was the only immigrant-era synagogue still functioning in Maine.

A study in 2011 sought to change a number of features on the street, including decreasing the number of stoplights and ending left hand turns off of the street. Greater Portland planners also called the street the most congested artery in the region. [5]

Public transportation

Greater Portland Metro's route 1 (Congress Street), 5 (The Maine Mall), 7 (Falmouth Flyer), 8 (Peninsula Loop), 9A (North Deering via Stevens Avenue), 9B (North Deering via Washington Avenue) and the BREEZ, and Biddeford Saco Old Orchard Beach Transit's route 60, serve Congress Street

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Portland, Maine</span> Largest city in Maine, United States

Portland is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maine and the seat of Cumberland County. Portland's population was 68,408 in April 2020. The Greater Portland metropolitan area has a population of approximately 550,000 people. Historically tied to commercial shipping, the marine economy, and light indulstry, Portland's economy in the 21st century relies mostly on the service sector. The Port of Portland is the second-largest tonnage seaport in the New England area as of 2019.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Munjoy Hill</span> Area of Portland, Maine, US

Munjoy Hill is both a neighborhood and prominent geographical feature of Portland, Maine. It is located east of downtown and south of East Deering, the neighborhood it is connected to by Tukey's Bridge. The neighborhood historically had a large Irish and Italian American population.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Old Port of Portland, Maine</span> Historic district in the U.S.

The Old Port is a district of Portland, Maine, known for its cobblestone streets, 19th-century brick buildings and fishing piers. The district contains boutiques, restaurants and bars. Because of its reputation for nightlife, the Old Port is a popular destination for tourists and locals alike.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of Portland, Maine</span>

The History of Portland, Maine begins when Native Americans originally called the Portland peninsula Məkíhkanək meaning “At the fish hook” in Penobscot and Machigonne in Algonquian. The peninsula and surrounding areas was home to members of the Algonquian-speaking Aucocisco branch of the Eastern Abenaki tribe who were forcibly relocated to current day Canada during European settlement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">West End (Portland, Maine)</span> Neighborhood in Portland, Maine

The West End is a downtown neighborhood in Portland, Maine. It is located on the western side of Portland's peninsula primarily on Bramhall Hill and is noted for its architecture and history. The neighborhood is home to many late 19th- and early 20th-century homes and, in 2010, it was called "one of the best preserved Victorian neighborhoods in the country". The Western Promenade, a park laid out in 1836, overlooks the forests and small settlements of Southwestern Maine, along with the distant White Mountains. Other historic structures include 68 High Street, The Gothic House, Brown House, Butler House, Ingraham House, Morrill Mansion and the Minott House.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eastern Cemetery</span> United States historic place

Eastern Cemetery is a historic cemetery at the intersection of Washington Avenue and Congress Street in the Munjoy Hill neighborhood of Portland, Maine. Established in 1668, it is the city's oldest historic site. It has more than 4,000 marked graves with an estimated further 3,000 burials in unmarked plots. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St. Lawrence Arts Center</span> Historic church in Maine, United States

The Hill Arts or St. Lawrence Arts Center is a performing arts center and community space at 76 Congress Street in the Munjoy Hill district of Portland, Maine. It is located in the former parish hall of the former St. Lawrence Church, a historic Romanesque church that was built in 1897. In 2008, due to severe deterioration, the sanctuary of the former church was razed and the organization began planning to create a performance arts space where the sanctuary stood. The church property was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arts District (Portland, Maine)</span>

The Arts District is a section of downtown Portland, Maine’s designated in 1995 as to promote the cultural community and creative economy of the city. It covers a large part of upper Congress Street towards the West End and spans Congress Street toward the East ending at Portland City Hall and its Merrill Auditorium concert hall.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eastern Promenade</span> United States historic place

The Eastern Promenade is a historic promenade, 68.2-acre (27.6 ha) public park and recreation area in Portland, Maine. Construction of the Promenade began in 1836 and continued periodically until 1934. The 1.5-mile (2.4 km) park was designed by the Olmsted Brothers design firm and experienced its greatest expansion from the 1880s to the 1910s. The Promenade rings around the Munjoy Hill neighborhood and occupies the farthest eastern portion of Portland's peninsula. The Promenade is home to many historical sites, including a mass grave and the mast of USS Portland.

Portland, Maine, is home to many neighborhoods.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Etz Chaim Synagogue</span> Synagogue in Portland, Maine

Etz Chaim Synagogue is a unaffiliated Jewish congregation, synagogue, and Jewish history museum, located at 267 Congress Street, at the head of India Street, in Portland, Maine, United States. The congregation is the only immigrant-era European-style synagogue remaining in Maine. It was founded in 1917 as an English-language Orthodox Sefardi congregation, rather than in the Yiddish-language tradition; and the synagogue was completed in 1921. In c. 2003, the dwindling Orthodox congregation became egalitarian and unaffiliated with any movement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stroudwater Historic District</span> Historic district in Maine, United States

Stroudwater Historic District is a historic district in the Stroudwater neighborhood of Portland, Maine. The district encompasses an important early village in the Portland area, significant as a shipbuilding and mill site established by Thomas Westbrook in 1727. The district was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.

Jews have been living in Maine, a state in the northeastern United States, for 200 years, with significant Jewish communities in Bangor as early as the 1840s and in Portland since the 1880s. The arrival of Susman Abrams in 1785 was followed by a history of immigration and settlement that parallels the history of Jewish immigration to the United States.

Shaarey Tphiloh is a Modern Orthodox Jewish congregation and synagogue located at 400 Deering Avenue, in Portland, Maine, in the United States. The congregation claims it is the oldest continuously operating synagogue in Portland. The name of the synagogue literally means "Gates of Prayer" in Hebrew.

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

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frederick A. Tompson</span> American architect

Frederick Augustus Tompson was an American architect from Portland, Maine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henry Rowe (architect)</span>

Henry Rowe was an Irish architect who practiced in nineteenth-century Massachusetts, New York and Maine. One of his most noted designs is The Gothic House, in the Spring Street Historic District of Portland, Maine, which was built in 1845. It is believed to be Rowe's first commission in the state, and is described in city promotional materials as the finest example of Gothic Revival architecture in Maine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fore Street (Portland, Maine)</span>

Fore Street is a downtown street in Portland, Maine, United States. It runs for around 1 mile (1.6 km), from the Eastern Promenade on Munjoy Hill in the northeast to Pleasant Street in the southwest. Near its midsection, Fore Street crosses Franklin Street. It splits briefly at Boothby Square, shortly after passing the United States Custom House. The street passes through the Old Port district.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">India Street</span> Downtown street in Portland, Maine

India Street is a downtown street and neighborhood in Portland, Maine, United States. Situated near the western foot of Munjoy Hill, it runs for around 0.28 miles (0.45 km), from Congress Street in the northwest to Commercial Street and Thames Street in the southeast. It was the city's first street, and the location of the first settlement of European immigrants to the city in the 17th century. There are thirty handmade bricks on the sidewalk commemorating the neighborhood's notable events.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Portland station (Grand Trunk)</span>

Portland station was a passenger rail station on the Grand Trunk Railway in Portland, Maine, United States. It stood to at the foot of India Street, Portland's first street, between 1903 and 1966. It was one of Portland's four railroad stations for the Portland and Forest Avenue Railroad Company over its history, and one of the two stations in the city at the time of the station's construction. The other one was Union Station, which has also been demolished.

References

  1. Proposed Congress Street Historic District Archived 2011-07-21 at the Wayback Machine City of Portland, Maine
  2. Recommendation of the Historic Preservation Board Archived 2011-07-21 at the Wayback Machine February 2009
  3. The Origins of the Street Names of the City of Portland, Maine as of 1995 – Norm and Althea Green, Portland Public Library (1995)
  4. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-07-21. Retrieved 2011-04-29.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) Congress Street Historic District-Designation Report
  5. Planner: Congress Street study not just for buses Portland Daily Sun , July 12, 2011