Libbytown | |
---|---|
Neighborhood in Portland, Maine | |
Coordinates: 43°39′15″N70°17′05″W / 43.654033°N 70.284836°W | |
State | Maine |
County | Cumberland |
City | Portland |
Libbytown is a neighborhood in Portland, Maine, United States. [1] One of the oldest neighborhoods in the city, [2] it is located between the Stroudwater, Rosemont, Oakdale, and Parkside neighborhoods, and is separated from the city of South Portland by the Fore River. [3] It extends to the intersection of Stevens Avenue and Congress Street. [1]
It was originally settled by Irish Catholic immigrants. Described as cohesive, it began to decline following the 1961 demolition of Union Station on St. John Street. Around the same time, the neighborhood was divided by the construction of Interstate 295 and the cloverleaf interchange which comprise exit 5. [2]
A long-standing Denny's restaurant occupied an area formerly known as Libby's Corner, [2] between Park Avenue to the north and Congress Street to the south. It closed in 2022, and was purchased by the Maine Department of Transportation (MaineDOT). It was demolished in March 2024. [4] MaineDOT plans to construct a roundabout in an attempt to reconnect the neighborhood over sixty years after the division. Park Avenue and Congress Street would return to being two-way streets. [2] The project was given a $22.4 million federal grant as part of the U.S. Department of Transportation's Reconnecting Communities and Neighborhoods Program. [4]
Maine's busiest public transit hub, the Portland Transportation Center, is in Libbytown. Tony's Donuts, a donut shop on Bolton Street, [5] was established in the neighborhood in 1965. [1]
Libbytown is named after tavern keeper George Libby and his descendants, who immigrated from Ireland in the early 1800s and set up three businesses between Park Avenue and outer Congress Street. [2]
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 industry, 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.
South Portland is a city in Cumberland County, Maine, United States, and is the fourth-most populous city in the state, incorporated in 1898. At the 2020 census, the city population was 26,498. Known for its working waterfront, South Portland is situated on Portland Harbor and overlooks the skyline of Portland and the islands of Casco Bay. Due to South Portland's close proximity to air, marine, rail, and highway transportation options, the city has become a center for retail and industry in the region. The Maine Mall, the largest shopping mall in the state, is located in South Portland.
Exchange Street is a main commercial thoroughfare in the Old Port of Portland, Maine, United States. Originally laid out in 1724, today it features a number of designer clothing stores, as well as several small, locally owned businesses, including Sherman's Maine Coast Books. It runs, one-way, for around 0.24 miles (0.39 km), from Congress Street in the northwest to Fore Street in the southeast. Its main intersections are with Congress Street, Federal Street, Middle Street and Fore Street.
Munjoy Hill is a neighborhood and prominent geographical feature of Portland, Maine. It is located east of downtown and south of East Deering, the neighborhood via Tukey's Bridge. In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the neighborhood had a large Irish and Italian American population.
The Maine Mall is an enclosed shopping mall in South Portland, Maine, United States. Owned and managed by Brookfield Properties, it is the largest shopping mall in the state of Maine, and the second-largest in northern New England, behind New Hampshire's the Mall at Rockingham Park.
Montavilla is a neighborhood in the Northeast and Southeast sections of Portland, Oregon, United States, and contains an area east of Mount Tabor and west of Interstate 205, from the Banfield to SE Division. It is bordered by North Tabor, Mount Tabor, South Tabor, Madison South, Hazelwood, and Powellhurst-Gilbert.
Portland Transportation Center is a bus and train station in Portland, Maine, United States, served and run primarily by Concord Coach Lines and Amtrak Downeaster passenger trains. It is also served by Megabus, as well as the Greater Portland Metro route 1 and BREEZ bus services. The station is open from 4:30 AM to 12:15 AM and from 2:45 AM to 3:15 AM.
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.
East Bayside is a neighborhood in Portland, Maine. It is bordered by Franklin Street on the west, Washington Avenue on the east, to the north by Marginal Way, and the south by Congress Street. It is bordered by the neighborhoods of Bayside, the Old Port and Munjoy Hill. It is often confused with the Bayside neighborhood, which is on the opposite side of Franklin Street.
Portland, Maine, is home to many neighborhoods.
Monument Square is a town square in downtown Portland, Maine, about halfway between the East Bayside and Old Port neighborhoods. The Time and Temperature Building, Fidelity Trust Building, and the main branch of the Portland Public Library are on Congress Street, across from the square, while One Monument Square and One City Center are among the buildings on the square itself.
Franklin Street is a four-lane street in Portland, Maine, United States. It is a major corridor for traffic from Interstate 295 to Portland's downtown, Old Port, and to other neighborhoods located on the Portland peninsula. Part of U.S. Route 1A, it is around 0.77 miles (1.24 km) long, running between Marginal Way in the northwest and Commercial Street in the southeast.
Congress Street is the main street in Portland, Maine. Around 5.77 miles (9.29 km) long, it stretches from County Road, 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. The western section of the street includes the city's Arts District.
Forest Avenue is a major street in Portland, Maine, United States. It runs for around 4.78 miles (7.69 km), from Bridgton Road in the northwest to Congress Street, in downtown Portland, in the southeast. It is the main artery for traffic entering and leaving Portland to and from the west via city streets. Forest Avenue passes to the south of Back Cove, while Washington Avenue passes to its north. The street ends in Portland's Arts District.
Union Station was a train station in the Libbytown neighborhood of Portland, Maine, which operated from 1888 to 1960. Located on St. John Street, it was demolished in 1961 and is now the site of a strip mall.
The Metro Breez is an express bus service in Southern Maine, United States, provided by Greater Portland Metro. It runs thirteen times on weekdays and six times on Saturdays between Portland, the state's largest city, and Brunswick, around 30 miles (48 km) to the northeast, with stops in Yarmouth and Freeport.
Public transportation in Maine is available for all four main modes of transport—air, bus, ferry and rail—assisting residents and visitors without their own vehicle to travel around much of Maine's 31,000 square miles (80,000 km2).
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 in the sidewalk commemorating the neighborhood's notable events. In 1680, when Thomas Danforth was Deputy Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, the street was known as Broad Street. After the incorporation of the Town of Falmouth in 1718, the street was known as High King Street.
Federal Street is a historic downtown street in Portland, Maine, United States. It runs for around 0.56 miles (0.90 km), from Monument Square, in the southwest to Mountfort Street, at the foot of Munjoy Hill, in the northeast. Its middle section was wiped out by the widening of Franklin Street in 1967.
Portland Railroad Company (PRR) was a trolleycar service that was based Portland, Maine, between 1860 and 1941.