Black & White Portland, views from the 40's and 50's

[Patrick]

This is the first batch of many to come. What an excellent collection. Thanks Portlander!
This is the first of many, once I work out some kinks in the scanning process there will be plenty more, including aerials. enjoy!

today:

the Hannaford building today:

[Patrick]

[BostonUrbEx]

Love this! Reminds me of the shot of Washington St in Boston, a little bit. (The one with the dentist stepping out his 3rd story door)

Love the aerials, too.

[grittys457]

[grittys457]

[grittys457]

I have two other ones from that area that are great, I'll add them later today

[Portlander]

Patrick. Nice job, your efforts are appreciated. The aerials show off Portland's impressive urban density for a city population of only around 75,000 during this period.

[Patrick]

The first aerial is my favorite. Its my desktop background now. Grittys where is Angelone's?

[Patrick]

[Corey]

^ I wish Unum were still downtown, I hate being stuck out here on the outskirts.

I LOVE the look of that Graymore Hotel building and whatever is between that and the Maine Bank & Trust building that has a marquee of some sort (a theater I would presume). Much better than the drive-thru that has replaced both buildings. We need more development like that sprouting off of Congress!

[Patrick]

That theatre was a HUGE controversy when plans for 100 Monument Square were revealed (the 15 story addition planned for the Maine Bank and Trust building in the lot that currently has the ATM in between the public market. I am not sure why it was demolished despite development/construction not moving forward. I have a bunch of renderings and news paper clippings from the Portlander's collection that I have scanned but not had the time to upload yet. They all make for a pretty interesting read.

[Patrick]

Originally Posted by BostonUrbEx

Love this! Reminds me of the shot of Washington St in Boston, a little bit. (The one with the dentist stepping out his 3rd story door)

Love the aerials, too.

I like that shot too. Today at work I sketched it quickly.

[Portlander]

It's nice to see that all of the buildings on the right sight are still intact with the exception of the former Falmouth Hotel (Canal Plaza) in the center. Not sure which I prefer, the buzz and vitality of the traffic prior to 1974, or the much quieter pedestrian plaza that is there now?

[Corey]

Has anyone else seen this facebook group, Portland Maine Encyclopedia of the 1960's, 70's & 80's?

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=52958383342

So many interesting photos. Why did I just come upon this?!?!

[Patrick]

Hi Corey --

Yes, those are some awesome photos. One of them I believe is the Civic Center under construstion during site prep stages. I have never seen that group before, so thanks for sharing.

Also, in regards to your blog post on the train station for mass transit downtown, do you know anymore about it (from the Old Port festival). I have heard rumors of a planned or at least contemplated site in the downtown, somewhere along middle or temple, and I assume that picture you posted is located in the actual spot, but I'm not sure I understand how the train would function. When you say light rail, do you mean as a loop around the peninsula intra-city, or are you referring to the commuter rail being considered by Portland North (as part of MDOT study)? I have heard rumors about both, but I've never been able to imagine a rail line downtown. The other options are both on commercial, by the cumberland self storage building and at the foot of India street, both of which seem more feasible to me, but of course I would LOVE to see an intown train station somewhere. It would be great. Anything else you know about this I would be very interested in hearing. Thanks.

[Portlander]

That is actually the Spring Street Garage under construction probably around 1972. The 5 story building to the right along with a few others were demolished to make way for the Civic Center which did not open until 1977.

The shot of Long Wharf which used to be Pocahontas Wharf was destroyed by a massive fire. I remember walking on the pier while it was in that condition in the mid seventies. The floating restaurant and parking lot is a huge improvement.

Nice photos Corey!

[Corey]

Yeah the 2nd picture is of the Spring Street Arterial construction. The parking garage is the one next to the Civic Center and in the lower right is the Holiday Inn lot I think

Patrick, I actually don't know any more details other than what you've said above. Last I heard the Portland North rail study is looking at either running along Commercial Street (with a new station near the bridge/Cumberland Self Storage) or along I295 in Bayside (New station somewhere by the Miss Portland Diner). Haha, I was just being cynical/sarcastic when I posted the picture of the carnival train station ride from the Old Port Fest. It just happened to be where the ride was and I sometimes like to gently push my anti-automobile-dependence views on my blog's readers. Although I would love to see some sort of streetcar network branch out from the downtown station with a stops downtown.

[Patrick]

okay Corey thanks. I was going to say, that sounds tricky. Thanks.

[Corey]

Found this photo in the Congress Square Plaza Re-design Initiative TaskForce (that's a mouthful) presentation. (link to site) Looks like it's from the 60's?



I live across from the Gateway Garage so it's especially intriguing to me. It's interesting that there was a hotel drop off area at the rear of the hotel.

[FrankLloydMike]

Those are some nice pictures. I've been to Portland several times, and enjoy the city very much (and I think it feels like a much larger city than it is). I'm not as familiar with it as I am with Boston or Manchester, but as more cities are returning to more traditional urban planning practices, it's always nice to see where we've been. Downtown Portland doesn't seem to have suffered as great a removal of old buildings in favor of parking lots as Manchester has, but it's still nice to see evidence of more complete cities than we have today and be able to imagine a return to that sort of development soon.