The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Portland, Maine, United States, from its settling in 1633 to the present day.
17th century 1632 - Casco settled. 1658 - Settlement renamed "Falmouth." 1659 - George Munjoy settled what became Munjoy Hill.History of Peaks and House Islands – Nathan Goold (1897), p. 14 1668 - Eastern Cemetery established. 1676 - Village sacked by the Wampanoag during King Philip's War. 1690 - Battle of Fort Loyal.
18th century 1718 - Town of Falmouth established. 1740 - First Parish Church built. 1763 - Falmouth Library Society organized. 1764 - Population: about 2,000. 1768 Portland Fire Department formed. Portland Farmers' Market established. 1775 Thompson's WarLeamon, James S. Revolution Downeast: The War for American Independence in Maine (1995) University of Massachusetts Press pp.62-67 Town burned by British. 1785 - Falmouth Gazette newspaper begins publication. 1785/1786 - Peleg Wadsworth built what became known as the Wadsworth-Longfellow House. 1786 - Falmouth renamed "Portland." 1790 Gazette of Maine newspaper began publication. Population: 2,240. Lighthouse built. 1791 - 159–161 Fore Street, the 1807 birthplace of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, built. 1794 - Fort Sumner built. 1796 - Portland Marine Society incorporated.
19th century
1800 - Population: 3,704. 1803 Eastern Argus newspaper began publication. United States Hotel built in Haymarket Square (today's Monument Square). 1805 - Portland Benevolent Society incorporated. 1806 - Gorham Academy built. 1807 Portland Observatory built. Birth of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Queen's Hospital opened (later renamed Northern Light Mercy) 1819 - State constitutional convention held. 1820 Portland became the capital of the State of Maine. Maine Council of Royal Masters instituted. Population: 8,581. 1821 High School established. Maine Mineralogical Society established. Maine Encampment of Knight Templars established. 1822 - Maine Historical Society founded.
1825 First Parish Church built. Market (or Haymarket) House built Haymarket Square. 1826 - Portland Athenaeum founded. 1827 - John Neal opened the first public gymnasium in the U.S. founded by an American in the Market House. 1828 Maine's first literary periodical, The Yankee, founded by John Neal. Abyssinian Meeting House established. Mariner's Church built. 1829 Theatre built on Union Street. Western Cemetery established. 1830 - Population - 12,598. 1831 - Westbrook Seminary chartered. 1832 State capital moved from Portland to Augusta. City of Portland chartered. Cumberland and Oxford Canal opened bringing interior trade to Portland harbor from Long Lake.Ward, Ernest E. My First Sixty Years in Harrison, Maine Cardinal Printing 1967 p.7 1833 - Market House converted into Portland's first City Hall. 1834 - Sylvester Graham Riot at the Temple Street Church. 1836 - Western Promenade laid out. 1839 - B. Thurston & Co. publishers established. 1843 Railway service began between Boston and Portland. Portland Society of Natural History organized. 1844 - Portland Steam Packet Company organized. 1845 - The Pleasure Boat newspaper began publication. 1846 - Portland Company established to build railway locomotives. 1849 - Portland Gas Light Co. incorporated. 1850 Population: 20,815. 1851 - Kennebec and Portland Railroad began operating. 1852 - Commercial Street completed on land reclaimed from the Fore River estuary. 1853 Grand Trunk Railway to Montreal began operating. Portland Board of Trade established. Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland established.
1855 Portland Rum Riot. Evergreen Cemetery established. United States Marine Hospital established. 1856 - Chestnut Street Methodist Church built. 1859 Forest City Cemetery established. Mechanics' Hall completed.
1860 Victoria Mansion built. Portland Railroad Company established. 1862 Portland Daily Press newspaper began publication. Maine Central Railroad Company began operations. Second iteration of City Hall built on Congress Street. Portland Water Company established. 1863 Battle of Portland Harbor. Portland street car service began. Galt wharf grain elevator completed for export of Canadian wheat.
1865 - Fort Gorges completed. 1866 Fire. Lincoln Park established. 1867 Portland Institute and Public Library founded.Dedicatory exercises of the Baxter Building: to the uses of the Portland Public Library and Maine Historical Society, Thursday, February 21, 1889. Auburn, Maine: Lakeside Press, Printers and Binders, 1889 First Baptist Church built. Water company established to supply the city from Sebago Lake. 1868 - Third City Hall, St. Paul's Church and Rectory and the Falmouth Hotel built. 1869 Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception construction completed. Portland Yacht Club established. 1870 - Cumberland and Oxford Canal abandoned when Portland and Ogdensburg Railroad reached Sebago Lake. 1872 - U.S. Customhouse built. 1874 Deering High School established. Maine Medical Center established. 1875 Southworth Press established. The Cumberland Club established. 1878 - University of Southern Maine established. 1879 - Deering Oaks Park established. 1881 - Young People's Society of Christian Endeavour founded by Francis Edward Clark. 1882 Portland Society of Art founded. Evening Express newspaper begins publication. 1884 - Maine Genealogical Society organized. 1886 Portland centennial. The Portland Club established. 1888 Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Monument unveiled at Longfellow Square in West End. First City Hall demolished. Union Station built. 1890 - Population: 36,425. 1891 Portland Soldiers and Sailors Monument, erected on the site of the first City Hall, dedicated in Monument Square. Maine Eye and Ear Infirmary building completed. 1892 - Six Towns Times established. 1895 - State of Maine Armory building completed. 1897 Jefferson Theatre opened. Maine Music Festival began. St. Lawrence Church and Williston-West Church built. 1898 - Waynflete School established. 1899 Deering became part of Portland. Portland Camera Club formed.Portland Camera Club 1900 - Population: 50,145.
20th century 1901 - New England Elevator Company built the largest grain elevator on the Atlantic coast. 1902 - First Amato's opened on India Street. 1906 Portland Company ceased building railway locomotives. Grand Trunk Railway Station built on India Street. 1908 Portland Society of Arts and Crafts organized. City Hall destroyed by fire. 1909 The fourth and current City Hall built. Children's Hospital built at 68 High Street. 1910 Memorial statue of Thomas Brackett Reed unveiled on the Western Promenade. Cumberland County Courthouse built. Population: 58,571. 1911 L. D. M. Sweat Memorial Art Museum dedicated. Portland Terminal Company formed. Masonic Temple built. Edward T. Gignoux United States Courthouse built. 1912 Merrill Auditorium built. Eastern Promenade laid out according to design by Olmsted Brothers. 1913 State of Maine Express began direct Pullman railway service from major U.S. cities to Portland. Historical pageant took place on Eastern Promenade. B&M Baked Beans factory built. 1914 Portland–Lewiston Interurban service began between Portland and Lewiston. Green Memorial A.M.E. Zion Church, Portland Exposition Building and Woodfords Club built. 1916 - Million Dollar Bridge opened. 1917 Baxter Boulevard established at Back Cove. Cheverus High School established. Oakhurst Dairy established. 1919 Portland designated eastern end of the Theodore Roosevelt International Highway. Casco Bay Lines established. 1921 - Etz Chaim Synagogue built. 1923 Portland Symphony Orchestra and Children's Theatre of Portland established. Press Herald Building completed. Canadian National Railway began diverting export traffic from Portland to Canadian Maritime ports. 1924 Maine State Pier and Chapman Building constructed. Longfellow Garden Club organized. 1925 - Central Fire Station built on part of Lincoln Park. 1926 - U.S. Route 1 linked Portland to the United States highway system. 1927 - Eastland Hotel opened. 1928 - James E. Barlow hired as second City Manager. 1929 - State Theatre opened. 1930 The Gull began international Pullman train service through Portland from the Maritimes.Lowe, J. Norman Canadian National in the East volume 3 (1985) Calgary Group of the British Railway Modellers of North America Fitzpatrick Stadium built. 1931 - Portland-Westbrook Municipal Airport (later Portland International Jetport) opened. 1932 - Main Post Office building completed. 1933 End of interurban service from Portland to surrounding communities. 1934 - Flying Yankee began streamliner service to Portland. 1936 - The Village Cafe opened on Newbury Street. It remained in business for 71 years. 1940 - East Wind began summer passenger train service to Portland for vacationers from major eastern cities.Jones, Robert Willoughby Boston and Maine (1991) Trans-Anglo Books p.96 1941 Portland–Montreal Pipe Line completed.::Portland Montreal Pipe Line:: About us Portland became United States Navy destroyer base Sail during the Battle of the Atlantic. Victoria Mansion museum opened. Portland street car system dismantled. 1942 - Battery Steele built. 1944 - A-26 Invader crashed near Portland airport, Maine's worst aircraft accident. 1946 - Baxter Woods municipal forest established. 1947 - Maine Turnpike connected Portland to what became the Interstate Highway System. 1950 - Population: 77,634. 1953 - WCSH begins broadcasting. 1954 WMTW begins broadcasting. Original Veterans Memorial Bridge built. 1960 - Tukey's Bridge built. 1961 Demolition of Union Station ended daily passenger train service to Portland. Greyhound bus station built on St. John Street. 1963 - Falmouth Hotel demolished. 1964 - Greater Portland Landmarks preservation group formed. 1965 Kennedy Park housing built. United States Hotel demolished in Monument Square. 1966 Greater Portland Transit District established. Grand Trunk Railway Station demolished.
1967 Summer weekend passenger train service to Portland ended. Franklin Street demolished, to be replaced by Franklin Arterial. 1969 One Monument Square opened on the former site of the United States Hotel. Franklin Towers completed, becoming Maine's tallest residential building. Portland Rugby Football Club established. 1970 - University of Southern Maine's Portland campus established. 1971 The Canal Bank Plaza is built on the site of the former Falmouth Hotel. Construction of Interstate 295 through Portland was completed. 1973 Old Port Festival began. WMPG begins broadcasting. Salt Institute for Documentary Studies founded. 1974 The Hollow Reed restaurant in the Old Port was founded. Profile Theatre established (later renamed Portland Stage Company). 1975 - Portland Pirates ice hockey team established. 1976 - Children's Museum of Maine founded. 1977 Cumberland County Civic Center built. American Hockey League iteration of the Maine Mariners ice-hockey team established. 1978 - Portland Stage Company active. 1979 - East End Treatment Plant established. 1983 - Portland Museum of Art expanded into the Charles Shipman Payson Building. 1984 Sister city relationship established with Shinagawa, Tokyo, Japan. Portland Ice Arena opened. 1985 - Portland Monthly magazine began publication. 1988 Maine Island Trail Association established. Gritty McDuff's, considered Maine's first brewpub, opens on Fore Street. 1989 - East Coast Hockey League iteration of the Maine Mariners ice-hockey team established. 1992 - AHL Maine Mariners became defunct. 1993 Portland Pirates ice hockey team formed. Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad Museum opened. Children's Museum moved to its third home, beside the Portland Museum of Art on Free Street. 1994