Pictures of Portland Through The Years

Have you ever walked around Portland and wondered what it was like in the past? A lot of things in the city have changed over the years, but a lot remains the same. Did you know that freight trains used to run right down the middle of Commercial street with automobiles? Or that an entire neighborhood on Franklin Street was torn down to build Franklin Arterial?

If you are fascinated by photos from Portland's past like I am, you need to check out the Portland Maine History 1786 to Present Facebook page. They have amazing photos of Portland with detailed descriptions of what you are seeing and whether it's still there are not. Here are two of my favorites:

The Fidelity building under construction in 1909 on Congress Street right behind Monument Square. This building is the current home of People's United Bank. The other buildings in the picture have been torn down and replaced with the Time and Temperature building on the left and the Portland Public Library on the right.

This is what it looks like today from our patio:

Remember how I said trains used to run right down the middle of Commercial Street? This is from 1982. For over a century trains used to run back and forth down Commercial Street to swap cars with two different railroads. Maine Central in South Portland and Grand Trunk at the corner of Commercial and India Streets where the Ocean Gateway Terminal is today. Most of the tracks are still there, just buried under the pavement. However when you get down near the Casco Bay Bridge bridge on west Commercial, you'll see them still there on the side of the road.

In the above picture, the building with the Budweiser sign is gone but all the others remain.