Maine Memory Network

Old City Building, Lewiston, ca. 1885

Contributed by: Lewiston Public Library Date: circa 1885 Location: Lewiston Media: Phototransparency

First Congregational Church, City Hall, Brewer, ca. 1910

Contributed by: City of Brewer Date: circa 1910 Location: Brewer Media: Postcard

Office, Browns Wharf Office Building, Portland, 1924

Owner in 1924: F E Irwin Lumber Company Use: Office

Lumber Storage and Mill, Brown Wharf Mill Building, Portland, 1924

Owner in 1924: F B Irvin Lumber Company Use: Lumber Storage and Mill

Biddeford City Building, Biddeford, 1898

Contributed by: Maine Historical Society Date: 1898 Location: Biddeford Client: City of Biddeford Architect: John Calvin Stevens

Portland City Hall site plan, Portland, 1908-1931

Contributed by: Maine Historical Society Date: 1908–1931 Location: Portland Client: City of Portland Architect: Carrere & Hastings Architects

A Snapshot of Portland, 1924: The Taxman Cometh

In 1924, with Portland was on the verge of profound changes, the Tax Assessors Office undertook a project to document every building in the city -- with photographs and detailed information that provide a unique view into Portland's architecture, neighborhoods, industries, and businesses.

A City Awakes: Arts and Artisans of Early 19th Century Portland

Portland's growth from 1786 to 1860 spawned a unique social and cultural environment and fostered artistic opportunity and creative expression in a broad range of the arts, which flowered with the increasing wealth and opportunity in the city.

Presque Isle: The Star City - Allen Building

"Now a vacant building, attorney Charles P. Allen built the Allen building in 1890 to house his practice."

Presque Isle: The Star City - Historical Buildings

"Historical Buildings Presque Isle's historical buildings express the character and development of the community."

Biddeford City Hall: an in-depth tour of this iconic building
by Biddeford Cultural & Heritage Center Voices of Biddeford project

Visual tour and unique insights of Biddeford’s historical landmark

Monument Square 1967
by C. Michael Lewis

The background story and research behind a commissioned painting of Monument Square.

Building Community/Community Buildings

Grade Level: 6-8 Content Area: Social Studies
Where do people gather? What defines a community? What buildings allow people to congregate to celebrate, learn, debate, vote, and take part in all manner of community activities? Students will evaluate images and primary documents from throughout Maine’s history, and look at some of Maine’s earliest gathering spaces and organizations, and how many communities established themselves around certain types of buildings. Students will make connections between the community buildings of the past and the ways we express identity and create communities today.

Longfellow Studies: "The Jewish Cemetery at Newport"

Grade Level: 6-8, 9-12 Content Area: English Language Arts, Social Studies
Longfellow's poem "The Jewish Cemetery at Newport" opens up the issue of the earliest history of the Jews in America, and the significant roles they played as businessmen and later benefactors to the greater community. The history of the building itself is notable in terms of early American architecture, its having been designed, apparently gratis, by the most noted architect of the day. Furthermore, the poem traces the history of Newport as kind of a microcosm of New England commercial cities before the industrialization boom. For almost any age student the poem could be used to open up interest in local cemeteries, which are almost always a wealth of curiousities and history. Longfellow and his friends enjoyed exploring cemeteries, and today our little local cemeteries can be used to teach little local histories and parts of the big picture as well. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow visited the Jewish cemetery in Newport, RI on July 9, 1852. His popular poem about the site, published two years later, was certainly a sympathetic portrayal of the place and its people. In addition to Victorian romantic musings about the "Hebrews in their graves," Longfellow includes in this poem references to the historic persecution of the Jews, as well as very specific references to their religious practices. Since the cemetery and the nearby synagogue were restored and protected with an infusion of funding just a couple years after Longfellow's visit, and later a congregation again assembled, his gloomy predictions about the place proved false (never mind the conclusion of the poem, "And the dead nations never rise again!"). Nevertheless, it is a fascinating poem, and an interesting window into the history of the nation's oldest extant synagogue.