Maine Memory Network

The Ambassador at 37 Casco Street was a respectable Portland hotel that boasted 87 rooms, each with its own private bath. Opening sometime in the late 1920s to early 30s, the Ambassador used the European plan (guests paid for their meals and room separately) and provided a free heated garage.

The American House at the corner of Fore and Lime prided itself on offering travelers a convenient place to stay "in the business part of the city." While the American House's more modest furnishings paled in the face of its competitor and neighbor, the Cumberland House, the hotel still presented "great inducements for travelers."

As the city grew, more travelers began arriving via different means of transportation. In 1818, the first passenger coach line from Portland to Boston opened and by 1832, twelve stagecoach lines ran through the city with five coaches arriving and departing daily. To capitalize on this constant stream of travelers, three hotels in particular, the American, Cumberland and the Elm went up near Portland City Hall where the stagecoaches stopped to let off and take on passengers. These three hotels mark the beginning of the lively Portland hotel business and the growth of the city itself.

Located on Lime Street opposite the Post Office, the Central House certainly lived up to its name. In 1859, the hotel billed itself "the most centrally situated [hotel] in the city." The hotel also boasted handsome, well maintained furniture as well as a dining room "supplied with the best the market affords."

The Chase house at 434 Congress Street was built in the mid 1890s and was destined to become one of the city's finest hotels. Nightly rates at the Chase ranged from 50 cents to one dollar for rooms, and meals were offered for an additional 25 cents at the hotel restaurant, operated by Peter A. Masse.

In the early 1900s, the Chase underwent renovations that included various improvements and several additions. With these new developments, the Chase reached its peak of success and rivaled several other major Portland hotels, including the Falmouth and Lafayette.

The hotel was also considered a favorite hotel of the "Knights of the Grip," a group of traveling salesmen. However, as time passed the hotel ran on troubled times and after operating as a Mariner Hotel, a World War II era hotel chain run by the Merchant Marines, the building was turned over to Maine Bonding and became the organization's main office.

Rising four stories and boasting 100 rooms, the City Hotel prided itself on providing country traders, who traveled to Portland to buy and sell goods, with a room for the night and a stable for their horses.

Built in 1850 at 581 Congress Street and originally called The New England House, the hotel changed its name in 1866 to, The City. The stables were attached to the hotel and located at 12-16 Green Street. The hotel's dining room, located on the first floor overlooking Congress Square offered quality, "New England food."

The Hotel also provided a pool room (a novelty among Portland hotels at the time) at the Green Street entrance. In 1893 the City Hotel was brought down to make way for the new Congress Square Hotel.

An early 1900s advertisement pamphlet for the Columbia Hotel lauds it as an "unusual combination of comfort, convenience and economy."

The Columbia Hotel at 645A Congress Street was built in 1895 and later housed the studios of WGAN. It is thought that the hotel was named in remembrance of the World's Columbian Exposition.

The hotels rooms were "cheerful, large and with plenty of windows and fine beds." The hotel also advertised affordable dining, with individual breakfasts as low as 25 cents and catering for large gatherings.

The Columbia was also well-known in the city for its Hawaiian Room, a cocktail lounge offering "intimate entertainment for your enjoyment." However, in the early 1960s the hotel began experiencing economic troubles and was foreclosed in May of 1961. After investing almost a million dollars in the structure, a group of prominent businessmen opened the new Portlander In-Town Motel, ushering in a new chapter in the history of the building.

In a 1859 advertisement the Commercial House advertised its unparalleled "attention to the wants of...guests, moderate fares [and]...a liberal share of public patronage."

Located opposite the Portland Customs House, the Commercial House provided a stable that was "always supplied with good hay" for guests’ convenience.

Boasting sweeping "panoramic views of Casco Bay... and the surrounding country," the Congress Square Hotel was one of Portland’s largest and most magnificent hotels.

Located at 576 Congress Street, it opened its doors in 1896 on the site of the former City Hotel. In its day, the Congress was host to many major conventions, and for 50 years housed the studios of WCSH, Portland’s first radio station.

In 1927, Henry P. Rines, developer of the Congress Square Hotel, expanded the hotel complex with the addition of the adjoining Eastland Hotel. However, in 1964, the Rines family sold both hotels to the Dunfy Corporation of New Hampshire.

In the mid 1830s, the newly-built Cumberland House was considered to be a truly "magnificent hotel." Located at the junction of Middle, Main, Federal, Congress and Elm streets (Monument Square, formally Haymarket Square), the Cumberland House advertised "parlors and meals at any hour."

The hotel's proximity to both the eastern and western stagecoach lines made it a convenient stopping place for travelers passing through the area.

When it first opened, the hotel boasted 18 parlors and 57 bedrooms. Accommodations for men were offered in the Eastern Wing while the "tastefully prepared" rooms of the West Wing were reserved for women and families. In addition to the hotel's well-appointed rooms and exquisite furnishings-- all of which cost the hotel a total of $15,000--the Cumberland was the site of an acclaimed restaurant.

Since its construction in 1927, The Eastland has held the position as Portland most prominent hotel. Built at the expense of $2,000,000 and designed by local architect Herbert Rhodes, it was the largest building in Portland for many years.

The Eastland’s colorful history began with a pompous opening ceremony that included Graham McNamee, a well-known radio personality of the time, dropping the keys to the new Hotel into Portland Harbor from an airplane--an act to signify that the hotel would never close. Around 5,000 individuals toured the hotel at the opening reception and a select group of local elite were treated to a meal in the Spanish Baronial dining room. Around the time of its opening, the Eastland advertised "369 rooms and 369 baths" as well as 140 other apartments and shops.

Throughout the latter half of the twentieth century, the Eastland began a turbulent chapter in its history. In the early 1960s, the Eastland and the adjacent Congress Square Hotel were sold to a New Hampshire firm, Dunfy Corporation, for a sum of $2.5 million. They renamed the hotel the Sheraton-Eastland Motor Hotel. In the early 1970s the hotel changed hands again as Aetna Life of Hartford Connecticut purchased the property.

In 1981, a three-alarm fire raged through the hotel's ballroom, forcing residents to evacuate. Later, in 1983 Sonesta International Hotel Corporation obtained the hotel stating that, "professional hotel people" were needed to keep the hotel afloat.

Sonesta put the hotel through a $5 million renovation, only to sell the hotel in 1992 to Innkeepers Ltd., of Pennsylvania for $3.5 million. Five years later, the Eastland was sold once again, this time to a Florida company for $9 million. In 2013 the Eastland changed hands, becoming a Westin Hotel.

On December 13, 1825, the Eastern Argus newspaper advertised the opening of the Elm Tavern with Thomas S. Bowles, proprietor. The advertisement featured a woodcut of a stagecoach parked in front of a handsome brick building, shaded by a large elm tree from which the hotel took its name. The stagecoach in the woodcut was a nod to the hotel's intention to serve travelers coming into Portland along the recently opened stage lines.

Thomas S. Bowles kept the hotel for only three years, when he was succeeded by John Appleton, a future state Representative for the district. As landlord, Appeton, saw the Elm become the headquarters of every stage line that ran through the city, a significant advantage for a hotel catering to stagecoach travelers.

The Elm continued to offer accommodations to these, and other travelers, until Portland's Great Fire of 1866. After the fire, the Elm was rebuilt and went on to become the headquarters of Kendall and Whitney, a distributor of agricultural machinery.

Opening in the early 1900s, the Everett was to have a long and colorful history.

In the 1940s, the hotel located at 51a Oak Street offered 55 rooms, each with hot and cold running water. The hotel boasted several fineries such as elegant wood trim and a stately main stairway. Although the Everett did slide into some disrepair in the 1960s, these and other vestiges of past grandeur remained intact. 

In the 1990s, the building saw extensive renovations and as of 2015, it serves as student housing for the Maine College of Art.  

Beginning with lively opening day celebrations in 1868, the Falmouth Hotel developed a reputation of grandeur and excellence.

Charles Alexander, a New York architect, designed the hotel's stately six-story structure at 212 Middle Street for John B. Brown shortly after Portland's Great Fire of 1866.

The grand 200 room hotel with its wide corridors, marble fireplaces, and high ceilings quickly became a Portland landmark. Costing a total of $300,000 to construct and furnish, the hotel was dubbed "the most luxurious hotel this side of New York" by a local newspaper.

In its day, the hotel was a significant political and social center, noted for hosting numerous banquets which earned it the nickname, "hotel of a million banquets."

Presidents Grant, McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt, Taft and Harding, all stayed at the Falmouth over the years. In 1898 the hotel entertained General William Sherman along with a slew of other famous officers of the time. For many years, the hotel was the headquarters for the Maine Republican Party.

After a remarkable 90 years of operating, the Falmouth turned off its lights and closed its doors in early November of 1958. The hotel was deemed a fire hazard and was torn down to make way for a parking lot in 1963, just five years before it would have celebrated its 100th anniversary.

Formally the home of a wealthy Portland merchant, the handsome brick Florence was one of Portland’s oldest hotels. Opening in 1854 at the corner of India and Middle Streets, the hotel soon became a gathering spot for lumberjacks as they prepared to leave for the woods.

The Florence was the scene of a murder in February of 1928. The suspect remained at-large for two years until he was arrested, and was sentenced in California after committing a second murder.

On April 17, 1930 the Florence was once again the scene of a crime. While the hotel had survived the Great Fire of 1866, an arsonist--after soaking a rug in gasoline--set the hotel ablaze.

The fire wrought severe damage to the structure, and afterward the hotel was torn down.

The Freeman House, located at 49 Middle Street in Portland, advertised itself in the 1859 edition of the Portland City Directory as, an "airy and pleasant location" centrally situated in Portland's business district.

The hotel also offered transportation to and from most of Portland's ferry terminals and train stations.

Previously operating under various names, including, The Imperial and The Jennessee, the Hotel Kenmore opened its doors to the public in the latter half of the 1920s.

The Hotel Kenmore, located at 104 Oak Street in Portland, offered guests 30 rooms, most of which had hot and cold running water and adjoined bathrooms.

The hotel had a restaurant, a beauty parlor, and a barber shop. In the 1940s, the hotel charged nightly rates of $1.

Built on the site of the former Mussey Boarding House where General Lafayette supposedly stayed during a visit to Portland in 1825, the grand Lafayette Hotel opened its doors in 1903.

The hotel, located at 638 Congress Street, boasted 250 rooms--all of which offered hot and cold water. Daily rates at the hotel ranged from $2.50 to $7.00.

The hotel offered meals in the Crystal Room, a beauty shop, a barber shop and the Lafayette Lounge, where a large painting depicting the surrender of Cornwallis hung on the wall.

The Lafayette hosted many conventions, including the Maine Democratic Convention, a gathering of some 2,500 individuals from around the state.

In 1971, the Lafayette abandoned the hotel format and turned many of its rooms into apartments. Around this same time, the Lafayette began to slide into disrepair. However, the hotel underwent major renovations in the mid-1990s and is still standing as of 2015.

Opened in the late 1910s, the Longfellow House was a small but refined hotel with nightly rates of $3.50 and up, to prove it. The hotel offered both American and European meal plans as well as a dining room and a garage where guests could rent space for 50 cents a day.

Situated on the southern coast of Peaks Island, the Peaks Island House advertised itself as a retreat for those seeking the pleasures of the Casco Bay Islands.

The hotel itself was just "30 rodes from the ocean" and and offered fine views of Casco Bay. The hotel boasted a variety of facilities for "fishing, sea bathing and water excursions." In the late 1850s, the steamer Gipsey sailed from the Island to Portland three times a day.

The Plaza Hotel began its life as the Brunswick, but changed names (it became the Graymore) after the building was expanded in 1923. This new name stuck until 1966, when it finally became the Plaza.

In the 1940s, the Graymore Hotel boasted 150 rooms, 75 of which had private bathrooms, while the remaining 75 offered hot and cold running water. Charging $1.50 to $3.50 nightly during the 1940s, the hotel also provided guests with "The Graymore Dining Room" and the "Seemayer’s Lounge."

In 1972, with the entire hotel in a state of disrepair and the upper floors completely vacated, the owners sold the Plaza to Ram and Company, but the hotel was left empty and torn down just a few years later in 1985 to make way for a parking lot. 

Once the home of Commodore Edward Preble--the man sometimes considered to be the "father of the American Navy"--the Preble House was, at one time, the second largest hotel in Portland, surpassed only by the Falmouth.

Commodore Preble oversaw the building’s construction in 1806, but he never lived in the house, as he died before the home could be completely furnished. However, his wife and son did take up residence in the stately mansion. The rooms in the mansion were large and fashionably furnished. The Preble House was noted as the first building in Portland, and possibly the state, to heat using a furnace rather than wood stoves.

After the death of the Commodore's wife in 1851, the mansion was transformed into a hotel and opened its doors on March 19, 1860. The hotel rose four stories and was fronted on the Congress Street side by several tall elms. The hotel offered 150 rooms "furnished in the most modern style" and was considered by some to be one of the finest hotels in America.

In the summer of 1860, Stephen Douglas, Democratic candidate for president, visited the hotel and delivered a speech to a crowd from the hotel’s balcony. Around this same time, the Prince of Wales, who would later become King Edward VII, visited the city and was given an impressive reception at the Hotel.

Several stores occupied the ground floor of the Hotel, including C.W. Robinson & Co. Dry Goods. The Hotel closed and was torn down in 1923 to make way for the new 12-story Chapman Building.

In September of 1681, the selectmen of Casco lobbied and were granted by the court a license allowing Richard Seacomb to "keep an ordinary," or tavern, in Portland near India street. This license is believed to be the first of its kind granted in the area.

Richard Seacomb, Portland's first known hotelier, came from England to America in 1660 and fathered three children. Richard Seacomb served as a selectman and in 1684 was made constable. Seacomb died in 1694.

In addition to providing lodging for travelers, Seacomb’s Tavern offered patrons meals and liquor. In May of 1682, Mr Seacomb was fined 50 shillings after it was discovered that he had sold liquor to American Indians, which was against the law.

Built at a cost of $50,000 in 1868 on a site cleared by fire two years earlier, the St. Regis went on to become a fine hotel noted for its elegance. The stately structure rose four stories at the corner of Plum and Middle Streets in Portland.

From its opening in 1868 to 1972 when it was torn down, the hotel changed its name five times: starting as the St. Julian, becoming the Windsor, then the Smith, back to the Windsor, and finally settling on St. Regis.

In celebration of the Hotel's opening day, proprietor George E. Ward hosted a gala at the hotel featuring food and liquor and attracting journalists from five newspapers. At the time of its opening, the hotel was the first Portland hotel to practice the "European Plan" where guests paid for meals instead of having the cost built into the price of the room.

By the turn of the Nineteenth century, under the management of proprietor R.E. Wallace the hotel boasted "electric lights, steam heat and street cars [transporting guest to] all steamboat and R. R. stations." By 1940 with daily rates as low as $1, the St. Regis offered guests 75 rooms, 25 of which had private bathrooms.

However, after 104 years of operation, in 1972 the St. Regis closed its doors and was demolished to make way for the Canal National Bank redevelopment.

The Tolman House at 6 Tolman Place opened in the late 1880s and continued to serve guests through the 1960s.

The Tolman offered 39 rooms with hot and cold running water, ten of which had their own private bathrooms. The hotel charged $1 nightly for rooms and used the European meal plan.

The Union Hotel, previously known as Whittier’s Tavern, was located opposite City Hall in Portland.

In 1834, the Hotel offered guests a "plentiful and choice larder," a stable for the convenience of its guests, and a staff with truly "unwearied attendance."

Standing on Hay Market (later Monument) Square at the corner of Federal and Market Streets in Portland, the United States Hotel held the moniker of one of the oldest Hotels in Portland for many years.

The United States Hotel stood five stories tall and offered 150 rooms. In 1874-75, the hotel underwent extensive renovations "which at once stamp[ed] it as a superior class hotel." With these renovations came telegraph services for guests, a reading room, a billiard room and additional bathrooms. Around this same time, R.W. Carter was appointed proprietor.

The United States Hotel became a popular spot for those traveling for pleasure and business alike. In 1855, the former President Fillmore visited Portland and "took lodgings at the United States Hotel," reported the Portland Inquirer. The well-known actor Bill Hickock also stayed at the hotel.

In 1900, the United States Hotel closed its doors and the firm Edwards and Walker began operating out of the building.

Built in 1890, the stately five-story West End Hotel stood on St. John Street across from Union Station. The 165 room hotel was popular among sportsmen visiting the area and offered guests "electric lights, steam heat and elevators."

The Hotel's dining room was considered one of the best in New England. Rooms at the hotel ranged in price from $1 to $3.50 a day. The hotel served as the headquarters for the Rigby Trotting Park, a racehorse track in South Portland.

The West End Hotel became embroiled in scandal after $30,000 in betting receipts was stolen from the race track offices at the Hotel. The West End closed on May 14, 1933 and was later torn down.

John Deering built The Westfield Hotel, originally called the Victoria, in 1896. It was located at 939 Congress Street, nearby what was then Union Station.

With just 35 rooms and 10 private bathrooms, the Westfield was dwarfed by its neighbor and competitor in the Union Station market, the West End Hotel. However, with the increase of railroad travel, the Westfield was successful in managing overflow from the West End Hotel.

In the 1940s the Westfield’s rates were $1 per night with breakfast not included. The Deerings sold the Hotel in 1920 to the Lessard family, at which point Harry Lessard, a Portland policeman, began managing the hotel.

In 1969 the Westfield was sold to Lekousis bakery interests.