Timeline of Portland, Maine

Prior to 19th century

1633 - Casco settled.

1658 - Settlement renamed "Falmouth."

1668 - Eastern Cemetery established.

1676 - Village sacked by the Wampanoag during King Philip's War.

1690 - Battle of Fort Loyal.

1718 - Town of Falmouth established.

1740 - First Parish Church built.

1763 - Falmouth Library Society organized.

1775

Thompson's War

Town burned by British.

1785 - Falmouth Gazette newspaper begins publication.

1786 - Falmouth renamed "Portland."

1790

Gazette of Maine newspaper begins publication.

Population: 2,240.

Lighthouse built.

1796 - Portland Marine Society incorporated.

19th century

1800 - Population: 3,704.

1803 - Eastern Argus newspaper begins publication.

1805 - Portland Benevolent Society incorporated.

1806 - Gorham Academy built.

1807 - Portland Observatory built.

1819 - State constitutional convention held.

1820

Portland becomes capital of State of Maine.

Maine Council of Royal Masters instituted.

Population: 8,581.

1821

High School, Maine Mineralogical Society, and Maine Encampment of Knight Templars established.

1822 - Maine Historical Society founded.

1825 - First Parish Church built.

1826 - Portland Athenaeum founded.

1828

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 moves from Portland to Augusta.

City of Portland chartered.

Cumberland and Oxford Canal opened bringing interior trade to Portland harbor from Long Lake

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.

1846 - Portland Company established to build railway locomotives.

1849 - Portland Gas Light Co. incorporated.

1850

Curtis' chewing gum manufactory in business.

Population: 20,815.

1851 - Kennebec and Portland Rail Road begins operating.

1853

Grand Trunk Railway to Montreal begins operating.

Portland Board of Trade established.

Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland established.

1855

Portland Rum Riot.

Evergreen Cemetery established.

1856 - Chestnut Street Methodist Church built.

1859 - Forest City Cemetery established.

1862 - Portland Daily Press newspaper begins publication.

1863

Battle of Portland Harbor.

Portland street car service began.

Galt wharf grain elevator completed for export of Canadian wheat.

1866 - Fire.

1867

Portland Institute and Public Library founded.

First Baptist Church built.

1868 - U.S. Customhouse and St. Paul's Church and Rectory built.

1869 - Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception built.

1870 - Cumberland and Oxford Canal abandoned when Portland and Ogdensburg Railroad reached Sebago Lake.

1875 - Southworth Press established.

1881 - Young People's Society of Christian Endeavor founded.

1882

Portland Society of Art founded.

Evening Express newspaper begins publication.

1884 - Maine Genealogical Society organized.

1886 - Portland centennial.

1888 - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Monument unveiled at Longfellow Square.

1890 - Population: 36,425.

1891 - Portland Soldiers and Sailors Monument dedicated on Monument Square.

1897

Jefferson Theatre opens.

Maine Music Festival begins.

St. Lawrence Church and Williston-West Church built.

1898 - Waynflete School established.

1899

Deering becomes part of Portland.

Portland Camera Club formed.

20th century

1901 - New England Elevator Company built the largest grain elevator on the Atlantic coast.

1906 - Portland Company ceased building railway locomotives.

1908 - Portland Society of Arts and Crafts organized.

1909 - City Hall built.

1910 - Memorial statue of Thomas Brackett Reed unveiled.

1911

L. D. M. Sweat Memorial Art Museum dedicated.

Portland Terminal Company formed.

1912

Kotzschmar Memorial Organ installed in City Hall's Merrill Auditorium.

Eastern Promenade laid out according to design by Olmsted Brothers.

1913

State of Maine Express began direct Pullman railway service from major US cities to Portland.

Historical pageant takes place on Eastern Promenade.

1914

Portland–Lewiston Interurban service began between Portland and Lewiston.

Portland Exposition Building and Green Memorial A.M.E. Zion Church built.

1916 - Million Dollar Bridge opens.

1918 - Queen's Hospital for women opens.

1919 - Portland designated eastern end of the Theodore Roosevelt International Highway.

1921 - Etz Chaim Synagogue built.

1923

Portland Symphony Orchestra and Children’s Theatre of Portland established.

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.

1926 - U.S. Route 1 linked Portland to the United States highway system.

1929 - State Theatre opens.

1930 - The Gull began international Pullman train service through Portland from the Maritimes.

1933

Portland-Westbrook Municipal Airport established.

End of interurban service from Portland to surrounding communities.

1934 - Flying Yankee began streamliner service to Portland.

1940 - East Wind began summer passenger train service to Portland for vacationers from major eastern cities.

1941

Portland–Montreal Pipe Line completed.

Portland became United States Navy destroyer base Sail during the Battle of the Atlantic.

Victoria Mansion museum opens.

Portland street car system dismantled.

1942 - Battery Steele built.

1944 - A-26 Invader crash near Portland airport was Maine's worst aircraft accident.

1946 - Baxter Woods municipal forest established.

1947 - Maine Turnpike connected Portland to what would become the Interstate Highway System.

1950 - Population: 77,634.

1953 - WCSH begins broadcasting.

1954 - WMTW begins broadcasting.

1960 - Tukey's Bridge built.

1961 - Demolition of Union Station ended daily passenger train service to Portland.

1964 - Greater Portland Landmarks preservation group formed.

1965 - Kennedy Park housing built.

1967 - Summer weekend passenger train service to Portland ended.

1970 - University of Southern Maine Portland campus established.

1973

Old Port Festival begins.

WMPG begins broadcasting.

Salt Institute for Documentary Studies founded.

1976 - Children's Museum of Maine founded.

1977 - Cumberland County Civic Center built.

1978 - Portland Stage Company active.

1984

Sister city relationship established with Shinagawa, Tokyo, Japan.

Portland Ice Arena opens.

1985 - Portland Monthly magazine begins publication.

1993

Portland Pirates ice hockey team formed.

Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad Museum opens.

1994

Portland Chamber Music Festival begins.

PORTopera founded.

Hadlock Field opens.

1997

Casco Bay Bridge opens.

City website online (approximate date).

21st century

2001 - Downeaster restores passenger train service to Portland.

2003 - Sister city relationship established with Mytilene, Greece.

2006 - Maine Roller Derby and Portland Society of Architects founded.

2007 - Whole Foods grocery in business.[1]

2008 - Maine Mead Works in business.

2009

Port City Music Hall opens.

Congress Street designated an historic district.

2010

State Theatre reopens.

Trader Joe's grocery in business.[2]

Population: 66,194 city; 514,098 metro.