Top tourist destination Portland Old Port once faced the wrecking ball
Photo / Phillip Capper, Flickr
Wharf Street in Portland’s Old Port
The Old Port and Waterfront District is touted on Portland’s website as the heart of the city’s tourist industry. It’s also home to Portland’s most valuable commercial real estate and highest retail rents.
It could just as easily not exist.
The district, rebuilt after the 1866 fire, was a thriving commercial area until the 1950s, when many businesses moved out. It deteriorated, hosting seedy bars and vacant buildings. Development and urban renewal crept across the city, leaving the rubble of old buildings in their wake.
Then, in 1961, Victorian landmark Union Station, on St. John Street, met the wrecking ball. It was one building too many, sparking Portland’s historic preservation movement, which is still strong today.
The Old Port and Waterfront District, comprising Fore, Milk, Middle, Exchange, Market and Silver streets, was named to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973. More than 70% of the buildings date to between 1850 and 1880
Nearly 50 years later, an estimated 1 million annual visitors are drawn to the district’s retail, restaurants and bars, soaked in historic charm.
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