Jump to content

Congress Street (Portland, Maine)

Coordinates: 43°39′25″N 70°15′36″W / 43.656872°N 70.259981°W / 43.656872; -70.259981
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

43°39′25″N 70°15′36″W / 43.656872°N 70.259981°W / 43.656872; -70.259981

Congress Street
Country Road (formerly)
Back Street (formerly)
Queen Street (formerly)
Congress Street, looking northeast from Congress Square
Map
Part of SR 22
SR 9
Length5.77 mi (9.29 km)
LocationPortland, Maine, U.S.
Southwest endCounty Road
Northeast endEastern Promenade
Looking southwest down Congress Street from Munjoy Hill toward downtown
First Parish Church, located at 425 Congress Street.
The Portland Museum of Art as viewed from Congress Square Park.

Congress Street is the main street in Portland, Maine. Around 5.77 miles (9.29 km) long, it stretches from County Road, Portland's southwestern border with Westbrook, through a number of neighborhoods, before ending overlooking the Eastern Promenade on Munjoy Hill. In March 2009, the Portland City Council designated much of the inner portion of Congress Street a historic district.[1][2] The western section of the street includes the city's Arts District.

The street was formerly known as both Country Road and Back Street.[3] West of downtown Portland, the street is known colloquially as Outer Congress Street.[4]

Portland City Hall stands at 389 Congress Street, at the head of Exchange Street.

History

[edit]

When what is now Portland was founded by British colonists in the early 18th century, the population settled primarily on the waterfront near today's India Street. Congress was laid out and originally known as Back Street and later Queen Street.[5] The first prominent structures on the street were the First Parish Meeting House, built in 1740 and replaced to the present structure in the 1820s as well as the hay scales in Market Square, later known as Monument Square. From the early settlement of Portland until the American Revolutionary War period, Back Street was considered the far edge of the town. It took the name of Congress Street beginning in 1823.[6]

In 1921, the Etz Chaim Synagogue was built on the eastern end of Congress Street approaching Munjoy Hill. As of 2011, it was the only immigrant-era synagogue still functioning in Maine.

A study in 2011 sought to change a number of features on the street, including decreasing the number of stoplights and ending left hand turns off of the street. Greater Portland planners also called the street the most congested artery in the region.[7]

Notable addresses

[edit]

The Second Parish Payson Memorial Church formerly stood to the right of City Hall, at Pearl Street,[8] where the Top of the Hill parking lot is today.[9]

Public transportation

[edit]

Greater Portland Metro's route 1 (Congress Street), 5 (The Maine Mall), 7 (Falmouth Flyer), 8 (Peninsula Loop), 9A (North Deering via Stevens Avenue), 9B (North Deering via Washington Avenue) and the BREEZ, and Biddeford Saco Old Orchard Beach Transit's route 60 serve Congress Street.

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Proposed Congress Street Historic District Archived 2011-07-21 at the Wayback Machine City of Portland, Maine
  2. ^ Recommendation of the Historic Preservation Board Archived 2011-07-21 at the Wayback Machine February 2009
  3. ^ The Origins of the Street Names of the City of Portland, Maine as of 1995 – Norm and Althea Green, Portland Public Library (1995)
  4. ^ "Portland Social Security office moving". Press Herald. 2023-04-25. Retrieved 2024-03-29.
  5. ^ Willis, William (1833). The History of Portland, from its First Settlement. p. 120.
  6. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-07-21. Retrieved 2011-04-29.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) Congress Street Historic District-Designation Report
  7. ^ Planner: Congress Street study not just for buses Portland Daily Sun, July 12, 2011
  8. ^ "Second Parish Presbyterian Church, Portland, 1895". Maine Memory Network. Retrieved 2024-04-18.
  9. ^ Ledman, Paul J. (2016). Walking Through History: Portland, Maine on Foot. Next Steps Publishing. p. 76. ISBN 978-0-9728587-1-7.
[edit]