Baxter Boulevard is a

boulevard A boulevard is a type of broad avenue planted with rows of trees, or in parts of North America, any urban highway. Boulevards were originally circumferential roads following the line of former city walls. In American usage, boulevards may ...

and parkway in

Portland, Maine Portland is the largest city in the U.S. state of Maine and the seat of Cumberland County. Portland's population was 68,408 in April 2020. The Greater Portland metropolitan area is home to over half a million people, the 104th-largest metropo ...

. The roadway served as the means to head north from downtown Portland before

Tukey's Bridge Tukey's Bridge is a bridge connecting the neighborhoods of Munjoy Hill and East Deering in Portland, Maine. It is part of Interstate 295, U.S. Route 1, and State Route 26. History Several bridges by the same name have existed connecting the a ...

, now on Interstate 295 (I-295), was built. The road was part of U.S. Route 1 (US 1) until May 2007. The parkway wraps around the west side of Back Cove estuary basin. The parkway and roadway began as an initiative of Mayor

James Phinney Baxter James Phinney Baxter (March 23, 1831 – May 8, 1921) was an American politician, businessperson, historian, civic leader, and benefactor of Portland, Maine. He was elected as mayor of Portland for six single-year terms between 1893 and 1905. Hi ...

, for whom it is named. It was envisioned as one of four parks in the city (along with

Deering Oaks Deering Oaks is a public park in Portland, Maine, which has a baseball diamond, tennis courts, a playground, and a pond. It is located west of downtown Portland and is bordered by Deering Avenue on the west, Forest Avenue on the east, Park Ave ...

, Western Promenade and

Eastern Promenade The Eastern Promenade (Eastern Prom) is a historic promenade, public park and recreation area in Portland, Maine. Construction of the Promenade began in 1836 and continued periodically until 1934. The park was designed by the Olmsted Brothers de ...

) which would encircle the city. The parkway was designed by the noted landscape design firm

Olmsted, Olmsted and Eliot The Olmsted Brothers company was a landscape architectural firm in the United States, established in 1898 by brothers John Charles Olmsted (1852–1920) and Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. (1870–1957), sons of the landscape architect Frederick Law ...

in 1895. Property owners donated the then-useless land next to the cove and the walking and biking path were filled in. Originally called the Back Cove Boulevard, the parkway opened in 1917. It covers and the pathway is in length. Tree planting began on the Boulevard in 1921 as a memorial to

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

victims. Baxter Boulevard was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

as a historic landscape district in October 1989.

References

Baxter family U.S. Route 1 1917 establishments in Maine Parks in Portland, Maine Streets in Portland, Maine World War I memorials in the United States {{Maine-struct-stub