The Old City Hall of

Portland, Maine Portland is the List of municipalities in Maine, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maine and the county seat, seat of Cumberland County, Maine, Cumberland County. Portland's population was 68,408 at the 2020 census. The Portland metropolit ...

, was located in what was then known as Market Square or Haymarket Square ( Monument Square today) between 1833 and 1888, when it was demolished. In 1862, it was replaced by an earlier version of today's

City Hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or municipal hall (in the Philippines) is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses the city o ...

located on Congress Street, a short distance northeast of the original location.

History

The Town of

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: *Portland, Oregon, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon *Portland, Maine, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maine *Isle of Portland, a tied island in the English Channel Portland may also r ...

built its

Market House A market house or market hall is a covered space historically used as a marketplace to exchange goods and services such as provisions or livestock, sometimes combined with spaces for public or civic functions on the upper floors and often with a ...

in Market (or Haymarket) Square 1825. The first floor in the building's early years housed stalls used by farmers to sell agricultural products. Also known as Military Hall, the building's simple gable appearance was modified in 1833, to plans made the previous year by Charles Quincy Clapp. Clapp updated the building to the

Greek Revival Greek Revival architecture is a architectural style, style that began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe, the United States, and Canada, ...

style by removing the

cupola In architecture, a cupola () is a relatively small, usually dome-like structure on top of a building often crowning a larger roof or dome. Cupolas often serve as a roof lantern to admit light and air or as a lookout. The word derives, via Ital ...

from the roof and adding a portico to the front. The cupola was reinstalled on the Universalist school house (now Alumni Hall on the

University of New England University of New England may refer to: * University of New England (Australia), in New South Wales, with about 26,000 students * University of New England (United States), in Biddeford, Maine, with about 6,000 students See also * New England Coll ...

campus) in Portland's Deering neighborhood. The new building was the site of the 1855

Portland Rum Riot The Portland Rum Riot, also called the Maine Law Riot, and the June Riot by Neal Dow, was a brief but violent period of civil unrest that occurred in Portland, Maine on June 2, 1855, in response to the Maine law which prohibited the sale and ma ...

, which involved mayor

Neal Dow Neal Dow (March 20, 1804 – October 2, 1897) was an American Prohibition advocate and politician. Nicknamed the "Napoleon of Temperance" and the "Father of Prohibition", Dow was born to a Quaker family in Portland, Maine. From a young age, he ...

and led to one death. It was replaced by a new city hall in 1862 on Congress Street at the head of Exchange Street. The old city hall was demolished in 1888 and replaced by the Soldiers and Sailors Monument, at which time Market Square was renamed Monument Square. Between 1866 and 1868, the old city hall building was brought into use as such again, after the first iteration of the Congress Street building burned in the fire of 1866. The United States Hotel, built in 1803, stood behind both iterations of the building.

Gallery

File:Portland City Hall (1830).png, A sketch by

Charles Quincy Goodhue Charles Quincy Goodhue (October 2, 1835 – March 21, 1910) was an American illustrator. Upon retiring as a marble-cutter in 1890, he began to sketch, from memory, scenes of 19th-century Portland, Maine, his hometown. His book, ''Portland Throug ...

(1902) of

(), which was modified to become the first city hall File:Alumni Hall cupola.jpg, The

from Market House, pictured in 2024 on Alumni Hall on the University of New England's Portland campus File:Old Portland City Hall.jpg, Old City Hall, pictured in 1886, two years before its demolition

References

Sources

* * * * * * {{refend City halls in Maine Government buildings in Portland, Maine Government buildings completed in 1825 Demolished buildings and structures in Portland, Maine Government of Portland, Maine 1880s disestablishments in Maine 1825 establishments in Maine 19th century in Portland, Maine