Portland

The first European settler was Christopher Levett, an English naval captain granted land on Casco Bay in 1623. The settlement changed names and hands several times, becoming Falmouth after the Massachusetts Bay Colony took over Casco Bay in 1658, and it was repeatedly destroyed in wars between the English, the French and their Native allies — among them the Battle of Fort Loyal in 1690. In October 1775 the Royal Navy under Captain Henry Mowat burned the town to punish its rebellion.

After the Revolution the harbour district known as the Neck grew quickly as a shipping centre, and in 1786 its people formed a separate town named Portland, after the Isle of Portland in Dorset. The city prospered on trade and industry: the Portland Company on Fore Street built hundreds of steam locomotives and employed immigrants from Canada, Ireland and Italy, and the poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow grew up here. In June 1863 a Confederate raid on the harbour led to one of the northernmost battles of the Civil War.

On 4 July 1866 a fire that began during the Independence Day celebrations destroyed most of the commercial district, half the churches and hundreds of homes. The phoenix on the city seal recalls that fire and three earlier ones. The port declined in the 20th century, until tourists and new businesses revived the old seaport, now the Old Port. Since the 1990s the industrial Bayside district, India Street and Munjoy Hill have been rebuilt with shops and flats.

Portland has a long arts tradition; in the early 19th century it was described as a rival, not a satellite, of Boston or New York, and Longfellow is its most famous son. Today the Arts District along Congress Street holds the Portland Museum of Art, the oldest and largest public art institution in Maine, the Maine College of Art, Portland Stage and a cluster of galleries. Since 2000 the First Friday Art Walk has drawn thousands of people into the galleries and studios each month.

Greater Portland has become an important centre of the creative economy, and that success has brought gentrification and complaints about rising rents. The waterfront keeps the city tied to the sea: fishing boats still land their catch beside the restaurants that serve it.

Summer is the high season, when the island ferries fill, the Portland Sea Dogs, a Red Sox affiliate, play at Hadlock Field and the Eastern Promenade fills with picnickers. Craft brewing is part of local identity, with breweries and taprooms scattered across the city and the Maine Brewers' Guild holding festivals several times a year.

Portland had about 68,000 people at the 2020 census, and Greater Portland about 550,000, the largest metropolitan area in Maine. Most of the city's land lies on the mainland beyond the peninsula, and several islands in Casco Bay, including Peaks Island, are part of the city and linked to it by ferry.

Once tied to shipping, the marine economy and light industry, Portland now lives mainly on services, with most national banks basing their Maine operations here, and is Maine's economic capital, with the state's largest port. The port is the second-largest by tonnage in New England, and a container terminal has revived part of the waterfront. Housing is the main local issue: the Portland Press Herald has reported on a tight rental market, evictions and steep jumps in rent.

Daily life follows the seasons. Summers are busy with visitors and island traffic; winters are long, snowy and quiet, and life moves into cafés, bars and restaurants. Sea-level rise is a growing concern, and in January 2024 the harbour recorded its highest tide on record.

Portland has built a national reputation for its restaurants; Bon Appétit named it Restaurant City of the Year in 2018. The foundation is the catch landed on its own waterfront — lobster, haddock, clams and scallops — which makes seafood less expensive here than in most American cities. Lobster rolls, chowder and fried clams are summer staples, and restaurants such as Fore Street and Duckfat are among the city's best known.

The city is home to many microbreweries and brewpubs, among them D. L. Geary, Shipyard, Gritty McDuff's and Allagash, as well as coffee roasters and distilleries. Food trucks park on city streets, at festivals and at breweries, and the Saturday farmers' market in Deering Oaks brings produce and flowers from Maine farms.

Portland has more than 200 vegetarian-friendly restaurants, and Maine VegFest has been held every October since 2005. The city's food history reaches back: Maine's first documented Chinese restaurant opened on Custom House Wharf in 1880.