Portland (Maine)

Portland (Maine), city in southwestern Maine, seat of Cumberland County, a deepwater port on Casco Bay, which is an inlet of the Atlantic Ocean. Portland is the largest city in Maine. Largely situated on a peninsula, it is a major shipping, fishing, and commercial center; manufactures include printed materials, processed food, textiles, forest products, and chemicals. The city is a gateway to the summer resort islands in Casco Bay and is linked by ferry with Nova Scotia. The University of Southern Maine (1878), Westbrook College (1831), the Portland School of Art (1882), and two junior colleges are here. The poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was born and lived in Portland in the 1800s; his house is now a museum.

The community, known by a number of different names, was founded in 1632 and destroyed by Native Americans in 1676 and by the French and Native Americans in 1690. In 1775, the settlement (then part of Falmouth), was severely damaged by the British. In 1786 it was separated from Falmouth and named for Portland, England. It served as the capital of Maine from 1820 to 1832, the year it was incorporated as a city. A great fire in 1866 leveled much of the central city. According to the 2000 census, whites constitute 77.9 percent of the city's population; blacks, 6.6 percent; people of Asian background, 6.3 percent; Native Americans, 1.1 percent; and Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders, less than one percent. Hispanics, who also may be counted among other groups, make up 6.8 percent of the population. Population 61,572 (1980); 64,358 (1990); 64,249 (2000); 63,889 (2005 estimate).