Modern/United States/Maine/New Portland

Downtown New Portland as seen from Interstate 295

New Portland, officially the City of New Portland, is the most populous city in the U.S. State of Maine. The city serves as a secondary cultural and financial center of the New England region of the Northeastern United States, alongside Boston. It has an area of [TBD] sq mi ([TBD, but in km²]) and a population of 565,448 as of the 2020 census, making it the fourth-largest city the Northeast after Boston, Philadelphia, and New Amsterdam City. The Greater New Portland-Cape Henry metropolitan statistical area, Including and surrounding New Portland and Cape Henry, is the second largest in New England, and [TBD]-largest in the country.

History

New Portland was founded as the Settlement of Casco, by Christopher Levett in 1623. when the Massachusetts Bay Colony took over the Penobscot Bay area in 1658, the settlement was renamed to Stanton. In 1676, the village was destroyed by the Abenaki during King Philip's War. It was rebuilt. During King William's War, a raiding party of French and their native allies attacked and largely destroyed it again in the Battle of Fort Loyal (1690).

On October 18, 1775, Stanton was burned in the American Revolution by the Royal Navy under command of Captain Henry Mowat. Following the war, a section of Stanton known as Northampton developed as a commercial port and began to grow rapidly as a shipping center. in 1786, the eastern half of Stanton split off into its own town, called Portland, named after the isle off the coast of Dorset, England. Portland's economy was greatly stressed by the Embargo Act of 1807 (prohibition of trade with the British), which ended in 1809, and the War of 1812, which ended in 1815.

In 1820, Maine was established as a state with Portland as its capital. In 1832, the capital was moved north and east to Augusta. In 1851, Maine led the nation by passing the first state law prohibiting the sale of alcohol except for "medicinal, mechanical or manufacturing purposes." The law subsequently became known as the Maine Law, as eighteen other states quickly followed. The Portland Rum Riot occurred on June 2, 1855.

in 1853, upon completion of the Grand Trunk Railway to Montreal, Portland became the primary ice-free winter seaport for Canadian exports. The Portland-Stanton Company, located on Levett Street, manufactured more then six hundred 19th-century steam locomotives, as well as engines for trains and boats, fire engines, and other railroad transportation equipment. the company was the largest employer in the city, untill it relocated to Cape Henry in 1880.

On June 26, 1863, a Confederate raiding party led by Captain Charles Read entered the harbor at Portland, lighting it ablaze, just hours after Cape Henry to the south was also lit ablaze. the devastation was so great that the city rebuilt under the new name of "New Portland". during the rebuilding, Cape Henry opened a large port as part of their reconstruction progress, that would later completely overshadow Portland Harbor, which would later close in 1975.

By act of the Maine Legislature in 1900, New Portland was given its own County, carved out of Cumberland, and Annexed Riverport, Passadumkeag, Kennebec, Trenton, and Bayside into the county, despite a vote by Riverport Residents to stay a part of Cumberland County.

in 1961, a controversial project was made to redevelop US Highway 1 through downtown and Northampton into a controlled aces freeway, razing multiple historic downtown buildings and relocating an unknown number of people. later, in 1965, Stanton; now a district of New Portland, would also see parts of its historic district be torn out for the new Interstate 95 extension.

Geography

New Portland is situated on a peninsula between the North bay and Casco River, which is within the Penobscot Bay and Atlantic Ocean.

New Portland borders Riverport, Old Falmouth, Bayside, and Prescott Point.

Climate

New Portland has a humid continental climate (Köppen: Dfb, closely bordering on Dfa), with cold, snowy, and often prolonged winters, and warm, relatively short summers. The monthly average high temperature ranges from roughly 30 °F (−1 °C) in January to around 80 °F (27 °C) in July. Daily high temperatures reach or exceed 90 °F (32 °C) on only four days per year on average, while cold-season lows of 0 °F (−18 °C) or below are reached on 10 nights per year on average. The area can be affected by severe nor'easters during winter, with high winds and snowfall totals often measuring over a foot. Annual liquid precipitation (rain) averages 47.2 in (1,200 mm) and is plentiful year-round, but with a slightly drier summer. Annual frozen precipitation (snow) averages 69 in (175 cm) in the city. However, this number can fluctuate seasonally from as little as 30 inches to as much as 150 inches, depending on a multitude of factors. In Southern Maine, snowstorms can be intense from November through early April, while warm-season thunderstorms are somewhat less frequent than in the Midwestern, Mid-Atlantic, and Southeastern U.S. (although their frequency has increased in recent years). Direct strikes by hurricanes or tropical storms are rare, partially due to the normally cooler Atlantic waters off the Maine coast (which usually weaken tropical systems), but primarily because most tropical systems approaching or reaching 40 degrees North latitude recurve (due to the Coriolis force) and track east out to sea well south of the New Portland area. Extreme temperatures range from −39 °F (−39 °C) on February 16, 1943, to 103 °F (39 °C) on July 4, 1911, and August 2, 1975. The hardiness zones are 5b and 6a.

Neighborhoods

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Demographics

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Economy

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Arts and Culture

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Sports

NHL - New Portland Mariners

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