Our last photo was of the installation of sewer pipes on Forest Avenue in Portland, with the camera facing towards Woodfords Street. Here is another photo, courtesy of Abraham Schechter, who runs the Portland Public Library's Portland Room.This time our photo is of another Portland street, again estimated to have been taken circa 1900-1910. We return from the suburbs to the downtown area for this photo. Another of the city's urban improvements of the new century was the installation of cobblestone streets, instead of the dusty unpaved roads that drivers had to contend with up to that point. This short street is down towards the waterfront, and is still a full cobblestone street today, unlike many of its brothers who have been paved over with asphalt. Click on the photo for a larger version to inspect details.
4 comments:
Great photo! I guess the labor laws of that era required that everyone wear a hat.
Man! I love the hats people wore back then. If it wasn't for the fact that my wife has sworn she'd divorce me for it, I'd totally wear a bowler.
Is it Pearl Street?
This is a great great photo. A little quiz for ya - Do you know why port cities had so many cobble stones?
Chris-- Imagine if all the "Caution! Hard Hat Area" signs suddenly turned into "Caution! Bowler Hat Area" signs. Hee hee hee!
Jack-- It is not Pearl Street, it is actually Cross Street, running between Fore and Commercial Streets, sort of near where Brian Boru's is, and the MEMIC building. A real stumper!
Rich-- That wouldn't be because they were carried as ballast when ships entered the port to retrieve cargo, would it?
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