Prior to 20th-century redevelopment, Middle Street originated from Market Square.[3][4] It ran east through where The Maine Lobsterman statue is today, before continuing its current route from its intersection with Temple, Spring and Union Streets. The original stretch, which formerly met Federal Street in the square, is now paved with bricks and is no longer Middle Street.
Constituent buildings
One Monument Square is a ten-story office building on the eastern edge of the square,[5] located on the former site of the United States Hotel. The building opened after a ribbon-cutting ceremony in November 1970. Initial tenants included the law firms Bernstein, Shur, Sawyer & Nelson and Pierce, Atwood, Scribner, Allen, Smith & Lancaster, as well as Amica Mutual Insurance.[6] It was significantly renovated in 2015.
28 Monument Square was built in 1871. In 2006, the first floor and basement of the building became the home of Public Market House, in which several vendors flank a narrow central corridor.[7] Some vendors relocated to Public Market House from the nearby Portland Public Market building, at the corner of Preble Street and Cumberland Avenue, which closed earlier the same year.[8][9]
In 1825, the Town of Portland built Market House in Market Square to facilitate the sale produce and livestock. In 1833, the structure was modified to serve as Portland's first city hall.[10][11] In 1862, it was replaced by a new city hall, located on Congress Street at the head of Exchange Street.[12] 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.[13]
Barnes, Albert F. (1984). Greater Portland Celebration 350. Portland, Maine: Guy Gannett Publishing Co. ISBN0-930096-58-4.
City of Portland (1940). Portland City Guide. Portland, Maine: The Forest City Printing Company.
Eisenberg, Christiane (2007). "'German Gymnastics' in Britain, or the Failure of Culture Transfer". In Manz, Stefan; Beerbühl, Margrit Schulte; Davis, John R. (eds.). Migration and Transfer from Germany to Britain, 1660-1914. Munich, Germany: K.G. Saur. pp. 131–146. ISBN978-3-598-23002-8.