Mountfort Street
43°39′47″N 70°14′56″W / 43.66298°N 70.24899°W
 Mountfort Street viewed from its intersection with Congress Street. Eastern Cemetery is on the right | |
 | |
| Length | 0.22 mi (0.35 km) |
|---|---|
| Location | Portland, Maine, U.S. |
| Northwest end | Congress Street |
| Southeast end | Fore Street |
Mountfort Street is a historic downtown street in Portland, Maine, United States.[1] It runs for around 0.22 miles (0.35 km), from Congress Street, at the foot of Munjoy Hill, in the northwest to Fore Street in the southeast. It forms the eastern boundary of Eastern Cemetery,[2] which was established in 1668.[3]
George Munjoy (c. 1626–1680), for whom Munjoy Hill is named,[4] lived in a fortified house, known as Munjoy's Garrison,[5] near the corner of Mountfort Street and Fore Street, which was then at the shoreline.[6][7] Munjoy had moved north from the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1659 to what was then Falmouth, Province of Maine.[8]
The street is believed to have been named for Edmund Mountfort (1694–1737), a merchant who arrived in Portland from Boston in 1728.[9] The family of Daniel Mountfort, meanwhile, built a home around the Mountfort/Fore Street intersection at the beginning of the 19th century.[10]
The home of Charles Frederick, Harriet Stephenson Eastman and Alexander Stephenson, at the corner of Mountfort and Newbury Streets, is denoted by a stone marker of the Portland Freedom Trail.
After the American Civil War, the Eagle Sugar Refinery was established on Fore Street at the foot of Mountfort Street. Located adjacent to the Portland Company locomotive foundry, it was well positioned to distribute its goods efficiently. Sugarcane arrived into the refinery warehouse from Cuba via ships that docked at the local wharves.[11] It remained in business until 1891.[12][13]
Intersections[edit]
The following major streets intersect with Federal Street (from northwest to southeast):
References[edit]
- ^ Herald, Press. "Welcome to Portland - The Neighborhoods: Munjoy Hill". Portland Press Herald. Retrieved 2024-04-08.
- ^ Sprague's Journal of Maine History. 1919. p. 80.
- ^ National Register of Historic Places Inventory - Nomination Form - Eastern Cemetery, December 12, 1973
- ^ Donnelly, Sara Anne (2014-04-07). "The Cool on the Hill". Down East Magazine. Retrieved 2024-04-08.
- ^ History of Peaks and House Islands – Nathan Goold (1897), p. 14
- ^ Greater Portland Landmarks’ Walk Around the Block – Maine Historical Society
- ^ Ledman, Paul J. (2016). Walking Through History: Portland, Maine on Foot. Next Steps Publishing. p. 104. ISBN 978-0-9728587-1-7.
- ^ Chisholm, Hugh (1911). The Encyclopædia Britannica: Poll-Reeves. At the University Press. p. 120.
- ^ The Origins of the Street Names of the City of Portland, Maine as of 1995 – Norm and Althea Green, Portland Public Library (1995)
- ^ "Off-Peninsula Lifestyle and Architecture Lecture, Subterranean Celebrity: Daniel Mountfort". www.spiritsalive.org. Retrieved 2024-04-08.
- ^ McCarty, Kate (2015-07-13). Distilled in Maine: A History of Libations, Temperance & Craft Spirits. Arcadia Publishing. pp. 39–40. ISBN 978-1-62585-328-8.
- ^ "Begin Again: reckoning with intolerance in Maine". Maine Memory Network. Retrieved 2024-04-08.
- ^ Chamber of Commerce Journal of Maine. 1893. p. 38.
