Portland City Hall and Municipal Auditorium - Portland, ME - American Guide Series on Waymarking.com

At the intersection of Congress Street and Exchange Street on a ridge in downtown Portland, stands the Portland City Hall and Municipal Auditorium, still present and as described in the American Guide Series book for Maine. However, I note how little of the actual description in the book is given to the present building(s) compared to the buildings and history that preceded the present building.

The description is on pages 172, 173 and 176 (maps are on 174 and 175) and reads:

5. The Portland City Hall and Municipal Auditorium, 380 Congress Street, occupies a plot of ground associated with city, county and State government for more than 150 years. The first structure on this site was a two-story frame courthouse (1782-1816) whose cupola was surmounted by the carved weathercock now adorning the First National Bank Building. Gallows, stocks, and pillory had a prominent place in the first floor hall of the courthouse, and the whipping post stood outside its door. The first capitol conviction in the United States Courts after the adoption of the Constitution (Article I, sec. 8: 'The congress shall have power...to define and punish piracies and felonies committed on the high seas...') occurred here in 1790, when one Thomas Bird was sentenced to be hanged for piracy and murder. Bird's petition for pardon was refused by President Washington, and he was promptly executed on Bramhall Hill. A jail (1797-1859) and a jail-keeper's house were built in the rear of the courthouse, the former having a dungeon with chains, shackles, and ringbolts. The debtors rooms in the attic 'were not so repulsive, yet those who were then confined in them - did not appear as if they were happy.' A new brick courthouse was erected in 1818 and, four years later when Maine became a State, it was used by the legislature. Until 1822, spirituous liquors were sold on the premises, a practice which was discontinued in that year 'during the sitting of the Court of Legislature.' Another building adjoining the courthouse had been erected in 1820 to accommodate the Senate and State offices and was in use until the State capitol was removed to Augusta in 1831. At the time of Lafayette's visit to Portland in June, 1825, an awning was spread from the front of the Statehouse to the elm trees lining the street before it, and the General held his public reception on a platform built from the entrance.

Two other city and county buildings on the site of the old courthouse, jail and statehouse were built and burned before the construction (1909-1912) of the present city hall, designed by Carrere and Hastings of New York and Stevens and Stevens of Portland.

In the rear of the building, a Municipal Auditorium with a seating capacity of over 3000 houses the Kotzschmar Memorial Organ, gift of the late Cyrus H. K. Curtis in memory of Henry Kotzschmar (1829-1908), composer, teacher, and for 47 years organist of the First Parish in Portland. The Kotzschmar Organ, one of the largest in the world, is really eight instruments in one; it has 177 speaking stops and couplers, over 6500 pipes, and a carillon. Although there is at present no municipal organist, a series of summer concerts is sponsored by the American Guild of Organists, and each year many well-known musicians participate. -- American Guide Series: Maine - A Guide 'Down East'

Observations of the Site's Present Condition:

I could locate no picture of the city hall in the online version of the book, but I imagine that the city hall is about the same in appearance as when it was first built. On the Wikipedia article for Portland, ME, there is a postcard picture of city hall from ca. 1910. It looks very similar - the weathervane looks like it is perched much higher than today. The street lamps have changed, and the pavement is asphalt instead of cobblestone. The plaza is different, with a few more trees, today. A lot more has changed around the city hall, as tall buildings have been built around it, though several, such as the Lancaster Building at Monument Square a few blocks down Congress Street, were around when it was built.

I did not see the auditorium, now called Merrill Auditorium, personally. However, it is used by the Portland Ovation, a performing arts group, and it is a venue for musical concerts. In 1997, the auditorium was reopened after extensive renovations were done that included modern updates to the facility. the organ still exists, but it is no longer maintained by the city of Portland, which ended funding in 1981. The organ is now in the hands of the Friends of the Kotzschmar Organ, and there are concerts conducted. There is even a designated Municipal Organist.

Additional Source:

Wikipedia Article (Portland, Maine):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portland,_Maine

Portland Ovations:
http://portlandovations.org/about/history/

Friends of the Kotzschmar Organ http://www.foko.org/

Book: Maine Page Number(s) of Excerpt: 172, 173, 176 (maps on page 174 and 175) Year Originally Published: 1937

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