The first railroad station in Portland, sometime after 1874 when the Maine Central RR bought the Portland & Kennebec RR. Built in 1842 for the Portland, Saco & Portsmouth Railway - which connected through to Boston via the Eastern Railroad in Portsmouth - on Commercial Street (to the right in this photo, which is looking west) at the foot of State Street. The Boston & Maine Railroad also used this station starting in 1843, running on PS&P trackage from South Berwick, until building their own route to Portland and station on the opposite side of Commercial Street in 1873. The B&M leased the Eastern Railroad in 1884, becoming its "Eastern" route, and the Dover, NH line its "Western" route. In 1888, Union Station on St John Street was built, where B&M and the Maine Central RR consolidated passenger operations. This is now part of the parking lot of the container terminal.

Unknown photographer.
Added to the photo archive by Tim Sullivan, April 6, 2012.
Railroad: Eastern.

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