Just west of this site, Portland's Brownstone Quarries became a National Historic Landmark in 1998 and reflected immigration patterns and technology associated with the American Industrial Revolution. Brownstone strongly influenced the architecture of cities such as Boston and New York in the late 19th and early 20th centuries because its soft texture made ornately carved building facades available to an emerging urban middle class. At the industry's height, the Middlesex, Brainard, and Shaler & Hall quarry companies maintained extensive fabrication and transport facilities within the quarries and along the Connecticut River. Narrow gauge trains moved massive amounts of stone from the quarries to waiting ships or to be processed by the Brownstone Steam Company. For many generations, however, stone was hauled from the quarries by teams of oxen pulling arches, named for the shape of their axle, which allowed huge blocks to be carried beneath them. In the early years, much stone cutting was done by hand. By the time the quarries ceased operating in 1958, most arches had disappeared or been destroyed, leaving this as the only major artifact from an industry that once employed thousands of people and strongly influenced the area's history. To reach the most valuable stone strata, workers sometimes removed poor stone and dumped it onto a flood plain to the north, creating the distinctive historic topography of Riverfront Park. In 1939, floodwater filled the two quarries, and today they are dramatic recreational areas. Portland's historic landscapes preserve the story of a time when machines such as the arch transformed the nation.

Photo: Michael Herrick

Photo: Michael Herrick

Photo: Michael Herrick