Mapping Portland in the 1830's

Please join Greater Portland Landmarks for an evening at the University of Southern Maine as we learn about the city of Portland in the 1830s—through maps—with our colleagues from the Osher Map Library and Smith Center for Cartographic Education in a talk entitled “Mapping Portland in the 1830s”. Dr. Libby Bischof, Executive Director and Public Historian, and Louis Miller, Assistant Director for Research and Fellowships, will utilize John Cullum’s 1836 Map of the City of Portland with Latest Improvements to explore our historic city. This unique, full color, early map shows the community centers and development patterns of the city before trains changed everything.

This lecture serves as a prelude to our exhibit Portland by Land, Portland by Sea, opening at the Portland Public Library in January 2026 with an accompanying lecture series. Transportation has always been the invisible architect of our cities—from port cities clustered around harbors, to trolley lines that enabled suburbs in the early twentieth century, to buses, planes, and cruise ships that reshaped waterfronts and economies. Mapping Portland in the 1830s will set the foundation to examine how these forces have left their mark on Portland’s landscape and continue to influence the city today.