The Modern Mile: Forest Avenue's Transformation - Talk at Portland Library on March 26th

[Myles G. Smith]

Friends,

In 2 weeks, on March 26th at 5pm, I'll be giving a talk at the Portland Public Library for Greater Portland Landmarks that may be of interest to some of you or your networks. 

The talk will be on Portland's Forest Avenue, as a microcosm for how transportation has evolved in the city, state, and country over the last 160 years. Phil Morse will begin the session by tracing the evolution of public transportation from the horse-drawn trolleys of 1864 to the intercity light rail to Lewiston in 1912. Then I'll discuss how the arrival of the private automobile changed the street, transforming it from the heart of a "streetcar suburb" to the loud, chaotic, and dangerous car-dominated dividing line it is today. And, I'll talk about how we're going to fix it.

This is the latest in a Greater Portland Landmarks series on the history of transportation in Greater Portland. There's also a great exhibition in the basement of the library that you should check out!

Register here, it's free! https://www.portlandlandmarks.org/the-modern-mile

Please join if you can and/or spread the word!

Cheers,

Myles

Chair, PBPAC

[Joey Brunelle]

Done! https://www.reddit.com/r/portlandme/comments/1rs2tt7/the_modern_mile_forest_avenues_transformation/

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[George Rheault]

It would be great if this could be recorded for those who cannot attend as well as future replay.  I am sure it would be a helpful recruiting tool for Friends of Woodford's Corner and the Bike/Ped Committee always welcomes any new addition to its vast audio/visual library.  I don't think the library auditorium has great production values but they must have some limited infrastructure for recording events.

Burning questions that hopefully will be answered:

1.)  Who WAS Woodford and what would they think about our automobile world today?

2.)  Who killed the Woodford's Bypass Plan and did they regret it?

3.)  Would Forest Ave be different today if the Portland Terminal Company had not discontinued its freight line running parallel to it?  

On Thu, Mar 12, 2026 at 4:34 PM Myles G. Smith <myles...@gmail.com> wrote:

[James Cradock]

I recall when Aaron Stephan's sculpture was installed at Woodfords Corner in front of OOF (I was on the Public Art Committee at the time) learning how automobiles were an historical part of the intersection. One assumed (I did) vehicle traffic in the neighborhood had just driven pedestrian traffic away, but the story is more complicated. 

Thank you. 

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Sent by James Cradock from sea...@cradock.net

[Scsmedia]

To answer George's question on the street name orgin.

Woodford Street and thus the corner is named for brothers Chauncey, Ebenezer and Isaiah Woodford, merchants from Connecticut who settled in the area.

This document, Green,, Norm collector and Green,, Althea collector, "The Origins of the Street Names of the City of Portland, Maine as of 1995" (1995). Books and Documents lists the orgins of many of Portland's street names.  It could do with a rewrite adding new names since about 2001 and getting it into a revisable form.  Norman Green died in 2005.  Althea F. Green died in 2011.

https://digitalcommons.portlandlibrary.com/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1000&context=books_documents

Steven Scharf

207-415-4662

SCSM...@aol.com

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[George Rheault]

I was being a little cheeky to drum up some interest in Myles' talk.  I knew about the namesake Connecticut upstart peddlers.  Many believe the neighborhood started going downhill once these people "from away" arrived.

There is a ton of Woodsford Corner stuff out there.  Here is one that is just a bunch of pictures with touch-and-go sourcing and dating but a good primer that hopefully Myles and his co-lecturer can help people make sense of:  PowerPoint Presentation  And the FofWC History page: History — Friends of Woodfords Corner

Portland history is a great but largely unregulated territory.  Lots of snapshots and vibes but very little interpretative rigor.  So anytime people are exploring some more, it is a good thing, even if they have blind spots and limitations.  

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[Joey Brunelle]

I went down a little rabbit hole and discovered that Chauncey's father, Bissell Woodford of Owego, NY, fought in the Revolutionary War.

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[George Rheault]

Different Chauncey I think.  Apparently colonial Connecticut was infested with Woodfords...

Ebenezer Dickinson Woodford (1781-1849) | WikiTree FREE Family Tree  [Mainer]

Bissel Woodford (1754-1835) - Find a Grave Memorial [not a Mainer but a Revolutionary War soldier]

[Not saying these sources are 100% accurate BUT it suggests no direct connection between the Bissell Woodford clan with our Falmouth/Westbrook/Deering branch...]

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