Monument Square (Portland, Maine)

Monument Square is a town square in downtown Portland, Maine, about halfway between the East Bayside and Old Port neighborhoods. One Monument Square and One City Center are among the buildings on the square itself, while the Time and Temperature Building, Fidelity Trust Building and the main branch of the Portland Public Library are on Congress Street, across from the square.
Until the 20th century, Middle Street originated from Market Square. It ran east through where The Maine Lobsterman statue is today, before continuing its current route from its intersection with Temple, Spring and Union Streets. The original stretch, which formerly met Federal Street in the square, is now paved with bricks and is no longer Middle Street.

Constituent buildings

One Monument Square, a ten-story office building on the eastern edge of the square, was built on the site of the United States Hotel. Tenants at its November 1970 opening included the law firms Bernstein, Shur, Sawyer & Nelson and Pierce, Atwood, Scribner, Allen, Smith & Lancaster, and Amica Mutual Insurance. The building was renovated in 2015.
28 Monument Square was built in 1871. In 2006, the first floor and basement of the building became the home of Public Market House, whose several vendors flank a narrow central corridor. Some vendors moved to Public Market House from the nearby Portland Public Market building, at the corner of Preble Street and Cumberland Avenue, which closed earlier in the year.

In 1825, the Town of Portland built Market House in Market Square to facilitate the sale produce and livestock. In 1833, the structure was modified to serve as Portland's first city hall. In 1862, it was replaced by a new city hall, located on Congress Street at the head of Exchange Street. The old city hall was demolished in 1888 and replaced by the Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument, at which time Market Square was renamed Monument Square.

The Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument stands in the center of Monument Square, on the former site of Portland's 1833 city hall. Dedicated on October 28, 1891, it honors "those brave men of Portland, soldiers of the United States Army and sailors of the Navy of the United States who died in defense of the country in the late civil war". It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on April 1, 1998.