Oct. 7, 2015, photo by Gordon Chibroski/Staff photographer; 1969 photo by Walter Elwell/Staff photographer, courtesy of Portland Library Special Collections & Archives
These photographs show the corner of Pearl and Middle Street in Portland’s Old Port in 1969 and in 2015. The older photo, from the cover of the March 1, 1969 Portland Evening Express, ran with the following caption:
“GUESS WHERE THEY’RE GOING? If you know what day it is and your Portland geography, the answer’s easy – the Motor Vehicle Registry. Just after 8 a.m. today, the long line twisted out of the state’s office in the Middle Street shopping plaza, through the parking lot, along Middle Street and down Pearl Street, right.”
The Portland Room of the Portland Public Library is in the process of organizing and conserving the archival collection of original Portland Press Herald, Maine Sunday Telegram and Evening Express photographic negatives — a major collection that spans from 1937 to 2005. Find more photos at www.pressherald.com/flashback/.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
