The Portland Marine Hospital at Martin’s Point, photographed in 1900.

Working Waterfront

Our social insurance has maritime origins

Social welfare programs are subject to frequent criticism on the national and local levels and are usually associated with numerous 1930s policies enacted to respond to social hardships highlighted by the Great Depression. In actuality, the first government-managed social insurance program dates all the way back to the 18th century… SEE MORE
SaltWater Cure

Working Waterfront

Democracy at work

The fitness center was full, but the treadmills and weight machines were empty. Instead, community members, from elementary students through older adults, filled chairs and stood around the margins of the basketball halfcourt. The occasion was a special town meeting, called to seek approval for a work of public art—a… SEE MORE