County of terminal: Cumberland County
Location of terminal: One India Street, Portland
Dates of service: July 1853 to May 1989
"This brick edifice was the offices of the Grand Trunk Railroad, as well as for many years the Portland headquarters for the H. & A. Allan Line Steamers, White Star-Dominion Line Steamers, International Mercantile Marine Co., and the Cunard Line, among various other establishments, including the Inspector’s Department of the U. S. Custom House.
"The building, which is now Turner-Barker Insurance, has two tablets placed on it, one designating this as the site of Fort Loyal, and the other as the site of the milepost of several railroad companies. The latter states that from July 1853 until May 19, 1989, this was the milepost of the Atlantic and St. Lawrence Railroad, the Grand Trunk Railway of Canada, and the Canadian National Railways. The value of the railroads to Portland and to Maine and Canada is inestimable. From the 1840s through the 20th Century, thousands of Irish either dug the railroads or worked as conductors, brakemen, switchmen, engineers, clerks, freight handlers, firemen, yardmasters, and common laborers for the railroad companies. They “worked back at the railroad,” as the old Portland Irish used to say.
"In this general vicinity was the site of Fort Loyall, Falmouth (Portland)’s earliest known defense against enemies. Lieutenant Thaddeus Clark, the first known Irishman to have settled in what is now Portland (1662), was killed near Fort Loyall in April 1690 during the French and Indian War of 1688-1690. Clark had been warned by his commander to keep his men within the garrison, but he ventured out with about thirty men on a scouting mission on Munjoy Hill. A party of Indians (Wabanaki) and some of their French allies surprised the crew and Clark and thirteen others were slain on the spot.
"Thaddeus Clark appears to have been born Teague Clark, as Thaddeus was often used to anglicize the old Gaelic name Thadgh or Teague. In at least one record from 1681, Thaddeus is recorded as “Teage” Clark. He married Elizabeth Mitton in 1663, a granddaughter of George Cleeve, “founder” of Portland.
"At 15 India Street was located the Grand Trunk Station, erected in 1903, replacing an earlier structure built in 1855. In 1853 the Grand Trunk Railway leased for 999 years the Atlantic & St. Lawrence Railroad, which was a vital link between Portland and Montreal. In this vicinity, as late as the 1950s, was the Grand Trunk Railway Elevators, two massive grain storage bins belonging to the Canadian National Railways. Located nearby were the company’s three wharves with space for nine steamers.
"India Street has long been a thoroughfare of various businesses, including countless grocery stores, restaurants, bakeries, and saloons. Galway native Valentine M. “Val” Canavan ran a cigar store at 14 India through the 1920s. Many prominent Irish operated saloons on the street, including, William J. Harkins, Andrew Eagan, James Herbert, George Keeley, and Patrick F. O’Connor (Keeley’s son-in-law).
"George Keeley (1831-1907) was probably the most successful and popular Irishman to operate a business on India Street. As early as 1863, he ran a grocery store at 10 1/5 India Street. From the mid-1860s until about 1880, he was a saloonkeeper, landlord of the Seguin House, operator of Keeley’s Hotel, and owner of cigars and tobacco shop, all at 4 India Street. For the next twenty years, Keeley ran a saloon and eating-house at 10 India. He paid untold fines as he tried to quietly sell liquor on the sly, but realized substantial profits. On May 6, 1882, when Lord Frederick Cavendish and Under Secretary Thomas Burke were assassinated in Phoenix Park, Dublin, by persons unknown, Keeley ran the following ad for several days in the Daily Eastern Argus:
$500 REWARD.
"I have this day deposited Five Hundred Dollars in the Canal National Bank of Portland, Maine, which I will pay to the
person, or persons, instrumental in the arrest and conviction of the cowardly assassins of LORD FREDERICK
CAVENDISH, Secretary of Ireland, and Under Secretary BURKE. GEORGE KEELEY, Native of Galway, Ireland.
"Her Britannic Majesty’s Consulate Office in Portland also ran a REWARDS advertisement at the same time. Cavendish and Burke were the second and third in command of the British Dublin Castle government of Ireland. George Keeley may have been a member of many local Irish nationalist groups, but he, along with many Irish, were horrified at the assassinations. A secret Irish rebel group called The Invincibles were later said to be responsible for the murders. They had targeted Burke because he was a “Castle Catholic,” an Irish Catholic who worked for the British, a turncoat of the worse kind in their eyes." ~ Maine Irish Heritage Trail