Join us for a Jane’s Walk event on Saturday, May 6th at 12pm! Jane's Walk is a movement of free, citizen-led walking conversations inspired by Jane Jacobs, an urban planner who led people-centered city planning and inspired neighborhood involvement. We're hosting this walk through Gorham's Corner alongside our partners Portland Downtown, Maine Preservation, Greater Portland Landmarks, and Friends of Congress Square Park.
Gorham's Corner was the center of a predominantly Irish working class community. The neighborhood originated when the Irish became the first large non-English group in Portland. Over 500 Irish immigrants came during Black '47, the year of the famine in Ireland. Over time, this area has become an intersection that's challenging to navigate. Our walk will focus on some suggested changes to the area as noted below. As of this writing, this proposal is still underway with City officials not yet officially signing on. However, we expect that to evolve before the May 6 Walk. We can update the narrative accordingly as this shifts. Our Walk with highlight both the history of the area as well as the urbanism issues of the space and downtown Portland.
This project is designed as a temporary, low-cost test of a concept to re-configure historic Gorham’s Corner to function better and be more attractive.
The goals of the project are to:
- Provide a safer, more accessible and more welcoming corner for all users
- Test the concept before investing in a more costly full build-out
- Demonstrate the benefits of public/private/nonprofit partnerships
No City funds have been used for this project. Materials and planning have been donated by the partners listed above.
