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If your travel plans include a trip to Portland Maine and you have at least a passing interest in newspapers, keep reading this Blog.
I grew up in South Portland, Maine. In high school I helped a friend deliver the morning newspaper. I hated getting up early, particularly in the winter when it was cold. But I loved making a little extra money. At that time there were three newspaper editions. The Portland Press Herald was the morning paper. The Portland Evening Express was the afternoon paper. The Sunday Telegraph was published on Sundays. Guy Gannett Communications published these newspapers.
The headquarters building for Guy Gannett was located on Congress Street across from City Hall. In the 1940’s, News of the Day bulletin boards outside the building’s Federal Street entrance showed the day’s headlines to street traffic. The press was in the basement. Later a press plant was built across the street at 385 Congress Street, connected to the Press Herald Building by a tunnel running under Congress Street.
Over the last thirty years or so the Newspaper industry has been impacted by the delivery of news by cable news channels, streaming devices, and cell phones.
In 1988, the newspaper opened a $40 million print plant in South Portland, Maine. In 2012, the building was sold to a developer with the aim of turning the structure into a hotel.
In 2015, the renovated building reopened as a boutique 110-room hotel known as the Press Hotel. Guest rooms include custom wallpaper printed with headlines from the Portland Press Herald and each room has design elements taken from a 1920s editor’s office. A wall stacked floor-to-ceiling with typewriters is part of the front lobby design, and an art gallery and a gym are in the basement.
You can find deals for the hotel here. The Press Hotel is close to the Merrill Auditorium, the Old Port area, and the Arts District of Portland.
