Western Promenade

Portland’s officials began buying land for the Eastern and Western Promenades in 1828. The Eastern Promenade provided views of the Casco Bay islands, while the Western Promenade, overlooking the Fore River, had views of the surrounding countryside and the White Mountains. Portland’s civil engineer, William Goodwin, developed the first formal designs for the promenades in 1878. Under Goodwin, the city made yearly improvements to the Western Promenade: widening and grading roads, adding sidewalks, esplanades, elms and maples, a terraced overlook, planting beds, and a gazebo.

The Western Promenade is a historic promenade, an 18.1-acre (7.3 ha) public park and recreation area in the West End neighborhood of Portland, Maine. Developed between 1836 and the early 20th century, it is one Portland's oldest preserved spaces, with landscaping by the Olmsted Brothers, who included it in their master plan for the city's parks. The promenade was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1989.[1]