Taken in 1845 or 1846, this view of buildings on Exchange Street in Portland is one of Maine’s oldest datable outdoor photographs. The Federal style block in the center was built for the Maine Fire and Marine Insurance Company in 1803-04 from plans by Alexander Parris.

Lowell and Senter’s jewelry was located on the first floor and the Bank of Cumberland on the upper two stories. To the right was the printing establishment of Thurston, Foster and Company.

Everything in this scene was destroyed twenty years later in the Great Fire of 1866.