LONG BEFORE THE ARRIVAL OF the first settlers, this area of the Kenduskeag served as a travel route and encampment site for Native Americans, hunters, trappers and explorers, and the young village of Condeskeag grew in the late 18th century here next to the stream.
A makeshift ferry service was operated here in the early days, until the first bridge, a toll bridge, was built in 1807, known as Kenduskeag Bridge; bridges at Central and Franklin streets came later.
In 1836, a granite foundation for a Market House was constructed in the stream between the Kenduskeag and Central bridges; however, it wasn't built, until a smaller market house and public hall appeared at the southerly end in 1843. After being claimed by the 1846 flood, it was replaced with a larger Market House, but that too was short-lived, as the federal government acquired the site for a Custom House to serve international shipping.
The building was completed in 1855, a Post Office addition in 1866, and the structure stood until it was lost in the 1911 Fire, which convinced city fathers that the site should be left open to serve as a fire break. The property evolved into the Kenduskeag Parkway mall.
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