City of South Portland

South Portland is a city in located in Cumberland County, settled in 1630 and incorporated as a town on March 15, 1895 from land set off by Cape Elizabeth. Three years later is became a city.

A residential community serving the greater Portland area for over a hundred years, the City has developed independent economic resources.

In the 1940's it became a substantial shipbuilding center. It is currently home to the Portland Pipeline Company, with its huge oil tank farm and tanker docking facilities, and to the Maine Mall, a huge shopping area serving a wide area of southern Maine.

The Southern Maine Community College campus includes the former Fort Preble (1808-1811), named for Commodore Edward Preble.

South Portland lies on the south bank of the Fore River and fronts on Portland Harbor. It is part of the Port of Portland and home to a major railroad yard and fuel tank storage facility.

The state's fourth largest community by population behind Portland, Lewiston and Bangor, it surpassed Auburn, which was the fourth largest in the 1990 U.S. Census.

Mill Cove is a nature preserve of 31 acres of tidal flats, salt marsh and upland areas visited by many bird species.

From Maine: An Encyclopedia (www.themaineencyclopedia.com)