Located northwest of Back Cove, the John B. Russwurm House is a two-story, wood-frame structure with a side-gable roof. Sheathed in clapboards, it features a symmetrical facade with a central entry door. The door is framed by a later Greek Revival-style surround of sidelight windows and pilasters supporting a wide entablature. The second floor windows sit just below the eaves. The two interior chimneys are located below the gable peak on the rear of the house. Russwurm was the son of a British Jamaican plantation owner and an enslaved women. His father relocated to Portland as a merchant in 1812 and brought Russwurm with him. Even after his father's death in 1815, Russwurm continued to live in the house with his stepmother and her family when not attending school into the 1820s. He became the first African American to graduate from Bowdoin College. He was an active abolitionist and co-editor of Freedoms Journal, the first newspaper in America owned and published by African Americans. He eventually immigrated to Liberia and accepted a governorship at the colony of Las Palmas. As part of his governorship, he outlawed slavery and instituted education for both males and females.
Year Listed: 1983
For more information: https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/AssetDetail?assetID=6dd92e7d-02c0-453a-b827-61827ac3f513