PORTSMOUTH 



4778 



PORTSMOUTH 



a number of fine colonial mansions, among 

 which the Went worth, Langdon and Whipple 

 homes are of historic interest. The city h 

 customhouse and post office, some fine banks 

 and school buildings, a museum and a library. 

 Saint John's Church ( Kp^'opal) is the oldest 

 religious edifice, and was the place of worship 

 for nearly all of tl. ttlere, Portsmouth 



also has a naval prison and a naval hospital. 

 The fine harbor, which will admit the largest 

 vessels, is the city's greatest commercial asset. 

 The city is the most important distributing 

 point for coal in the territory east of Boston. 

 One of the largest button factories in the world 

 is located in Portsmouth, and there are several 

 large shoe factories and breweries. The quar- 

 rying of marble and granite is a thriving indus- 

 try, and the United States navy yard, which is 

 located on one of the islands in the harbor, 

 employs about 2,000 men. 



The place was settled in 1623, and was known 

 as Strawberry Bank until 1653, when it was 

 incorporated as a town, under its present name. 

 It was within the limits of Massachusetts before 

 New Hampshire was organized in 1679. Until 

 1807 it was the capital of New Hampshire; in 

 1849 it was chartered as a city. The treaty of 

 peace at the close of the Russo-Japanese War 

 was signed at Portsmouth in 1905, and the 

 event is annually celebrated there. E.S. 



PORTSMOUTH, OHIO, the county seat of 

 Scioto County, is situated in the south-central 

 part of the state, on the north bank of the 

 Ohio River, at the mouth of the Scioto River 

 and at the southern terminus of the Ohio Canal. 

 Cincinnati is 107 miles northwest, and Colum- 

 bus, the state capital is 100 miles north. Trans- 

 portation is furnished by the Baltimore & Ohio 

 Southwestern, the Chesapeake & Ohio and the 

 Norfolk & Western railroads and by steamboat 

 lines. In 1910 the population was 23,481 ; it 

 wu 28,741 in 1916 (Federal estimate). The 

 area exceeds three square miles. 



Portsmouth is a city of many attractive 

 homes and is surrounded by a fine agricultural 

 country. It has parks, a Federal building 

 erected at a cost of $100,000, a Carnegie Li- 

 brary, a Masonic Temple, a city hospital and 

 homes for aged women and for children. The 

 chief industrial establishments are shoe, steel 

 and fire-brick manufactories, furniture and 

 veneer works, woodworking plants, and it has 

 the terminal shops of the Norfolk & Western 

 road. The place was settled in 1803 and be- 

 came a city in 1814. In the Scioto Valley are 

 remains of the ancient Mound Builders. R.E.T. 



PORTSMOUTH, V.\., the most important 

 naval station in the United States, and with 

 Norfolk forming one of the leading coaling sta- 

 tions in the world. The two cities also con- 

 stitute a Federal customs district. Portsmouth 

 is situated in the southeastern section of the 

 state, opposite Norfolk on the Kli/abeth River. 

 an inlet of Chesapeake Bay. Richmond, the 

 Mate capital, is about 100 miles northwest, by 

 rail, and 116 miles by water. The port is the 

 terminus for a number of transatlantic and 

 coastwise steamship lines, and the Albemarle 

 and Chesapeake and the Dismal Swamp canals 

 provide communication with inland cities. Fer- 

 ries connect with Norfolk, Newport News and 

 Old Point Comfort, and railway transportation 

 is provided by the Atlantic Coast Line, the 

 Seaboard Air Line, the Chesapeake & Ohio and 

 the New York, Philadelphia & Norfolk roads. 

 The place was settled in 1752 and became a city 

 in 1858; since 1915 it has been governed on the 

 commission plan. In 1910 the population was 

 33,190; in 1916 it was 39,650 (Federal estimate). 

 The most prominent feature of Portsmouth 

 is the United States navy yard, located in the 

 southern part of the city. It has a naval train- 

 ing school, a naval magazine, a plant for the 

 building of steel vessels and three large dry 

 docks. The United States navy hospital, in the 

 northern part of the city, is a little community 

 in itself. It is situated in a park of eighty 

 acres, which contains also the handsome resi- 

 dences and quarters of the attendants; the 

 grounds, with their fine drives, walks and beau- 

 tiful shrubbery, provide a recreation park for 

 the city. The courthouse, post office, Y. M. 

 C. A. building, Kings Daughters' Hospital, pub- 

 lic library, armory and the Kirn, Commercial 

 and Law buildings are noteworthy structures. 



There are large wholesale houses and produce 

 markets here. The surrounding territory is rich 

 in agricultural products and coal. The com- 

 merce of the port of Norfolk-Portsmouth is 

 chiefly in cotton, coal, lumber, black gum, 

 vegetables, fruit, peanuts, oysters, grain and 

 fertilizer; it is the greatest peanut market in 

 the world, and is one of the leading shipping 

 points in the United States for berries, espe- 

 cially strawberries. The immense coaling sta- 

 tions here annually handle more than 2,500,000 

 tons of coal. The oyster, fish and crab interests 

 are also extensive. The manufacturing indus- 

 tries are represented by cotton, cottonseed oil, 

 knitting and lumber mills, a fertilizer factory, 

 a fiber plant and smelting works; the railway 

 car shops of the Seaboard Air Line are here. 



