# Baxter Boulevard

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> Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baxter_Boulevard
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{{Short description|Boulevard and parkway in Portland, Maine}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2025}}
{{Infobox street
| name        = Baxter Boulevard
| marker_image = 
| image       = Back Cove Trail 2025.jpg
| caption     = Pictured in 2025
| length_mi   = 1.91
| length_ref  = 
| location    = [Portland, Maine](/source/Portland%2C_Maine)
| maint       = City of Portland, Maine
| direction_a = Northeast
| terminus_a  = Bates Street & {{jct|state=ME|I|295}}
| direction_b = Southwest
| terminus_b  = {{jct|state=ME|US|302|ME|100}} [Forest Avenue](/source/Forest_Avenue) & Bedford Street
| construction_start_date = 
| completion_date = 1917
}}
'''Baxter Boulevard''' is a [boulevard](/source/boulevard) and [parkway](/source/parkway) in [Portland, Maine](/source/Portland%2C_Maine). The road, around {{Convert|1.91|mi}} long, served as the means to head north from downtown Portland before [Tukey's Bridge](/source/Tukey's_Bridge), now on [Interstate 295](/source/Interstate_295_(Maine)) (I-295), was built. The road was part of [U.S. Route 1](/source/U.S._Route_1_in_Maine) (US 1) until May 2007. The parkway wraps around the west side of [Back Cove estuary basin](/source/Back_Cove_(Maine)).

The parkway and roadway began as an initiative of Mayor [James Phinney Baxter](/source/James_Phinney_Baxter), for whom it is named. It was envisioned as one of four parks in the city (along with [Deering Oaks](/source/Deering_Oaks), [Western Promenade](/source/Western_Promenade) and [Eastern Promenade](/source/Eastern_Promenade)) which would encircle the city. The parkway was designed by the noted landscape design firm [Olmsted, Olmsted and Eliot](/source/Olmsted%2C_Olmsted_and_Eliot) in 1895.<ref name=NRHP>{{cite web|url={{NRHP url|id=89001706}}|title=NRHP nomination for Back Cove|publisher=National Park Service|accessdate=2015-10-29}}</ref>  Property owners donated the then-useless land next to the cove and the walking and biking path were filled in to create the [Back Cove Trail](/source/Back_Cove_Trail). Originally called the '''Back Cove Boulevard''', the parkway opened in 1917. It covers {{convert|30|acre|ha}}.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=YNTkhcR2AEAC&dq=%22Baxter+Boulevard%22&pg=PA291 Portland City Guide] Page 291</ref>

Tree planting began on the Boulevard in 1921 as a memorial to [World War I](/source/World_War_I) victims.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Adams |first1=Herb |editor1-last=Holtwijk |editor1-first=Theo H.B.M. |editor2-last=Shettleworth Jr. |editor2-first=Earle G. |title=Bold vision: the development of the parks of Portland, Maine |date=1999 |publisher=Published for Greater Portland Landmarks, Inc. by Phoenix Pub |isbn=0939761068}}</ref>

Baxter Boulevard was listed on the [National Register of Historic Places](/source/National_Register_of_Historic_Places) as a historic landscape district in October 1989.<ref>{{NRISref|2010a}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{Portland, Maine}}

Category:Baxter family
Category:U.S. Route 1
Category:1917 establishments in Maine
Category:Parks in Portland, Maine
Category:Streets in Portland, Maine
Category:World War I memorials in the United States
Category:Transport infrastructure completed in 1917
Category:Parks established in the 1910s
Category:Protected areas established in 1917

{{Maine-struct-stub}}
{{WWI-memorial-stub}}

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Baxter Boulevard](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baxter_Boulevard) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baxter_Boulevard?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.