PORTLAND, Maine Paul Ledman, a Portland resident for more than 30 years, loves the history of the city so much that he’s written two books about it, “Portland, Maine Connections Across Time” and “Walking Through History – Portland, Maine on Foot.” 

Each volume is packed with old photos and images that Ledman found during countless hours of digging through the archives of the Library of Congress, the New York Public Library, the Maine Historical Preservation Commission, and many other sources.

The photos are, in effect, a low-tech time machine. Look at pictures of downtown Portland from around 1920 and you’ll be struck by, among other things, the tall, stately trees that lined so many city streets. Many of them were elms, later killed off by blight. The loss of those beautiful trees still stings.

Despite his enthusiasm for the past, Ledman does not view it through rose-colored glasses. 

“We have a tendency [when looking back] to say, ah, gee, what a wonderful time that must have been,” he said. “It wasn’t. It really wasn’t. And I want to communicate that to people.”

Watch our interview with Ledman to learn and see how Portland has and hasn’t changed in the last couple of centuries. He’ll offer a fresh perspective on a city you thought you knew.