Custom Car, Motorcycle, Watercraft Appraisals in Haverhill, MA

Portland is the largest city in Maine, with a population of more than 68,400 people. It's also the capital city of the state, and serves as the seat of Cumberland County. The Greater Portland metropolitan area currently is home to more than 500,000 residents.

Since its founding in 1632 and its incorporation in 1786, Portland has experienced four devastating fires. This inspired the adoption of a city seal featuring a phoenix rising from the ashes, representing how the city has recovered each time and gone on to thrive. 

In the past, Portland's economy relied heavily on fishing, canneries, and manufacturing. Today, the city has a diversified economy that allows it to continue growing. The service sector and tourism now play major roles in the local economy. 

Different areas of the city offer residents and visitors plenty to do. The Old Port is known as a hotspot for nightlife, while also providing some of the best examples of 19th-century architecture to be found anywhere in the state. Fishing and commercial shipping continue to be major industries, with the Port of Portland serving as the second-largest tonnage seaport in New England.

Serving Haverhill, MA

Facts about Haverhill, MA

Haverhill is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 60,879 at the 2010 census.

Located on the Merrimack River, it began as a farming community of Puritans, largely from Newbury Plantation. The land was officially purchased from the Pentuckets on November 15, 1642 (a year after incorporation) for three pounds, ten shillings. Pentucket was renamed Haverhill (after the Ward family's hometown in England) and would evolve into an important industrial center, beginning with sawmills and gristmills run by water power. In the 18th and 19th century, Haverhill developed woolen mills, tanneries, shipping and shipbuilding. The town was for many decades home to a significant shoe-making industry. By the end of 1913, one tenth of the shoes produced in the United States were made in Haverhill, and because of this the town was known for a time as the "Queen Slipper City". The city was also known for the manufacture of hats.

History - 21st century

In the 21st century, downtown Haverhill has undergone a renaissance of sorts. Housing trends, combined with a rezoning by the city led by longtime Mayor James Fiorentini and the use of Federal and State brownfield's money to clean up abandoned factories, resulted in the conversion of several abandoned factories into loft apartments and condominiums. There has been a total of $150 million in public and private investment in the downtown old factory district area. Additionally, the Washington Street area gained new dining and entertainment spots, and federal, State and local funds contributed to removing an abandoned gas station on Granite Street, cleaning up the site and converting it to a 350-space parking garage. The city was able to obtain Federal, State and local money to put in a new boardwalk and boat docks downtown. Recently, the city completed a rezoning of downtown proposed by Mayor Fiorentini designed to encourage artist loft live work space and educational uses for the downtown area. Despite the city's efforts, old buildings remain vacant or underutilized, such as the former Woolworth department store – boarded up for 40+ years at the intersection of Main Street and Merrimack Street. Recently a group purchased that building with the intention of redeveloping it, however those plans fell through. In February 2014, it was announced that plans were made to redevelop "Whites Corner" by demolishing the vacant Woolworth building along with other surrounding buildings including the former Newman's Furniture, Ocasio Building, replacing them with the new mixed-use project called Harbor Place. Those buildings along with other smaller ones were officially demolished as of March 19, 2015 making way for the construction of the Harbor Place project. As of July 23, 2016 the construction on the Harbor Place buildings are well underway as the mixed use building is near completion and the housing building is making progress. In September 2016, the Haverhill Riverfront Boardwalk overlooking the Merrimack River has opened to the public that extends from the Harbor Place buildings connecting to the other boardwalk behind Haverhill Bank.

Demographics

There were 22,976 households out of which 33.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 47.0% were married couples living together, 13.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 35.3% were non-families. 28.6% of all households were made up of individuals and 10.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.51 and the average family size was 3.11.