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Photograph of Portland Commercial Historic District
Photograph by Nyttend, Public domain. Via Wikimedia Commons.

Portland Commercial Historic District

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1996.

From the record

“Portland Commercial Historic District is a national historic district located at Portland, Indiana. It encompasses 58 contributing buildings, one contributing structure, and one contributing object in the central business district of Portland.”

Wikipedia article Portland Commercial Historic District, CC BY-SA 4.0.

One of 8 National Register listings published here for Jay County · listed in 1996 · category: District.

Sources: the Wikipedia article · the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service

The listing

The ground it stands on

38,791 words

The chapter on Wayne Township in Historical Hand-atlas, Illustrated : Containing ... Twelve Farm Maps, and History of Jay County, Indiana, published 1881 names Portland. This is what it says, exactly as the scans read.

CHRISTOPHER COX - and Rebecca Headington began to share the joys and sorrows of life together on June 28, 1840, in Delaware county, Ohio. The comforts of home have been increased by the addition of Warner, born April 20, 1841 - he was a soldier of the late war, and died, August 6, 1862, at Oberly Hospital, Memphis, Tennessee. He was a member of Company B, 84th Regiment Indiana Volunteer Infantry ; Sherman was born September 3, 1842; Emeline, December 3, 1844; Ruth, August 11, 1846; Catherine, October 14, 1850 ; Lucina, September 21, 1854 ; Wesley, August 23, 1858 ; Geneva Kitura, December 10, 1859. A farmer of Wayne township, Mr. Cox receives mail at Portland. He was born'in Green county, Pennsylvania, November 5, 1813. His wife was born in Frederick county, Maryland, October 3, 1821.

Passage source: Historical Hand-atlas, Illustrated : Containing ... Twelve Farm Maps, and History of Jay County, Indiana, published 1881.

JACOB M. H AY NE S - son of Henry and Achsah (March) Haynes, may be addressed at Portland, is engaged as an attoraey-at-faw, settled in Jay county in the year 1844, and was born at Monson, Hamden county, Massachusetts, April 12, 1817. His children are: Eleanor J., horn June 23, 1850; Susan J., November 3, 1851; Walter M., September 15, 1853; Sumner W., August 14, 1855; Elwood, October 14, 1857; Frank, March 28, 1861; Calvin, February 7, 1864; Edward, August 12, 1867. Mrs. Haynes was Hilinda S., daughter of William and Elizabeth (Morrow) Haines. Her wedding-day was August 27, 1846, the place, Portland, Indiana. Her natal day was April 5, 1828, the place, Clarksville, Clinton county, Ohio. Mr". Haynes filled the office of judge of common pleas from the year 1856 to that of 1871, and was circuit judge from 1871 to that of 1877.

Passage source: Historical Hand-atlas, Illustrated : Containing ... Twelve Farm Maps, and History of Jay County, Indiana, published 1881.

Machine-read from a century-old scan, so expect the errors a machine makes: misspelled names, dropped words, stray characters.

Read the whole chapter on Wayne Township - 38,791 words on its settlement, mills, schools and churches.

Mines and quarries near this property

1 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 1 working within 5 miles of Portland Commercial Historic District: 1 producer. All of them still produce. What was taken out: Stone, Crushed/Broken. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Portland QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer

Every working recorded in Jay County

Storms near this property

33 since 1998

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Portland, the town this property stands in, in 33 storm reports between 1998 and 2025: 23 thunderstorm wind, 6 hail, 3 flash flood, 1 lightning. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
July 1998Flash FloodPortland$500,000SEVERAL ROADS ACROSS THE COUNTY SUSTAINED DAMAGE DUE TO PARTIAL OR COMPLETE WASHOUTS. MANY HOMES IN LOW LYING AREAS HAD THEIR BASEMENTS FLOODED ESPECIALLY SOUTH OF BRYANT.
August 1998Flash FloodPortland$100,000OAKWOOD MOBILE HOME PARK INUNDATED. SEVERAL RESIDENCES IN PORTLAND FLOODED. MOST RURAL COUNTY ROADS WERE CLOSED DUE TO THE HIGH WATER OVER THE ROADS.
June 2008Thunderstorm WindPortland$75,000Numerous trees, tree limbs and power poles were blown down in the Bryant, Portland and Salamonia areas.
August 2007LightningPortland$50,000Lightning struck a house in the 5300 block of E 100 S in Portland. Heavy damage was reported to the upstairs. A County deputy was able to awake the residents and get them to safety. Damage is estimated at $50,000.
June 2005Thunderstorm WindPortland$10,000Three 18 to 24 inch diameter trees were blown down, as well as power lines in the city of Portland.
November 1998Thunderstorm WindPortland$10,000SEVERAL TREES AND POWER LINES WERE DOWN ACROSS THE TOWN.
July 2023Thunderstorm WindPortland$5,000Multiple trees down. Time estimated by radar.
August 2021Thunderstorm WindPortland$5,000Multiple trees were downed near Jay County High School and surrounding areas.
July 2025Flash FloodPortland$1,000Storm chaser reports 3 inches of water covering the road at the intersection of West Votaw Street and North Meridian Street in Portland.
July 2023Thunderstorm WindPortland$1,000Jay County Sheriffs Office reports that 100 S is closed between 100 E and 300 E due to power lines down accross the road. Time estimated via radar.
May 2000Thunderstorm WindPortland$1,000Tree down on a car.
March 2017Thunderstorm WindPortland-Emergency management officials reported trees, power lines and phone lines down across the county. Some buildings had roofing blown off and others were impacted by trees.
July 2016Thunderstorm WindPortland-Law enforcement officials reported a ten to twelve inch diameter tree limb was blown down.
July 2013Thunderstorm WindPortland-Emergency management officials reported several trees were blown down onto camper trailers, with power lines laid out across trailers. Tents were blown over at the Jay county fair. No injuries were reported.
July 2013Thunderstorm WindPortland-County officials reported two utility poles were blown down.
November 2013Thunderstorm WindPortland-Emergency management officials reported some trees and tree limbs were blown down across portions of the county. Reports of leaning power poles were also received.
July 2012Thunderstorm WindPortland-An automated weather sensor in Portland recorded a 70 mph wind gust.
August 2012Thunderstorm WindPortland-Law enforcement officials reported trees limbs and power lines down in Portland and Pennville.
May 2011Thunderstorm WindPortland-Law enforcement officials reported several small trees down, blocking some roads. A small boat on a trailer was also pushed into a truck.
August 2011Thunderstorm WindPortland-Law enforcement officials reported several trees and power lines down across southern portions of the county.
June 2008Thunderstorm WindPortland-County officials reported three trees were blown down in the Portland area.
June 2006Thunderstorm WindPortland-Trees uprooted and limbs blown down.
June 2003Thunderstorm WindPortland-Law enforcement reported power pole snapped in Portland.
July 2003Thunderstorm WindPortland-Law enforcement reported numerous trees down in Portland.
June 1998Thunderstorm WindPortland-NUMEROUS TREES WERE BLOWN DOWN IN THE CITY.
June 1998Thunderstorm WindPortland-NUMEROUS TREES DOWN ACROSS COUNTY
July 1998Thunderstorm WindPortland-NUMEROUS TREES AND POWER LINES DOWN THROUGHOUT COUNTY.
May 2006HailPortland-no account filed
June 2005HailPortland-no account filed
May 2004HailPortland-no account filed
April 2001HailPortland-no account filed
April 2001HailPortland-no account filed
May 1998HailPortland-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Jay County

Map coverage status

No historic map-sheet match is published for this property yet. That does not mean no map exists. This record needs a coordinate-quality review before it can be joined to a sheet boundary. Browse the county's mapped places while that work is pending.

Listed places nearby

4 within 8 miles

Other National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.

Photograph PropertyDistance Listed
Jay County Courthouseunder 500 feet1981
Floral Hall0.9 miles1983
Jonas Votaw House1.4 miles2004
James Haines Farm3.0 miles2000

Sources for this property

National Archives recordThe nomination case file for reference 96000600 in Record Group 79.
Wikipedia articleCommunity-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA.
Jay CountyAll 8 listed properties in this county.

Provenance

  • Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
  • Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
  • How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
  • Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
  • Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.