Sept. 1, 2015, photo by Derek Davis/Staff photographer; 1972 Portland Press Herald photograph by Gardner Roberts/Staff photographer, courtesy of Portland Portland Library Special Collections & Archives

This Press Herald photograph of the Spring Street Arterial urban renewal area was unused in print, but a similar view of the Canal Plaza construction site (visible at the left edge of this photo) appeared on the cover of the Aug. 11, 1972, Portland Evening Express. According to the accompanying caption, “Canal Bank Senior Vice President Scott F. Hutchinson announced today that Canal will hold a time capsule ceremony at 4 p.m. next Thursday burying a capsule in the plaza area to be opened 300 years from that day.”

A September 2015 view from the top of the Temple Street parking garage shows the same roadway under construction again, in a project that seeks to undo some of the changes of urban renewal.

The Portland Room of the Portland Public Library is in the process of organizing and conserving the archival collection of original Portland Press Herald, Maine Sunday Telegram and Evening Express photographic negatives — a major collection that spans from 1937 to 2005. Find more photos at www.pressherald.com/flashback/.