This photograph appeared on the front page of the Dec. 3, 1970, Portland Press Herald with the caption:

“Get the message? Mercy Hospital wants this rooming house at 92 State Street and the rest of the block below the hospital for its expansion program. Owner Ray W. Stetson would rather not move but he eventually quoted a price for the house. The hospital said it was too high. Tenant Robert Tilton put up this sign to let the hospital know how he feels about things. The problem will be handled by the Portland Renewal Authority which can take the property by eminent domain.”

State Street near the corner of Gray Street on Sept. 1, 2015. Derek Davis/Staff Photographer

As seen in the September 2015 photograph of the same corner (at left), the rooming house eventually lost its battle – replaced not by an expanded hosptial, but by the 100 State Street senior housing complex.

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/.