Derek Davis/Staff Photographer
This 2.5-acre park between Congress Street and the Cumberland County Courthouse was created to keep fire from spreading from downtown Portland up Munjoy Hill, as it did more than 150 years ago, when much of the city burned to the ground. It was originally named Phoenix Square, but was later renamed to honor President Abraham Lincoln. A diagonal path through the park, where there’s also a fountain and benches, leads from the corner of Congress and Franklin streets into the Old Port. The park is also home to a 2,000 pound cast-iron fountain that was cast in Paris in 1870.
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