J. Dennis Robinson
Slogans, like bumper stickers, tend to fade with age, but they stick like glue. Once applied, they can be tough to remove. Since this city first began courting tourists at the bicentennial celebration of 1823, Portsmouth has had its share of catchy promotional phrases. We were “An Old Town by the Sea,” thanks to the title of an 1883 book by Thomas Bailey Aldrich. But by the dawn of the 20th century, that slogan already carried a whiff of decay.
While old colonial mansions drew visitors to New Hampshire’s only seaport, they were of no interest to companies seeking to plant a factory or a new business. Potential companies wanted railroad lines, paved roads, cheap land, and a willing workforce. Members of the Portsmouth Board of Trade and the Merchant’s Exchange recognized what today we call “a branding problem.” So in 1914, they combined forces to publish a slick brochure advertising the city.