Portland Loo
When Portland commissioned the design of the loos, it retained the intellectual property rights to the design, and would receive a royalty from the manufacturer, for each loo it sold. Press reports described this arrangement as a source of funds, for the city.
However, in 2014, a citizen group sued the city, asserting the city had spent over $600,000 to promote the loos, without proper authorization. As a consequence the design was sold to Madden, the manufacturer.
Portland Rum Riot
The Portland Rum Riot, also called the Maine Law Riot, was a brief but violent period of civil unrest that occurred in Portland, Maine on June 2, 1855, in response to the Maine law which prohibited the sale and manufacture of alcohol in the state from 1851.