Portlaoise: Forty Historical Facts. By John Dunne 1. The town grew up around a fort established by English settlers in 1548. In 1557 it was named Maryborough in honour of Queen Mary. 2. In October 1920, the Town Commission passed a resolution that Maryborough be renamed Portlaoise. In recent years, a local historian attributed the change of name to “a fit of pseudo-patriotism”. In 1959, Laois County Councillors were still discussing whether we were living in Maryborough or Portlaoise; Queen’s County or Laois. 3. In the mid 18th century, there were about 400 electors in the town – one of whom, as a fascinating document from 1760 makes clear, would…