Map of Port Charles (1982)
When the series first began, General Hospital was set in an unnamed city or town somewhere in the United States of America. Between 1964 and 1966, Queens Point, the setting of the short-lived soap opera, The Young Marrieds, was considered to be a suburb of the same (then still unnamed) city that General Hospital was set in (this was part of a plan to feature regular crossovers between the two shows which never materialized due to the cancellation of The Young Marrieds). It wasn't until 1977 that the General Hospital's setting was finally established as being in the fictional city of Port Charles, New York.
Onscreen, Port Charles has had somewhat of an eclectic history. A 1993 story-line saw Lucky Spencer hiding out in catacombs while hiding from Frank Smith. As a result it was revealed that after the city was first settled, an extensive catacomb system was built beneath the city. The catacombs were again referenced in 1997 when Sonny Corinthos and Brenda Barrett were trapped there. The catacombs were run under the Asian Quarter of the city in a 1985 story-line where Frisco Jones, Sean Donely and Suki were hiding from evil mastermind Wu.
In 2003, an episode of General Hospital depicted the recollections of an elderly woman (played by Gloria Stewart), whose mobster husband ran a speakeasy during the prohibition era, thus establishing that the mob has long had ties to the city. Racial discrimination has unfortunately played a part in the history of Port Charles. A 1985 story-line revealed that at some point in the city's history, a large ghetto area known as the Asian Quarter was built in order to house the city's Asian population, while a 1994 story-line revealed that one of the city's first African-American council members, Bradley Ward faced opposition from his white counterparts in the 1970s and was later murdered. This story-line also made references to people being refused housing and bank loans on account of race.
Port Charles suffered a hurricane in 1977, but quickly recovered from both that and the Lassa Fever epidemic that followed less than two years later, thus beginning a long tradition of disasters that have plagued the city right up to the modern day. During this time, Mob story-lines began being incorporated into the show. In 1979, residents became concerned that Port Charles was being taken over by organized crime. Mob leader Frank Smith was arrested in 1980, thanks to the efforts of Luke and Laura.
In 1981, Luke and Laura saved the city from being frozen over by Mikkos Cassadine's weather machine. Luke and Laura were hailed as heroes and their wedding was the social event of the year. Robert Scorpio was quickly appointed as police commissioner. Luke ran and won for mayor, but resigned less than two months later after growing tired of the office.
In 1985, Robert Scorpio, along with Frisco Jones, Felicia Cummings, and Sean Donely helped bust an extortion ring that was operating within the city's Asian Quarter. Soon afterwards, Robert left town, and his ex-wife Anna Devane was appointed as the new police commissioner in his place. In a story-line twist, the seemingly honest Police chief Bert Ramsey was apparently so embittered at being passed over for promotion in favor of Anna that he became a dirty cop and began operating a money laundering scam known as Operation Tumble Dry. Thanks to the efforts of Anna and a newly returned Robert, the money laundering scam was busted.
Soon, another crime family, the Jeromes, began to infiltrate the city of Port Charles but by the early 1990s, the influence of the Jeromes had somewhat faded due to the efforts of Robert and Anna. In 1992, Anna and Robert were presumed dead in an explosion. Luke and Laura returned to town, and the Smith Mob began to regroup and once again terrorized the citizens of Port Charles. However, Frank Smith was killed and a much more benevolent crime boss in the form of Sonny Corinthos took over organized crime in the city.
Environmental issues also became a concern as some of the residents of Port Charles formed The Greenbelts organization and protested against the arrival of the S.S Tracy, a ship carrying toxic materials that later sank in the Port Charles Harbor, nearly causing an environmental catastrophe. In 1994, Justus Ward and Laura Webber led protests against a planned incinerator that was to be located in close proximity to the cities' predominantly ethnic neighborhoods. They were successful in stopping the project despite threats to Laura's life and that of her family.
In 1996, the Cassadine family returned to Port Charles as the main nemesis of the Spencers for a second time. Soon, Port Charles was on the brink of financial disaster when the city's biggest employer, the local hospital, went bankrupt. The hospital (and indirectly the town) was saved from considerable financial ruin at the last minute by a considerable financial investment from Stefan Cassadine, son of Mikkos. Luke claimed that Stefan only wished to continue the nefarious deeds carried out by his father and had in fact been behind the hospital's bankruptcy so he could perform a swift takeover in order to establish himself as a pillar of the community, though not many people believed Luke at the time. Stefan died in disgrace years later.
In the mid-1990's and as of now, crime has been growing in Port Charles since Sonny Corinthos took over. This includes a serial killer, who had 15 victims, killing 4 out of the 15, including a Quartermaine and a Jones-Scorpio. In late 2008, the Russian mob invaded Port Charles, setting fire to free clinic, attacking Maxie Jones, kidnapping Jake Spencer, among other things. In late 2010, superstar Brenda Barrett returned to Port Charles bringing much violence to Port Charles.
In the 21st century, Port Charles would be hit by a number of disasters, including the Port Charles Hotel completely gutted by fire, a two-way train wreck, a hospital quarantine after a mutant strain of encephalitis spread through the town, Metro Court Hotel being taken hostage, and Anthony Zacchara terrorizing residents at Nikolas Cassadine's Black and White Ball, a Hospital fire closing GH for four months, a deadly carnival, and an earthquake caused through underground drilling that damaged most of the Charles Street District. In 2018, 23 years after his suppose death, Ryan Chamberlain was revealed to be alive. He held his brother Kevin Collins hostage and assumed his place in Port Charles. Ava Jerome became his next obsession, and he romanced her while pretending to be his twin. He went on to kill several more people, including Ava's estranged daughter Kiki Jerome, for which he framed Kiki's father figure and reformed serial killer Franco.