Portmore began as a large area for schematic residential development in the late 1960s, as the WIHCON organization built thousands of prototype housing units in an effort to alleviate the over-population of Kingston; the first was called Independence City. It has since grown into a suburban city to Kingston; its large population travels into Kingston daily for work, schooling, and many other essential services via the Portmore toll road.
Portmore was granted Municipality status in 2003, and has its own City Council and Mayor, following the British-based model of Jamaican local government. It now houses approximately 10% of the population of the Kingston Corporate Area.
Currently George Lee is Portmore's mayor since 2012.
Portmore has affiliations with music artist Vybz Kartel
