PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • August 31, 2020
Aug. 31, 1961: Portland’s Union Station, which stood on St. John Street for 73 years, is torn down and later replaced by a strip mall that is still there. The demolition of the mostly granite building, including its prominent clock tower, occurs about a year after passenger train service was discontinued in southern Maine. Loss of the station becomes one of the reasons for the establishment, three years later, of Greater Portland Landmarks, an organization that seeks to preserve historic buildings in the area.