MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • August 29, 2021
The collective shock and sadness caused by the fall of Union Station 60 years ago Tuesday continues to reverberate throughout Portland, whether residents and visitors know it or not. The demolition of the grandiose train station on St. John Street on Aug. 31, 1961, sparked the flame of today’s historic preservation movement in Maine’s largest city, including the creation of Greater Portland Landmarks, a nonprofit advocacy group that has led efforts to create 12 historic districts, six historic landscape districts and protected 97 individual structures or sites. Now, GPL plans to focus more on community and culture over bricks and mortar, and connect preservation to sustainability. But critics argue preservationists are overreaching and trying to stop development.