Heroes
John Bird is a retired independent school educator and leader and nationally recognized consultant to nonprofit organizations who grew up in Rockland and now lives in Spruce Head. He currently serves as board chairman of the Island Institute and as a board member of several other organizations, including the Farnsworth Art Museum and the Lincoln Street Center for Arts and Education.
Recent Posts by John Bird
It is all about community
By John Bird - Apr 02I began this Local Heroes series over a year ago to celebrate the many good things that have happened in my hometown of Rockland over the last two ...
Rockland’s downtown Main Street: Preserved and reborn
By John Bird - Mar 07There was a popular refrain when I was growing up in Rockland during the 1940s and 1950s: “Today’s the day [Saturday in the 1940s changed to ...
Rockland becomes a dining destination
By John Bird - Feb 05I heard of a young man who moved to Rockland from New York City in the mid-1970s. A few weeks after arriving, a friend called. “How do you like ...
The O’Hara Corporation: A major force in Rockland’s renewal
By John Bird - Jan 17Rockland hosted several finfish-related companies when F.J. O’Hara and Sons entered the fishing business in the city in the late 1930s. Now known ...
Rockland's windjammer fleet: sailing with history
By John Bird - Oct 25In the mid-1950s there were virtually no sailing vessels moored in Rockland. My friend Charlie Graham recalls that when he took Samoset Hotel ...
Rockland Breakwater Lighthouse: restoring an icon
By John Bird - Sep 25Rockland's Breakwater and lighthouse have been unique landmarks for over a century and treasured storehouses of memories for many of us with deep ...
Penobscot School: Rockland's window on the world
By John Bird - Sep 02My wife, Mary Alice, and I love to show off Midcoast Maine to our friends "from away." When cruising Rockland with our guests, I often pause in ...
The Island Institute: helping islanders preserve a national treasure
By John Bird - Aug 11When I was growing up in Rockland in the 1940s and early 1950s, the city proudly proclaimed that Senter Crane's, with its five floors of inventory,...
The legacy of MBNA
By John Bird - Jul 28In 1993 MBNA opened its regional New England marketing headquarters with a 10-person sales office in the Knox Mill building in Camden. A decade ...
Welcome to the Strand
By John Bird - Jul 17A festive feeling filled the air in downtown Rockland on the sunshine-laden afternoon of July 3, 2005. Shuttered since 2001, the Strand Theatre ...
The birth of the blues in Rockland
By John Bird - Jun 30In the summer of 1993, my Chicago-based brother and sister-in-law visited for a week. After settling in, my brother scanned The Courier-Gazette to ...
From SeaPro to Steel-Pro
By John Bird - Jun 16When Fred Carey graduated from Rockland High School in 1958, his hometown's considerable prosperity was anchored by marine-related industries, ...
The Farnsworth: Rockland's cultural flagship
By John Bird - May 26The opening of the William A. Farnsworth Library and Art Museum in downtown Rockland on Aug. 15, 1948, was a cause for widespread local celebration...
The coming of the galleries
By John Bird - May 12In the late 1970s and early 1980s, downtown Rockland was struggling. Vacant storefronts were accumulating on Main Street. The quality of residentia...
Heroes: The comeback of Rockland Harbor
By John Bird - Apr 21My grandfather (1875-1975) was a Rockland native son and proud of his hometown's maritime heritage. He loved to boast that in the latter half of ...
Achieving the dream: a 21st century library for Rockland
By John Bird - Apr 07There were several places to hang out during my years growing up in Rockland. Two of them were neighbors on downtown Union Street and both were ...
Coffee, books and music come together on Main Street
By John Bird - Mar 17This week "Local Heroes" celebrates entrepreneurs who have established businesses in Rockland in the last 20 years and who have played a significan...
The year the Lobster Festival almost died
By John Bird - Feb 25For those of us growing up in Rockland in the late 1940s through the ‘50s, the Maine Lobster Festival was the premier event every summer. From the ...
Rockland's tidal turn
By John Bird - Feb 11I grew up in Rockland in the 1940s and '50s, graduating from Rockland High School in 1955. Rockland and the surrounding towns were, for the most ...
