The Main Street Historic District encompasses the historic commercial heart of
Rockland, Maine
Rockland is a city in and the county seat of Knox County, Maine, United States. As of the United States Census, 2020, 2020 census, the town population was 6,936. The city is a popular tourist destination. It is a departure point for the Maine S ...
. Located on several blocks of Main Street (
United States Route 1
U.S. Route 1 or U.S. Highway 1 (US 1) is a major north–south United States Numbered Highway that serves the East Coast of the United States. It runs from Key West, Florida, north to Fort Kent, Maine, at the Canadian border, ma ...
), the district has a well-preserved collection of commercial architecture dating from the mid-19th to early 20th centuries, the period of the city's height as a shipbuilding and industrial lime processing center. The district was listed on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...
in 1978, and enlarged in 2012.
Description and history
The area that is now Rockland was settled as part of
Thomaston in the late 18th century. The city's harbor proved a good shipbuilding location, and the area's
limestone
Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...
were developed as a locally significant lime-burning industry, with kilns lining parts of the shore. The area was incorporated as East Thomaston in 1848, and reincorporated as the city of Rockport in 1854. The city's early 19th-century downtown was largely destroyed by a series of fires in 1853. As a consequence, the new downtown that was built up with a significant number of Italianate brick buildings.
The historic district, as originally listed in 1978, extended along Main Street, from Winter Street to the municipal parking lot entrance north of Tillson Avenue on the east side, and from Museum Street to Limerock Street on the west side.
[ In 2012, it was extended north to Lindsey Street on the west and Summer Street on the east side.]Boston
Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...
architect R. Clipston Sturgis, and the 1854 Farnsworth Homestead
The Farnsworth Homestead is a historic house museum at 21 Elm Street in Rockland, Maine. Built in 1854 by William A. Farnsworth, it is an excellent late example of Greek Revival architecture, and was the home of Lucy Farnsworth, the major benef ...
. a centerpiece of the Farnsworth Art Museum
The Farnsworth Art Museum in Rockland, Maine, United States, is an art museum that specializes in American art. Its permanent collection includes works by such artists as Gilbert Stuart, Thomas Sully, Thomas Eakins, Winslow Homer, George Bellows, ...
.[
]
See also
*
References
{{National Register of Historic Places
Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Maine
Greek Revival architecture in Maine
Italianate architecture in Maine
Buildings and structures in Rockland, Maine
National Register of Historic Places in Knox County, Maine
Lime kilns in the United States