The seat of Knox County, Maine, Rockland is one of several settlements fronting on Penobscot Bay. First settled about 1769, Rockland had a couple of names, Shore Village then East Thomaston, before becoming Rockland in 1850 and the City of Rockland in 1854. The city was built on two major industries - shipbuilding and lime production. Though shipbuilding was for many years the foremost industry, by 1886 it was overtaken in importance by the lime industry which employed 1,000 workers. As well, Rockland supported a goodly number of smaller industries such as grain milling, machine shops, cooperies, tanneries, shoe factories, lumber mills and, of course, fishing.
The Knox and Lincoln Railroad came to town in 1871, opening up a flourishing tourist industry for the seaside town, which remains an important economic driver today. Lime production and shipbuilding have long since ceased, as has, to some degree, fishing, leaving the city today more of a service centre and tourist town. Lobster fishing remains an important industry.
Moored in the harbour are a handful of old schooners, all NRHP listed. Other NRHP sites in the town include the Courthouse, Indian Island Light Station, Main Street Historic District, the Mequnticook Golf Club, Rankin Block, Rockland Breakwater, Rockland Breakwater Lighthouse, Rockland Public Library (a Carnegie library), Rockland Railroad Station, Rockland Turntable and Engine House, Security Trust Building and the Strand Theatre. It's easy to see that the town values its history and its historic artefacts.
Rockland is also home to the
Farnsworth Art Museum and the
Wyeth Center, a world renowned museum of art, containing paintings by Andrew Wyeth, as well as N.C. and James Wyeth and other well-known New England artists. The major annual event which takes place in Rockland is the
Maine Lobster Festival, a five day event which draws lobster lovers from around the world. For years the
Maine Eastern Railroad operated seasonal excursion trains between Brunswick and Rockland. That service appears to have ended in 2015.
Though now in a more conventional building, the Rockland City Hall was, for several years, housed in the old
Rockland Railroad Station, built in 1917 by Maine Central.
The entry from the American Guide Series book
Maine: A Guide 'Down East' follows.
ROCKLAND (alt. 40, pop. 9075), 53 m., separated from Thomaston and
incorporated in 1848 as East Thomaston, is a trading center and shire
town for Knox County. The many summer residents and visitors have
been a good source of trade. The city fronts on the fine harbor that the Indians called Catawamkeag (great landing place). Fishing, shipping, shipbuilding, and limestone quarrying have been the chief industries of the past.
The Birthplace (1892) of Edna St. Vincent Millay, the poet, is at 200
Broadway.
The Community Yacht Club and Public Landing, Main and Pleasant Sts.,
has floats, docks, and clubhouses for visitors.
From Maine: A Guide 'Down East', Page 223