The project began one day as friends and former South End boys met for coffee at one of Rockland’s local eateries. Terry Economy, Paul Merriam, and Ted Sylvester thought it might be a good idea to write a history of Rockland during the war years, 1940-1945, when they were all young boys.
They decided to include others in town who could contribute their expertise to the task at hand. Tom Molloy, another Southender, joined the group soon after that. John and Betty Knight also joined the project.
The men formed the Rockland Cooperative History Project (RCHP) to develop a community activity the whole city could take part in. The intent was to donate sales from the book to the scholarship fund for Rockland District High School. RCHP received support and encouragement from the City of Rockland and numerous individuals in town. Project members were also guests at the home of former Senator, Margaret Chase Smith, at her home in Skowhegan. She and her staff were very helpful in the research efforts for the book. Home Front on Penobscot Bay, Rockland During the War Years, the book which came out of this project, raised a total of $20,000 for the scholarship fund.
Home Front on Penobscot Bay, Rockland During the War Years (1940-1945), herein called simply, Home Front, is a very unique history of the Rockland area during World War II mainly because of its authors, Paul G. Merriam, Thomas J. Molloy, and Theodore W. Sylveter, Jr. Each man is an expert in the area he covers in the book.
Paul G. Merriam is an historical writer and former professor of history at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio. He helped author Rockland Area Lime Industries, a history of the lime industry in Rockland; A Bibliography for Dayton, Ohio, 1850-1950; and also authored by himself, To Oregon by Sea, Maritime Immigration 1834-1860; and most recently authored a history of Fisher Engineering in Rockland.
Merriman was well suited then to write the first part of the book: Historical Narrative, which included chapters called The First Year; The High Tide of War 1943-44; The Last Year, 1945; as well as the history of Military Facilities in Part Two of Home Front.
Thomas J. Molloy was a long time official of Rockland’s City Council, serving several terms as Mayor. Educated as a teacher, he also taught school at South School for several years. In 2009 he was named “Person of the Year” by the Penobscot Regional Chamber of Commerce. It has been suggested recently that South School be named after him, a boy who grew up in the Southend, and who then served the neighborhood as a teacher.
Malloy took on all the government and teacher- and education-related sections of the book. He authored Part Two sections: “Home Front at City Hall…”; and “Rulers and Chalkboard: Schools in Rockland, 1940-46”, reporting on the role of city hall in overseeing the school system during that period. He also handled part of the Appendix having to do with city officials during that period as well as the teachers of the day and graduates from Rockland High School from 1940-45.
Theodore W. Sylvester, Jr. is a respected journalist, having retired from the Bangor Daily News as its Bureau Chief. He was involved in the printing, publishing, and newspaper business most of his life, having begun as a typesetter at The Courier-Gazette, Inc., now known as The Herald Gazette. While working for the Bangor Daily News, he was honored by the paper for his part in dispelling an incident at the old state prison in Thomaston. One inmate was killed and a guard taken prisoner. Sylvester convinced the inmate to give up by promising to be a witness that he wasn’t harmed in the process. The inmates were protesting prison rules and asked for a reporter and a TV crew to document their demands and concerns within the prison. Sylvester was also honored by being inducted into the Hall of Fame of the Maine Press Association in 2007.
Sylvester called on his experience as a journalist then to write several sections in Part Two: Topical Essays. He reported on “Crimes of the Forties;” “Snow Shipyards Inc.;” “Sardines for Soldiers;” and “Railroads of Rockland, 1940-45.” His reporting tells us how all these aspects of Rockland life during the war years contributed to the war effort. I especially liked the story about sardines being used as food for our soldiers and how a fish paste, used as food for Axis prisoners, was developed by the Lafayette Canning Company of Rockland.
Sylvester also conducted eight interviews for Home Front from local people in Rockland during the war. They related their recollections of living through that period in the Rockland area.
Sylvester’s interviews come at the end of Part Three of the book: First-Person Accounts, “Youthful Recollections.” All three authors contributed to this section as well as John L. Knight, Betty Holmes Knight, and Terry Economy. This section of the book is more personal and very enjoyable to read. All three authors were young boys during the war years. If you look closely you’ll find a picture of me and my two brothers in this section.
There were many other people who helped to bring Home Front to the “forefront” so to speak. The Knights, John and Betty, were of immeasurable help, especially in finding all the names for the Honor Roll at the end of the book. Some are missing, but they did a stellar job just the same.
Betty Knight also contributed a piece on servicemen stationed in the area who married local people as well as a piece on music for that era.
Home Front on Penobscot Bay as published by the RCHP and printed by The Courier-Gazette, Inc. in 1991 performed a distribution miracle by pre-selling the book. Such a thing is unthinkable in the publishing business.
The RCHP held two major public presentations to promote the book and to raise funds. The first presentation included comments by the RCHP members, a display of photos in the book, newsreel footage, slides, and a locally produced color documentary film about the Rockland area in 1940.
The second presentation was a ceremony at City Hall to dedicate a plaque commemorating the 50th anniversary of President Franklin Roosevelt’s visit to Rockland immediately after his Atlantic Charter news conference aboard the Potomac which stopped in Rockland on August 16, 1941. He drove in a motorcade through the business district. Former Senator Margaret Chase Smith was the honored guest and speaker. A commemorative program produced by the RCHP about the President’s visit was distributed free of charge.
These activities helped in their marketing efforts so that people then bought the book on faith at a special book reservation sale where the price was reduced to $20. The printing, therefore, was paid for ahead of time. The people of Rockland came together for a good cause once again as they have throughout the history of the city, especially during WWII.
The book has received national recognition in two publications. A review appeared in a national publication, The Public Historian, which is published by the National Council on Public History and the University of California, Santa Barbara. They printed a 1,700 word review of the book in 1993. A quote from that review states, “The authors drew on the expertise of their friends and neighbors, and the result is a very well-designed and produced work with a striking cover and an excellent selection of photographs…It is a work of deep and visible affection, produced in the spirit that used to erect monuments in the town square.”
The cover, by the way, was designed by my brother, Harlan L. Sylvester.
The other national article appeared in History News, a publication of the American Association of State and Local History in Nashville. Merriam sent the organization a copy of the book and they in turn phoned Sylvester one day asking for a 1,000-word essay on the project and the book. Sylvester and Merriam put together an article for them which appeared in 1992.
I give you a warning now. This book is fast becoming a collectible book. It will soon be out of print. There are at this time copies of the book for sale on line on EBay and Amazon. Many of them are signed by all the authors. I found one book selling for $50. Home Front originally sold for $25. Rock City Books lists a used book, signed, selling for $45. The Reading Corner has copies for sale also. You can also read it for free at local libraries. I say buy it while you can. It is a wonderful asset to pass on to your children and grandchildren.
Sylvester recently updated me on what happened to the memorial for the honor roll. The old memorial was erected on a vacant lot where the Farnsworth Museum store now stands. It was dismantled after the war. Some of the names were given to the families. The rest were placed in a memorial at the high school on Lincoln Street where they remained until the high school was sold and turned into an arts center. It was then relocated to the present Rockland District High School where it is currently located. My question is, where will the memorial go now that the school district has changed to include Thomaston etc? Perhaps the RCHP should re-form to place a new memorial somewhere in town. It would be a good community project to be sure since we’ve had other conflicts since then to add to it.
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Home Front on Penobscot Bay; Rockland During the War Years, 1940-1945. Published by the Rockland Cooperative History Project of Rockland, Maine. Printed by The Courier-Gazette, December 7, 1991. Written by Paul G. Merriam, Thomas J. Molloy, and Theodore W. Sylvester, Jr.
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