Liberty Ship Memorial

At the site of present-day Bug Light Park overlooking Portland Harbor, a vast World War II shipyard once spread across 140 acres with more than 60 buildings and the capacity to build up to 13 ships at one time. Between 1941 and 1945, the South Portland Shipyards built 266 cargo vessels, including 236 Liberty Ships, making a major contribution to Allied victory in World War II. When the war ended, the need for Liberty Ships and the shipyards ended as well, and in 1945 the Maine Legislature formed the Greater Portland Public Development Commission to acquire, lease, and manage the shipyard properties in response to concerns about the area's economic future. Since then, the commission has brought employment and economic benefits to Greater Portland. In 1996, South Portland residents organized to preserve part of the former shipyard property as a public park, and on December 30, 1996, with support from the City of South Portland, the Greater Portland Public Development Commission, and Portland Pipe Line Corp., Bug Light Park became a reality. At the same time, plans began for a tribute to South Portland's shipbuilding heritage and to the thousands of men and women who worked in the shipyards, the seamen who faced wartime dangers aboard Liberty Ships, all who served in the war and their families, and the South Portland residents who lived beside the booming shipyard. The effort owed much to Ed Langlois, who worked tirelessly to preserve the memories of shipyard workers and the ships they built. Dedicated in November 2001, the memorial centers on a steel sculpture more than 35 feet tall and 65 feet long, carefully researched to portray the bow of a Liberty Ship as it would have appeared under construction in dry dock. With exposed frames and partial exterior plating, it conveys the ship's scale, lines, construction details, and the use of pre-assembled parts that made rapid construction possible. Its details, orientation toward the bay, chapel-like bow enclosure, and parking lot laid out to match a Liberty Ship's footprint all reflect the original ships and their launching. In 2003, the project received an Excellence on the Waterfront Honor Award from the Waterfront Center in Washington, D.C.

South Portland, Maine · United States