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THE
STORY
OF JOHN
A. FEENEY AND
HIS SON, "BULL"
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John
A. Feeney was born in the village of Spiddal, County Galway, Ireland,
on June 15, 1854. By 1878 John had moved to Portland, Maine and
opened a grocery store, at 42 Center Street, that posed as a front
for a saloon. John opened four others in following years which we've
mapped in a mural on the first floor. His saloons became gathering
places where John would greet new immigrants, help them settle,
find jobs, and register them as citizens and voters.
John's son, John
M. Feeney, was a successful fullback and defensive tackle on a
Portland High state championship football team. He earned the
nickname "Bull" because he would lower his leather helmet
like a bull and charge through the line. Later Bull followed his
brother Francis Feeney (later Francis Ford) to Hollywood, changed
his name to John Ford and directed the classic Irish film, "The
Quiet Man" among others.You'll find his statue at Gorham's
Corner, where Fore, Bank, York, Pleasant and Danforth streets
meet,a short walk from BULL FEENEY'S and not far from where his
father once operated his "grocer."
BULL FEENEY'S would
like to honor those families who have emigrated to Portland and
elsewhere in the U.S. whether recently or, like Bull's family,
generations ago.
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