People in the Lincoln region of Maine like to say, “All roads lead to Lincoln.” For Christopher Lord, growing up in Howland and Edinburg, two small towns just south of Lincoln, they did. Howland sits where the Piscataquis River meets the Penobscot, and Lincoln was where his family went for groceries, games, appointments and just about everything else.
Like many kids from rural Maine, Lord left after high school. He studied at Neumont University in Salt Lake City and stayed out west for two more years, working in software.
In 2016, he came home.
He joined Howland Fire & EMS as a first responder and ended up running the department’s outreach too. That’s where he learned how hard it is to get the word out in a rural town, where news travels by bulletin board, flyer and word of mouth. Later, as First Selectman of Edinburg, he represented the town on the steering committee that brought neighboring towns and the unorganized territories of Penobscot County together to form a regional Fire & EMS district. Voters approved it, and Lord served on the district’s board as a director and treasurer. He stepped down from the Selectboard and the district board before starting the company.
The lesson stuck: small towns can do big things when they decide to do them together and someone is willing to go first.
Dirigo
Maine’s motto is Dirigo: “I lead.” At C.A. Lord Software Group, that doesn’t mean being out in front of everyone else. It means that if something needs building, you build it, prove it works and then share it.
So the company builds here first. Lincoln and the surrounding communities go first, and once something has proven itself at home, it is offered to other towns.
Software that works before you depend on it
Lord has spent more than a decade in software, much of it for local government. Most of that time has been in quality assurance, making sure software works before people rely on it. That habit shapes everything the company builds: plain, dependable tools that respect people’s time.
TownSquare™
TownSquare grew out of an idea Lord has been developing for several years. In the towns he grew up in, the things that matter most to people (community, commerce and information) are scattered across bulletin boards, flyers, meeting minutes and word of mouth. There used to be one place where all of that came together: the town square.
Today much of that conversation has moved into social media groups on big national platforms. Those groups are run from far away, built to keep you scrolling, and too often loud, chaotic and unkind. Important news gets buried between arguments, and a notice from the town office competes with whatever the feed decides to show you next.
TownSquare, the company’s flagship platform, is built to be the town square again, for the digital age. It’s local from top to bottom. It’s run by people from the community it serves. It’s about the people, businesses and events right around you. The result is one central spot where finding what matters is easy, maybe even enjoyable.
- Community: notices, events, and stories and submissions from neighbors
- Commerce: a directory of local businesses and nonprofits
- Information: local news and timely alerts
Lincoln Town Square is the first, launching soon at lincolntownsquare.com. Lincoln Town Square is privately owned by C.A. Lord Software Group, LLC and is not affiliated with the Town of Lincoln or any municipal entity.
Want TownSquare in your town? Get in touch.