Limington is a

town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

York County, Maine York County is both the southernmost and the westernmost county in the U.S. state of Maine, along the state of New Hampshire's eastern border. It is divided from Strafford County, New Hampshire, by the Salmon Falls River and the connected ti ...

, United States. The population was 3,892 at the 2020 census. Limington is a tourist destination with historic architecture. It is part of the

Portland-South Portland-Biddeford metropolitan area The city of Portland, Maine, is the hub city of a metropolitan area in southern Maine. The region is commonly known as Greater Portland or the Portland metropolitan area. For statistical purposes, the U.S. federal government defines three differ ...

History

In 1668, Francis Small traded goods with the Newichewannock tribe of this area. Their Chief Wesumbe, also known as Captain Sunday, was friendly with Small and warned him of a plot against his life. A group of renegade tribesmen planned to murder Small rather than pay him the

furs A fur is a soft, thick growth of hair that covers the skin of almost all mammals. It consists of a combination of oily guard hair on top and thick underfur beneath. The guard hair keeps moisture from reaching the skin; the underfur acts as an ...

they owed him. Small escaped after watching his

trading post A trading post, trading station, or trading house, also known as a factory in European and colonial contexts, is an establishment or settlement where goods and services could be traded. Typically a trading post allows people from one geogr ...

in what is now Cornish burn to the ground. The chief made up for the loss by selling Small all the lands bounded by the

Great Great may refer to: Descriptions or measurements * Great, a relative measurement in physical space, see Size * Greatness, being divine, majestic, superior, majestic, or transcendent People * List of people known as "the Great" * Artel Great (bo ...

and Little Ossipee Rivers, the

Saco River The Saco River ( , Abenaki: ''Sαkóhki'') is a river in northeastern New Hampshire and southwestern Maine in the United States. It drains a rural area of of forests and farmlands west and southwest of Portland, emptying into the Atlantic O ...

and the

New Hampshire New Hampshire ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...

border. Known as the Ossipee Tract, it comprised the present-day towns of Limington,

Limerick Limerick ( ; ) is a city in western Ireland, in County Limerick. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and is in the Mid-West Region, Ireland, Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. W ...

, Cornish (formerly Francisborough), Newfield, Parsonsfield and Shapleigh (which then included Acton). First called Little Ossipee Plantation (after Ossapee, its original

Abenaki The Abenaki ( Abenaki: ''Wαpánahki'') are Indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands of Canada and the United States. They are an Algonquian-speaking people and part of the Wabanaki Confederacy. The Eastern Abenaki language was pred ...

name), it was settled by Deacon Amos Chase, who removed here and built a

mill Mill may refer to: Science and technology * Factory * Mill (grinding) * Milling (machining) * Millwork * Paper mill * Steel mill, a factory for the manufacture of steel * Sugarcane mill * Textile mill * List of types of mill * Mill, the arithmetic ...

in 1773 at the mouth of the Little Ossipee River. Ezra Davis and Jonathan Boothby followed him in 1774, and John McArthur and Joshua Small in 1775. Little Ossipee Plantation was incorporated on February 9, 1792, as the town of Limington. It was named after

Limington Limington, also archaically Lymington, is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Yeovilton and District, in Somerset, England, situated north of Yeovil. The parish has a population of 199. The parish included the Hamlet (place ...

Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...

, England, the home county of Sir Ferdinando Gorges, Lord Proprietor of Maine. As the surface of the land was rocky and broken, in 1798 nearly of land were annexed from Little Falls Plantation ( Hollis). In 1870, about of land were ceded to Limerick. Soil was fertile and

farmer A farmer is a person engaged in agriculture, raising living organisms for food or raw materials. The term usually applies to people who do some combination of raising field crops, orchards, vineyards, poultry, or other livestock. A farmer ...

s yielded good crops. Another important early trade was

logging Logging is the process of cutting, processing, and moving trees to a location for transport. It may include skidder, skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or trunk (botany), logs onto logging truck, truckstimber Lumber is wood that has been processed into uniform and useful sizes (dimensional lumber), including beams and planks or boards. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as finishing (floors, wall panels, window frames). ...

manufactured at various

water power Hydropower (from Ancient Greek -, "water"), also known as water power or water energy, is the use of falling or fast-running water to produce electricity or to power machines. This is achieved by converting the gravitational potential or kin ...

mills into

lumber Lumber is wood that has been processed into uniform and useful sizes (dimensional lumber), including beams and planks or boards. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as finishing (floors, wall panels, window frames). ...

, boxes,

shingles Shingles, also known as herpes zoster or zona, is a viral disease characterized by a painful skin rash with blisters in a localized area. Typically the rash occurs in a single, wide mark either on the left or right side of the body or face. T ...

and

clapboard Clapboard (), also called bevel siding, lap siding, and weatherboard, with regional variation in the definition of those terms, is wooden siding of a building in the form of horizontal boards, often overlapping. ''Clapboard'', in modern Am ...

s. There were also

gristmill A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and Wheat middlings, middlings. The term can refer to either the grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist is grain that h ...

s and a

tannery Tanning, or hide tanning, is the process of treating skins and hides of animals to produce leather. A tannery is the place where the skins are processed. Historically, vegetable based tanning used tannin, an acidic chemical compound derived fr ...

. Limington Academy was incorporated in 1848, its structure built in 1852. The population in 1870 was 1,630.George J. Varney, "History of Limington, Maine" (1886)
/ref> Davis Memorial Library was built in 1912 to designs of noted

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: *Portland, Oregon, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon *Portland, Maine, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maine *Isle of Portland, a tied island in the English Channel Portland may also r ...

architect

John Calvin Stevens John Calvin Stevens (October 8, 1855 – January 25, 1940) was an American architect who worked in the Shingle Style, in which he was a major innovator, and the Colonial Revival style. He designed more than 1,000 buildings in the state of Maine. ...

. Today, 22 buildings in the town center are listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

Geography

According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

, the town has a total area of , of which is land and is water. Limington is drained by the Little Ossipee River and

. There are seven ponds, with four of these—Boyd, Dole, Foss and Sand ponds—in South Limington, and three others—Horn, Ward and Webster ponds—in North Limington. The highest point in town is Sawyer Mountain, at an elevation of

above sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of a location's vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) in reference to a vertical datum based on a historic mean sea level. In geodesy, it is formalized as orthometric height. The zero level ...

. Limington is served by state routes 11, 25 and 117. It borders the towns of Baldwin to the north, Standish to the east, Hollis and Waterboro to the south, and

and Cornish to the west. Located in the extreme northeastern part of York County, Limington is slightly over long and an average of wide.

Demographics

2010 census

As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2010, there were 3,713 people, 1,392 households, and 1,029 families living in the town. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...

was . There were 1,615 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the town was 96.6%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 0.2%

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 0.4% Native American, 0.5% Asian, 0.1%

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...

, 0.3% from other races, and 1.8% from two or more races.

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race were 1.2% of the population. There were 1,392 households, of which 34.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 57.4% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

living together, 9.9% had a female householder with no husband present, 6.6% had a male householder with no wife present, and 26.1% were non-families. 18.7% of all households were made up of individuals, and 5.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.67 and the average family size was 3.04. The median age in the town was 38.9 years. 24.2% of residents were under the age of 18; 7.1% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 28.1% were from 25 to 44; 31.6% were from 45 to 64; and 9.1% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the town was 50.0% male and 50.0% female.

2000 census

As of the

of 2000, there were 3,403 people, 1,141 households, and 893 families living in the town. The population density was . There were 1,354 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the town was 98.33%

, 0.41%

, 0.47% Native American, 0.18% Asian, 0.06%

, 0.12% from other races, and 0.44% from two or more races.

or Latino of any race were 0.29% of the population. There were 1,141 households, out of which 41.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 64.1% were

living together, 9.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 21.7% were non-families. 15.1% of all households were made up of individuals, and 4.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.84 and the average family size was 3.15. In the town, the population was spread out, with 27.4% under the age of 18, 8.2% from 18 to 24, 30.1% from 25 to 44, 23.3% from 45 to 64, and 11.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females, there were 96.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 94.4 males. The median income for a household in the town was $42,023, and the median income for a family was $46,571. Males had a median income of $31,049 versus $23,966 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the town was $17,097. About 9.5% of families and 12.9% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 17.0% of those under age 18 and 5.9% of those age 65 or over.

Economy

Brackett's Orchards is thought to be the oldest family owned and operated orchard in Maine. The original descendants settled Limington, Maine in 1783, and as soon as the land was cleared, apple trees were planted on a few acres. Manley Brackett is the eighth generation of Brackets which still farms the land growing apples and many varieties of pumpkins and squash.

Notable people

Frank S. Black Frank Swett Black (March 8, 1853 – March 22, 1913) was an American newspaper editor, lawyer and politician. A Republican Party (United States), Republican, he was a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1895 to 1897, and t ...

, US congressman; 32nd

governor of New York The governor of New York is the head of government of the U.S. state of New York. The governor is the head of the executive branch of New York's state government and the commander-in-chief of the state's military forces. The governor ...

Simon Lord Simon Locke Lord (first name sometimes Simeon; March 8, 1826 – February 17, 1893) was a member of the Wisconsin State Assembly and the Wisconsin State Senate. Biography Lord was born in Limington, Maine, in 1826. After graduating from the Je ...

, Wisconsin State Senator * William B. Small, US congressman

References

External links

Town of Limington, Maine

Davis Memorial Library

Limington Historical Society

Centre of Movement School of Performing Arts

Francis Small Heritage Trust

Limington Harmon Airport

Epodunk Town Profile

Maine Genealogy: Limington, York County, Maine

The Pequawket Lake Preservation Association – Preserving a Limington Resource

Brackett Orchards
{{authority control Portland metropolitan area, Maine Towns in York County, Maine Towns in Maine