Milo is a

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...

Piscataquis County Piscataquis County is a county located in the U.S. state of Maine. As of the 2020 census, its population was 16,800, making it Maine's least-populous county. Its county seat is Dover-Foxcroft. The county was incorporated on March 23, 1838, ta ...

Maine Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and north ...

, United States. The population was 2,251 at the 2020 census. Milo includes the village of Derby. The town sits in the valley of the Piscataquis, Sebec and Pleasant Rivers in the foothills of the

Longfellow Mountains The Longfellow Mountains are a subrange of the Appalachian Mountains System, located within the North Maine Woods region of northwestern Maine. They extend across the state from northern New Hampshire northeastward to the Provinces and territories o ...

and is the gateway to many pristine hunting, fishing, hiking, boating, and other outdoor tourist locations such as Schoodic, Seboeis, and Sebec Lakes, Mount Katahdin and its backcountry in Baxter State Park and the

Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument is a U.S. national monument spanning of mountains and forestland in northern Penobscot County, Maine, including a section of the East Branch Penobscot River. The monument is located on the eastern b ...

Katahdin Iron Works The Katahdin Iron Works is a Maine state historic site located in the unorganized township of the same name. It is the site of an ironworks which operated from 1845 to 1890. In addition to the kilns of the ironworks (of which only one survives), t ...

and

Gulf Hagas Gulf Hagas is a gorge located in the mountains of northern Maine woods and is often referred to as the Grand Canyon of Maine. The West Branch of the Pleasant River cuts through the earth for three miles creating a vertically walled slate gorge w ...

History

The community was first known as Township Number 3 in the seventh range north of the Waldo Patent. It was settled by Benjamin Sargent and his son, Theophilus, from Methuen,

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

, on May 2, 1802. On January 21, 1823, it was incorporated as Milo, named after Milo of Croton, a famous athlete from ancient Croton in

Magna Graecia Magna Graecia (, ; , , grc, Μεγάλη Ἑλλάς, ', it, Magna Grecia) was the name given by the Romans to the coastal areas of Southern Italy in the present-day Italian regions of Calabria, Apulia, Basilicata, Campania and Sicily; these re ...

, Italy. It would become a trade center, with Trafton's Falls providing

water power Hydropower (from el, ὕδωρ, "water"), also known as water power, 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 kinetic energy of a wa ...

for early industry. In 1823, Winborn A. Swett built a dam at the river drop and erected the first

sawmill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes (dimensi ...

. Thomas White soon added a

carding Carding is a mechanical process that disentangles, cleans and intermixes fibres to produce a continuous web or sliver (textiles), sliver suitable for subsequent processing. This is achieved by passing the fibres between differentially moving su ...

and

fulling mill Fulling, also known as felting, tucking or walking ( Scots: ''waukin'', hence often spelled waulking in Scottish English), is a step in woollen clothmaking which involves the cleansing of woven or knitted cloth (particularly wool) to elimin ...

. The Joseph Cushing & Company built a

woolen Woolen (American English) or woollen (Commonwealth English) is a type of yarn made from carded wool. Woolen yarn is soft, light, stretchy, and full of air. It is thus a good insulator, and makes a good knitting yarn. Woolen yarn is in contrast t ...

textile mill in 1842, but it burned six years later. The Bangor and Piscataquis Railroad arrived in 1868–1869, and Milo developed into a small

mill town A mill town, also known as factory town or mill village, is typically a settlement that developed around one or more mills or factories, usually cotton mills or factories producing textiles. Europe Italy * ''Crespi d'Adda'', UNESCO World Her ...

. It produced numerous

lumber Lumber is wood that has been processed into dimensional lumber, including beams and planks or boards, a stage in the process of wood production. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as finishing (floors, wall panels, wi ...

goods, and in 1879 the Boston Excelsior Company built a factory to manufacture excelsior. The American Thread Company built a factory with a narrow gauge industrial railway in 1901–1902, moving its equipment from Willimantic, Connecticut.

Derby village

The early Bangor & Piscataquis and Bangor & Katahdin Iron Works railroads met at Milo Junction. After these railroads merged into the

Bangor and Aroostook Railroad The Bangor and Aroostook Railroad was a United States railroad company that brought rail service to Aroostook County in northern Maine. Brightly-painted BAR boxcars attracted national attention in the 1950s. First-generation diesel locomotives op ...

, Milo Junction became the

company town A company town is a place where practically all stores and housing are owned by the one company that is also the main employer. Company towns are often planned with a suite of amenities such as stores, houses of worship, schools, markets and re ...

of Derby with the second largest railroad car shop and repair facility in

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...

. In 1906 the railroad invested $414,448.95 in brick buildings including a two-story office, a

planing mill A planing mill is a facility that takes cut and seasoned boards from a sawmill and turns them into finished dimensional lumber. Machines used in the mill include the planer and matcher, the molding machines, and varieties of saws. In the planing mil ...

, and an

enginehouse The motive power depot (MPD) or locomotive depot, or traction maintenance depot (TMD), is the place where locomotives are usually housed, repaired and maintained when not being used. They were originally known as "running sheds", "engine she ...

with a locomotive shop and a 54,000-square-foot car shop connected by a transfer table moving back and forth above a repair pit. Employee housing initially included a 45-room hotel with a dining room for single

railroad shopmen Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

and 46 homes with bathrooms, hot water boilers, ranges, and electric lights for married men. The village expanded to include stores and 72 identical employee houses arranged in four rows along First and Second Streets. These uniformly-colored structures were sold by the railroad in 1959; and the hotel became a community center.

Ku Klux Klan

On Labor Day 1923, Milo became the site of the

Ku Klux Klan The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to the KKK or the Klan, is an American white supremacist, right-wing terrorist, and hate group whose primary targets are African Americans, Jews, Latinos, Asian Americans, Native Americans, and ...

's first daylight parade in the northern United States. Seventy-five members of the Klan marched during the town's centennial celebration.

2008 fire

On September 14, 2008, a fire destroyed several buildings in downtown Milo, including a flower shop, an arcade, and a True Value hardware store. Because of the age, composition, and vicinity of these buildings, the fire easily spread and devastated much of Main Street. Fire departments from Milo and from several surrounding towns were called in to extinguish the fire. No injuries were reported. Arson was determined to be the cause. In January 2009, Christopher M. Miliano was arrested and indicted on two counts of arson, one count of theft, one count of burglary, and one count of

aggravated assault An assault is the act of committing physical harm or unwanted physical contact upon a person or, in some specific legal definitions, a threat or attempt to commit such an action. It is both a crime and a tort and, therefore, may result in crim ...

; prosecutors claimed that Miliano set fire to a

pub A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...

he had burglarized, resulting in the blaze. In July 2009, Miliano entered a

guilty plea In legal terms, a plea is simply an answer to a claim made by someone in a criminal case under common law (legal system), common law using the adversarial system. Colloquially, a plea has come to mean the assertion by a defendant at arraignment ...

for his offense, and was sentenced by the Piscatiquis County Superior Court to twenty years in prison, with all but eight years suspended.

In popular culture

The Sign of the Beaver ''The Sign of the Beaver'' is a children's historical novel by American author Elizabeth George Speare, which has won numerous literary awards. It was published in February 1983, and has become one of her most famous works. The idea for this boo ...

is a children’s historical novel by

Elizabeth George Speare Elizabeth George Speare (November 21, 1908 – November 15, 1994) was an American writer of children's books, best known for historical novels including two Newbery Medal winners. She has been called one of America's 100 most popular writers ...

published in 1983. The story is set in the 18th century and follows a 12 year-old boy, Matt James Hallowell, who is building a log cabin with his father in the wilderness of Maine. Left alone at the cabin while his father leaves to retrieve the rest of the family, Matt struggles to cope with challenging survival situations and is ultimately aided by the appearance of Attean, a member of the indigenous Beaver tribe. The Sign of the Beaver was inspired by a true story dating from 1802 and documented in a history of the small town of Milo, Maine; in it, a teenage boy left to care for his family’s cabin was helped by the local Natives when his supplies were ravaged by a bear. The book is one of Speare’s most popular novels, winning multiple literary awards including the Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction. A 1997 TV movie called

Keeping the Promise ''Keeping the Promise'' is a 1997 historical drama television film based on the children's novel '' The Sign of the Beaver'' by Elizabeth George Speare. The film was released to DVD and VHS on July 25, 2000. It was shot in Ontario, Canada. Pl ...

was based on Speare’s novel. *The climatic charge in the Battle of Little Round Top and other events captured in Michael Shaara's

Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made h ...

-winning novel, The Killer Angels (1975), and Gettysburg, the 1993 movie based on the book, relied heavily on just a few surviving diaries such as the one from Milo’
Sergeant William T. Livermore
His diary reads, “We were ordered to charge them when there were two to our one. With fixed bayonets and with a yell we rushed on them, which so frightened them, that not another shot was fired on us. Some threw down their arms and ran but many rose up, begging to be spared...After chasing them as far as prudent, we ‘rallied around the colors’ and gave three hearty cheers, then went back to our old position, with our prisoners.” An archive copy of his diary can be found at th
Milo Historical Society

Photo gallery

File:West Main Street, Milo, Maine.jpg, West Main Street File:Milo House, Milo, Maine.jpg, Milo House in 1910 File:Milo Junction, Maine.jpg, Milo Jct. (Derby) in 1908 File:TownLineEntering-MiloMEsign (35145756051).jpg, Street sign designating Milo

Geography

According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of the ...

, the town has a total area of , of which, of it is land and is water. The town is located at the confluence of the

Sebec River The Sebec River is a tributary of the Piscataquis River in Piscataquis County, Maine. From the outflow of Sebec Lake () in Sebec, the river runs U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map ac ...

and the

Piscataquis River The Piscataquis River is a major tributary of the Penobscot River, found in Piscataquis County, Maine, United States. It starts from the confluence of its East Branch and West Branch () in Blanchard. The river flows in a mostly eastern direction ...

. The Pleasant River is also within the town lines, giving the town the nickname of Town of Three Rivers. Milo is located within a few miles of the exact center of the Maine.

Climate

This climatic region is typified by large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot summers and cold winters. According to the

Köppen Climate Classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...

system, Milo has a

humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and freezing ...

, abbreviated "Dfb" on climate maps.Climate Summary for Milo, Maine
/ref>

Demographics

2010 census

As of the census of 2010, there were 2,340 people, 1,034 households, and 645 families residing in the town. The population density was . There were 1,274 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the town was 97.2%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White on ...

, 1.0%

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

, 0.4% Native American, 0.3%

Asian Asian may refer to: * Items from or related to the continent of Asia: ** Asian people, people in or descending from Asia ** Asian culture, the culture of the people from Asia ** Asian cuisine, food based on the style of food of the people from Asi ...

, 0.4% from other races, and 0.8% from two or more races.

Hispanic The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad. The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to Vic ...

Latino Latino or Latinos most often refers to: * Latino (demonym), a term used in the United States for people with cultural ties to Latin America * Hispanic and Latino Americans in the United States * The people or cultures of Latin America; ** Latin A ...

of any race were 0.9% of the population. There were 1,034 households, of which 26.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 45.9% were married couples living together, 12.2% had a female householder with no husband present, 4.3% had a male householder with no wife present, and 37.6% were non-families. 32.0% of all households were made up of individuals, and 16.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.26 and the average family size was 2.78. The median age in the town was 44.7 years. 21.4% of residents were under the age of 18; 6.7% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 22.4% were from 25 to 44; 30% were from 45 to 64; and 19.6% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the town was 48.8% male and 51.2% female.

2000 census

As of the census of 2000, there were 2,383 people, 1,021 households, and 659 families residing in the town. The population density was 72.6 people per square mile (28.0/km). There were 1,215 housing units at an average density of 37.0 per square mile (14.3/km). The racial makeup of the town was 98.36%

, 0.34%

Black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white have o ...

, 0.59% Native American, 0.21%

, 0.04% from other races, and 0.46% from two or more races.

of any race were 0.17% of the population. There were 1,021 households, out of which 28.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 50.5% were married couples living together, 10.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 35.4% were non-families. 29.3% of all households were made up of individuals, and 16.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.33 and the average family size was 2.84. In the town, the population was spread out, with 24.1% under the age of 18, 6.9% from 18 to 24, 26.4% from 25 to 44, 23.5% from 45 to 64, and 19.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 41 years. For every 100 females, there were 88.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.2 males. The median income for a household in the town was $24,432, and the median income for a family was $31,875. Males had a median income of $27,393 versus $19,952 for females. The per capita income for the town was $12,732. About 12.8% of families and 16.7% of the population were below the poverty line, including 21.7% of those under age 18 and 12.7% of those age 65 or over.

Sites of interest

* Milo Historical Society & Museum * Harrigan Learning Center and Museum * Milo-Brownville & Points North Visitors Center * Milo Public Library * Katahdin Country Club * Veterans Park * Doble Park * Maine ITS Snowmobile Trails – ITS 82 and 83 * ATV trails

Education

* Penquis Valley High School *Penquis Valley Middle School *Milo Elementary *Brownville Elementary

Notable people

* Wilder Stevens Metcalf, U.S. Army major general, member of the Kansas Senate *

Oswald Tippo Oswald Tippo (November 27, 1911 – June 10, 1999) was an American botanist and educator. Tippo became the first chancellor of the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 1970. Career Born in Milo, Tippo moved to Boston a year later, and gradua ...

, Botanist and educator *

Edward Youngblood Edward Youngblood (born August 8, 1939) is an American politician and banker from Maine. Youngblood, a Republican from Brewer, served as State Senator from Maine's 31st District, representing part of Penobscot and Hancock counties, including the ...

, State legislator

References

External links

Milo Town OfficeFire of 2008 page from the Milo Historical Society
{{authority control Towns in Piscataquis County, Maine Towns in Maine Company towns in Maine