Poland is a
town in
Androscoggin County
Androscoggin County (French: ''Comté d'Androscoggin'') is a county in the U.S. state of Maine. As of the 2020 census, the county's population was 111,139. Its county seat is Auburn and its largest city is Lewiston.
Androscoggin County compris ...
,
Maine, United States. The population was 5,906 at the
2020 census. Set among rolling hills and numerous lakes, the town is home to
Range Ponds State Park, which includes hiking trails and a pristine freshwater beach. Poland is also a historic resort area. It is included in the
Lewiston-
Auburn
Auburn may refer to:
Places Australia
* Auburn, New South Wales
* City of Auburn, the local government area
*Electoral district of Auburn
*Auburn, Queensland, a locality in the Western Downs Region
*Auburn, South Australia
*Auburn, Tasmania
*Aub ...
, Maine
metropolitan statistical area, which itself is part of the Greater
Portland
Portland most commonly refers to:
* Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States
* Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...
-
Lewiston Combined Statistical Area.
History
Land was granted by the
Massachusetts General Court in 1765 to officers and soldiers who served with Sir
William Phips in the 1690
Battle of Quebec. It replaced a 1736 grant made to them called Bakerstown (now
Salisbury, New Hampshire) which was ruled invalid in 1741 at the separation of
New Hampshire from
Massachusetts. The new plantation was also called Bakerstown (after Captain Thomas Baker), and included present-day Poland,
Minot
Minot ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Ward County, North Dakota, Ward County, North Dakota, United States, in the state's north-central region. It is most widely known for the Minot Air Force Base, Air Force base approximately north of ...
,
Mechanic Falls and the greater part of
Auburn
Auburn may refer to:
Places Australia
* Auburn, New South Wales
* City of Auburn, the local government area
*Electoral district of Auburn
*Auburn, Queensland, a locality in the Western Downs Region
*Auburn, South Australia
*Auburn, Tasmania
*Aub ...
.
Settled in 1767 by Nathaniel Bailey and Daniel Lane, Bakerstown Plantation would be incorporated as Poland on February 17, 1795. Poland is named after an "ancient melody" of the same name.
At the beginning, Poland was an
agricultural
Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating Plant, plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of Sedentism, sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of Domestication, domesticated species created food ...
town, with of the best land
farmed
Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people t ...
by the
Shakers
The United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing, more commonly known as the Shakers, are a Millenarianism, millenarian Restorationism, restorationist Christianity, Christian sect founded in England and then organized in the Unit ...
who settled at Poland Hill, north of the
Sabbathday Lake Shaker Village
Sabbathday Lake Shaker Village is a Shaker village near New Gloucester and Poland, Maine, in the United States. It is the last active Shaker community, with two members . With a new member, it had expanded to three members by 2021. The community ...
in
New Gloucester
New Gloucester is a town in Cumberland County, Maine, in the United States. It is home to the Sabbathday Lake Shaker Village, the last active Shaker village in the U.S. The town's population was 5,676 at the 2020 census.
New Gloucester is part ...
. Called the North Family of Shakers, the village was founded by members who moved from
Gorham in 1819. The village lasted until 1887.
Industry was attracted to Poland's
water power sites. In 1859, when the population was 2,660, it had four
sawmills, a
gristmill, a
tannery and a
carriage
A carriage is a private four-wheeled vehicle for people and is most commonly horse-drawn. Second-hand private carriages were common public transport, the equivalent of modern cars used as taxis. Carriage suspensions are by leather strapping an ...
factory. The
St. Lawrence and Atlantic Railroad passed through the northeastern corner of the town, spurring development and bringing tourists drawn to its scenic ponds and gentle hills. By 1893, when Mechanic Falls was set off as a separate town, Poland had evolved into a
Gilded Age resort town.
In 1797, The Wentworth Ricker Inn in South Poland opened at the homestead Jabez Ricker, acquired from a 1794 land swap with the Alfred Shaker Village in
Alfred
Alfred may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
*''Alfred J. Kwak'', Dutch-German-Japanese anime television series
* ''Alfred'' (Arne opera), a 1740 masque by Thomas Arne
* ''Alfred'' (Dvořák), an 1870 opera by Antonín Dvořák
*"Alfred (Interlu ...
. But when the
railroad replaced
stage travel, patronage declined and the inn closed. Then a grandson, Hiram Ricker, began proclaiming that the
mineral spring
Mineral springs are naturally occurring springs that produces hard water, water that contains dissolved minerals. Salts, sulfur compounds, and gases are among the substances that can be dissolved in the spring water during its passage underg ...
on his family's property had cured his
dyspepsia. People began arriving to sample the spring's curative waters, which flow 8 gallons a minute. Reopened in 1861, the inn was enlarged and renamed The Mansion House. But even that property could not handle the crowds of tourists, so in 1875 the family expanded the property, build an extravagant house that was dubbed "Ricker's
folly" due to skepticism that such a large property would be successful.
On July 4, 1876, the Poland Spring House opened atop Ricker's Hill, an elevation of 800 feet (244 m)
above sea level
Height above mean sea level is a measure of the vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) of a location in reference to a historic mean sea level taken as a vertical datum. In geodesy, it is formalized as ''orthometric heights''.
The comb ...
with magnificent views to the
White Mountains. The hotel would be augmented over the years by architects
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 ...
, Albert Winslow Cobb and Harry Wilkerson. It became a self-contained and exclusive
spa
A spa is a location where mineral-rich spring water (and sometimes seawater) is used to give medicinal baths. Spa towns or spa resorts (including hot springs resorts) typically offer various health treatments, which are also known as balneoth ...
, with guards at
gatehouses instructed to turn away sightseers. With luxurious accommodations for 450 guests, the hotel attracted the rich and famous. Patrons included
Gen. Benjamin Butler,
Sen. James G. Blaine,
Joan Crawford,
Jimmy Durante
James Francis Durante ( , ; February 10, 1893 – January 29, 1980) was an American comedian, actor, singer, vaudevillian, and pianist. His distinctive gravelly speech, Lower East Side accent, comic language-butchery, jazz-influenced song ...
,
Jack Paar
Jack Harold Paar (May 1, 1918 – January 27, 2004) was an American talk show host, author, radio and television comedian, and film actor. He was the second host of ''The Tonight Show'' from 1957 to 1962. ''Time'' magazine's obituary of Paar repo ...
and
Robert Goulet
Robert Gérard Goulet (November 26, 1933 October 30, 2007) was an American and Canadian singer and actor of French-Canadian ancestry. Goulet was born and raised in Lawrence, Massachusetts until age 13, and then spent his formative years in Cana ...
. But following
World War II, the era of grand hotels waned. When the Rickers sold the Poland Spring House, its new owners allowed the sprawling facilities to deteriorate. Apollo Industries purchased the hotel in 1963 and converted it to the largest Women's
Job Corps facility in the United States. The Job Corps dormitory was vacated in 1969, and was destroyed by a spectacular fire on July 3, 1975.
Today, the water is bottled and sold as
Poland Spring
Poland Spring is a brand of bottled water, produced in Poland, Maine. It is named after the original natural spring in the town of Poland, Maine it was drawn from. Today it is a subsidiary of BlueTriton Brands, formerly Nestlé Waters North Ameri ...
water by
BlueTriton Brands.
Image:Looking North at Poland, ME.jpg, View of Poland, looking north,
Image:Residence of Gov. Bert M. Fernald, West Poland, ME.jpg, Home of Gov. Fernald
Image:The Mansion House, South Poland, ME.jpg, The Mansion House in 1915
1978 P-3 Orion crash
![Orion](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6b/Orion.usnavy.750pix.jpg)
Poland was the site of one of the last major accidents involving aircraft from Maine's
Cold War
The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...
air bases. A
United States Navy patrol bomber from
Naval Air Station Brunswick
Naval Air Station Brunswick , also known as NAS Brunswick, was a military airport located southeast of Brunswick, Maine, with a number of Navy-operated maritime patrol aircraft. As of November 28, 2009, the last aircraft ( P-3 Orions) left. The ...
Patrol Squadron 8 (
VP-8) disintegrated over Poland on September 22, 1978. An over-pressurized fuel tank caused the port wing of the
Lockheed P-3 Orion to separate at the outboard engine. The detached wing sheared off part of the tail; and aerodynamic forces caused the remaining engines and starboard wing to detach from the fuselage. Debris rained down over a wide area near the Tripp Corner intersection on Route 11 shortly after noon. No homes were hit, but an explosive fuel-air fire following impact broke some windows. There were no survivors from the plane's eight-man crew.
Geography
According to the
United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of , of which is land and is water.
Poland is drained by the
Little Androscoggin River }
The Little Androscoggin River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed June 30, 2011 river in Maine. It flows from Bryant Pond in Woodstock () to its confluence with the Andr ...
.
The town is crossed by state routes
11,
26 and 122. It is bordered by the towns of
Mechanic Falls to the north,
Minot
Minot ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Ward County, North Dakota, Ward County, North Dakota, United States, in the state's north-central region. It is most widely known for the Minot Air Force Base, Air Force base approximately north of ...
to the northeast,
Auburn
Auburn may refer to:
Places Australia
* Auburn, New South Wales
* City of Auburn, the local government area
*Electoral district of Auburn
*Auburn, Queensland, a locality in the Western Downs Region
*Auburn, South Australia
*Auburn, Tasmania
*Aub ...
to the east,
New Gloucester
New Gloucester is a town in Cumberland County, Maine, in the United States. It is home to the Sabbathday Lake Shaker Village, the last active Shaker village in the U.S. The town's population was 5,676 at the 2020 census.
New Gloucester is part ...
to the southeast,
Casco Casco may refer to: Places in the United States
*Casco, Maine, a town
** Casco (CDP), Maine, a census-designated place within the town
*Casco Bay, a bay on the coast of Maine
* Casco, Missouri, a ghost town
* Casco, Wisconsin, a village
*Casco (town ...
and
Raymond to the southwest, and
Otisfield and
Oxford to the northwest.
Tripp Pond
Tripp Pond is on the west side of Maine State Route 11, which provides shoulder parking for public access to the east shore of the pond. There is a ramp for trailered boats at the south end of the pond. Summer water temperatures are too high for
trout, but the pond provides good habitat for
white perch and
largemouth bass.
[ The north end of the pond overflows through a series of shallow ponds to the ]Little Androscoggin River }
The Little Androscoggin River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed June 30, 2011 river in Maine. It flows from Bryant Pond in Woodstock () to its confluence with the Andr ...
near Welchville in the town of Oxford, Maine to the north.[
]
Climate
This climatic region is typified by large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and cold (sometimes severely cold) winters. According to the Köppen climate classification system, Poland has a humid continental climate, ''Dfb'' on climate maps.
Demographics
2010 census
As of the census of 2010, there were 5,376 people, 2,140 households, and 1,581 families living in the town. The population density was . There were 2,679 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the town was 97.4% White, 0.4% African American, 0.3% Native American, 0.4% 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 ...
, 0.2% from other races, and 1.3% from two or more races. Hispanic or 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 0.6% of the population.
There were 2,140 households, of which 31.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 59.6% were married couples
Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognized union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children, and between t ...
living together, 8.9% had a female householder with no husband present, 5.4% had a male householder with no wife present, and 26.1% were non-families. 18.5% of all households were made up of individuals, and 6.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.49 and the average family size was 2.81.
The median age in the town was 43.4 years. 22.2% of residents were under the age of 18; 5.8% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 24.7% were from 25 to 44; 35% were from 45 to 64; and 12.2% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the town was 50.0% male and 50.0% female.
2000 census
Per the census of 2000, there were 4,866 people, 1,845 households, and 1,437 families living in the town.
The median income for a household in the town was $47,824, and the median income for a family was $55,427. Males had a median income of $33,284 versus $23,926 for females. The per capita income for the town was $22,346. About 1.8% of families and 3.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 2.0% of those under age 18 and 4.7% of those age 65 or over.
Voter registration
Education
The Town of Poland is a member of Regional School Unit 16 (RSU 16). Poland Regional High School (PRHS) serves as the district high school of RSU 16 and is open to all high school-age students of Poland, Mechanic Falls, and Minot
Minot ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Ward County, North Dakota, Ward County, North Dakota, United States, in the state's north-central region. It is most widely known for the Minot Air Force Base, Air Force base approximately north of ...
, Maine. Students from Raymond, Maine, as well, attend PRHS on a tuition basis. The school's athletic teams compete in Maine class "B" athletics. The school's mascot is the knight and the school colors are blue and silver. Connected to the high school is Bruce M. Whittier Middle School. This school serves all three towns' 7th and 8th grade students (as of 2010). Both schools opened in 1999. Poland Community School, last expanded in 2002, serves Poland's K–6 students.
Elan School
Elan or Élan may refer to:
People
* Elan Atias (born 1975), American singer-songwriter
* Elán (musician) (born 1983), Mexican singer
* Poets of Elan, a group of Ecuadorian poets
Fictional characters
* Elan (Order of the Stick), a character in ...
, a private 8–12 behavior modification boarding school
A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals. As they have existed for many centuries, and now exten ...
that faced numerous reports of abuse throughout its existence, opened in Poland in 1970 and remained until 2011.
Popular culture
Two episodes of the popular 1960s television series ''Route 66
U.S. Route 66 or U.S. Highway 66 (US 66 or Route 66) was one of the original highways in the United States Numbered Highway System. It was established on November 11, 1926, with road signs erected the following year. The h ...
'' were filmed in Poland: "Come Out, Come Out, Wherever You Are" (1963) starring Lon Chaney, Jr.; and "Same Picture, Different Frame" (1963) starring Joan Crawford, Tom Bosley, and Patrick O'Neal.Route 66: Same Picture, Different Frame
an
Come Out Come Out Wherever You Are
both Retrieved June 28, 2008
Sites of interest
Old Poland Corner Schoolhouse
Poland Spring Preservation Society
Range Ponds State Park
Notable people
* John Nevins Andrews
John Nevins Andrews (July 22, 1829 – October 21, 1883) was a Seventh-day Adventist minister, the first official Seventh-day Adventist missionary, writer, editor, and scholar. Andrews University (Michigan, USA), a university owned and operated b ...
, minister, missionary, writer, editor and scholar
* Augustus Burbank, physician, born in Poland
* Eleazer Burbank
Eleazer Burbank (Before April 1793 – March 30, 1867) was a 19th-century American physician and legislator in the State of Maine.
Early life and education
Burbank was born in 1793 in Scarborough, Maine (then part of Massachusetts),''Transaction ...
, physician, father of Augustus, practiced in Poland
* Irving Gilman Davis, economist and educator
* Moncena Dunn, bookkeeper and army officer
* Bert M. Fernald, US senator and 47th governor of Maine
* Jabez K. Walker
Jabez K. Walker was an American politician. He was a member of the Wisconsin State Assembly during the 1876 and 1877 sessions. A Republican Party of Wisconsin, Republican, he represented Waushara County, Wisconsin. He was born on August 5, 1819, i ...
, Wisconsin assemblyman
* Amos Whitney
Amos Whitney (October 8, 1832 – August 5, 1920) was a mechanical engineer and inventor who co-founded the Pratt & Whitney company. He was a member of the prominent Whitney family.
He was born in Biddeford, Maine to Aaron and Rebecca (Pe ...
, founder of Pratt and Whitney
References
Further reading
* Bryant F. Tolles, Jr., ''The Grand Resort Hotels of the White Mountains'', 1998, David R. Godine, publishers, Boston, Massachusetts
External links
Town of Poland, Maine
Ricker Memorial Library
Poland Regional High School
Maine.gov – Poland, Maine
Maine Genealogy: Poland, Androscoggin County, Maine
{{authority control
Towns in Androscoggin County, Maine
Towns in Maine