Farmingdale 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 ...

in Kennebec County, Maine, United States. The population was 2,995 at the 2020 census. Farmingdale is included in the Augusta, Maine micropolitan New England City and Town Area.

History

In 1852, Farmingdale was incorporated as a town, combining parts of South Hallowell, North Gardiner and East/ West Gardiner. Many businesses operated in Farmingdale, most of them along the

Kennebec River The Kennebec River (Abenaki language, Abenaki: ''Kinəpékʷihtəkʷ'') is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed June 30, 2011 natural river within the U.S. state of Ma ...

. A major business was harvesting and selling

ice Ice is water that is frozen into a solid state, typically forming at or below temperatures of 0 ° C, 32 ° F, or 273.15 K. It occurs naturally on Earth, on other planets, in Oort cloud objects, and as interstellar ice. As a naturally oc ...

for a worldwide market. The Knickerbocker Ice Company (the largest ice company in the country), and the Marshall Ice Company had ice-houses at Bowman's Point. The Knickerbocker Ice Company burned in 1894 or 1895 leaving only the chimney that stood until it was demolished in 1911 to make room for the

Central Maine Power Avangrid, Inc. (formerly Energy East and Iberdrola USA), is an energy services and delivery company. Avangrid serves about 3.1 million customers throughout New England, Pennsylvania and New York in the United States. History In 2008 Iberdrola S.A ...

Plant. Other businesses on the river in Farmingdale included

shipyards A shipyard, also called a dockyard or boatyard, is a place where ships are built and repaired. These can be yachts, military vessels, cruise liners or other cargo or passenger ships. Compared to shipyards, which are sometimes more involved ...

brickyard A brickyard or brickfield is a place or Yard (land), yard where bricks are made, pottery firing, fired, and stored, or sometimes Commerce, sold or otherwise distributed from. Brick makers work in a brick yard. A brick yard may be constructed ...

pottery Pottery is the process and the products of forming vessels and other objects with clay and other raw materials, which are fired at high temperatures to give them a hard and durable form. The place where such wares are made by a ''potter'' is al ...

, and a glue factory. Commercial growth in ensuing years centered in Gardiner, Hallowell and Augusta, while Farmingdale never developed a town center to compare with those cities. Time, fires, floods and economic forces eventually removed the larger businesses. In the 21st century, Farmingdale is a

residential community A residential community is a community, usually a small town or city, that is composed mostly of residents, as opposed to commercial businesses and/or industrial facilities, all three of which are considered to be the three main types o ...

for those who work in Augusta or other cities. The distinction between the densely developed riverbanks and the open rural back-land remains. Structures that are 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 ...

include the Peter Grant House, and the Captain Nathaniel Stone House.

Geography

The town is in southern Kennebec County and is bordered to the north by the city of Hallowell, to the east by the towns of Chelsea and Randolph, to the south by the city of

Gardiner Gardiner may refer to: Places Settlements ;Canada * Gardiner, Ontario ;United States * Gardiner, Maine * Gardiner, Montana * Gardiner (town), New York ** Gardiner (CDP), New York * Gardiner, Oregon * Gardiner, Washington * West Gardiner, ...

and the town of West Gardiner, and to the west by the town of

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

. The

forms the eastern border of the town.

Interstate 95 Interstate 95 (I-95) is the main north–south Interstate Highway on the East Coast of the United States, running from U.S. Route 1 (US 1) in Miami, Florida, north to the Houlton–Woodstock Border Crossing between Maine and the ...

, part of the

Maine Turnpike Interstate 95 (I-95) is a part of the Interstate Highway System that runs north–south from Miami, Florida to Houlton, Maine. The highway enters Maine from the New Hampshire state line in Kittery, Maine, Kittery and runs for to the Cana ...

, crosses the center of the town but has no direct access.

U.S. Route 201 U.S. Route 201 (US 201) is part of the nationwide system of United States Numbered Highways. It runs for entirely within the state of Maine and is a spur route of U.S. Route 1. Its southern terminus is in Brunswick at US 1 and Maine State R ...

and

Maine State Route 27 State Route 27 (abbreviated SR 27) is part of Maine's system of numbered state highways, running from the village of Newagen in Southport, Maine, Southport at Maine State Route 238, SR 238 to the Coburn Gore–Woburn Border Crossing, wher ...

pass through the eastern side of the town following the Kennebec River. 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. The Farmingdale

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counte ...

, where two-thirds of the town population live, occupies the eastern part of the town.

Demographics

As of 2000 the median income for a household in the town was $51,344, and the median income for a family was $56,415. Males had a median income of $49,643 versus $29,391 for females. The per capita income for the town was $24,015. About 18.8% of families and 14.1% of the population were below the poverty line, including 6.5% of those under age 18 and 0% of those age 65 or over.

2010 census

As of the census of 2010, there were 2,956 people, 1,259 households, and 807 families residing in the town. The population density was . There were 1,374 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the town was 96.3%

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 ...

, 0.5%

Black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

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 ...

, 0.3% Native American, 1.1% Asian, 0.4% from other races, and 1.4% 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 1.3% of the population. There were 1,374 households, of which 31.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 46.4% were married couples living together, 13.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 35.9% were non-families. 28.5% of all households were made up of individuals 65 years of age or older, and 11.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.3 and the average family size was 2.81. In the town, the population was spread out, with 24.9% under the age of 20, 10.7% from 20 to 29, 18.6% from 30 to 44, 27.6% from 45 to 64, and 18.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 41.6 years. The female population was 52.3% and male population 47.7%.

Economy

Farmingdale is largely a

commuter town A commuter town is a populated area that is primarily residential rather than commercial or industrial. Routine travel from home to work and back is called commuting, which is where the term comes from. A commuter town may be called by many o ...

, though close to 300 small businesses exist.

Education

Farmingdale, along with neighboring Hallowell, is served by the Hall-Dale School System, which is part of the Kennebec Intra-District Schools (KIDS)

Regional School Unit A regional school unit is a type of school district in Maine. They were created starting in 2008 pursuant to a change in Maine Law that attempted to save on administrative costs by consolidating Maine's many school districts into larger district ...

2, which joins the towns of

Dresden Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...

, Farmingdale, Hallowell,

Monmouth Monmouth ( or ; ) is a market town and community (Wales), community in Monmouthshire, Wales, situated on where the River Monnow joins the River Wye, from the Wales–England border. The population in the 2011 census was 10,508, rising from 8 ...

, and

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, a city in the United States * Richmond, London, a town in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town ...

. Hallowell and Farmingdale operate three schools: *Hall-Dale Elementary School (Pre-K–4) 389 students, Hallowell *Hall-Dale Middle School (5–8) 201 students, Farmingdale *Hall-Dale High School (9–12) 349 students, Farmingdale

References

External links

* {{authority control Towns in Kennebec County, Maine Towns in Maine