Sumner is a town in Oxford County,

Maine Maine ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the United States, and the northeasternmost state in the Contiguous United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Provinces and ...

, United States. Sumner is included in the Lewiston-Auburn, Maine metropolitan New England city and town area. The population was 994 at the 2020 census. The town includes the villages of West Sumner and East Sumner.

History

Originally called West Butterfield Plantation, it was first settled in 1783 by Noah Bosworth from

Plympton Plympton is a suburb of the city of Plymouth in Devon, England. It is in origin an ancient Stannary, stannary town. It was an important trading centre for locally mined tin, and a seaport before the River Plym silted up and trade moved down riv ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

. Most of the early settlers were

Revolutionary A revolutionary is a person who either participates in, or advocates for, a revolution. The term ''revolutionary'' can also be used as an adjective to describe something producing a major and sudden impact on society. Definition The term—bot ...

soldiers from

Plymouth County, Massachusetts Plymouth County is a County (United States), county in the U.S. state of Massachusetts, south of Boston. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 530,819. Its county seats are Plymouth, Massachusetts, Plymouth and ...

. The town was incorporated by the General Court on June 13, 1798, and named for

Increase Sumner Increase Sumner (November 27, 1746 – June 7, 1799) was an American lawyer, jurist, and politician from Massachusetts. He was the fifth governor of Massachusetts, serving from 1797 to 1799. Trained as a lawyer, he served in the Massachusetts P ...

, who was then the

governor of Massachusetts The governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is the head of government of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The governor is the chief executive, head of the state cabinet and the commander-in-chief of the commonw ...

. Despite an uneven and somewhat broken surface, the town's principal occupation became

agriculture Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...

. The two branches of the

Nezinscot River The Nezinscot River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed June 30, 2011 river in Maine, traversing the counties of Oxford and Androscoggin. It runs east from the confluence ...

provided

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 ...

for

mills Mills is the plural form of mill, but may also refer to: As a name * Mills (surname), a common family name of English or Gaelic origin * Mills (given name) *Mills, a fictional British secret agent in a trilogy by writer Manning O'Brine Places U ...

. By 1859, when the population was 1,151, Sumner had three

sawmill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logging, 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 ...

s, two

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, two shingle mills, a

starch Starch or amylum is a polymeric carbohydrate consisting of numerous glucose units joined by glycosidic bonds. This polysaccharide is produced by most green plants for energy storage. Worldwide, it is the most common carbohydrate in human diet ...

factory, a

clover Clovers, also called trefoils, are plants of the genus ''Trifolium'' (), consisting of about 300 species of flowering plants in the legume family Fabaceae originating in Europe. The genus has a cosmopolitan distribution with the highest diversit ...

mill (to clean clover seeds, food for

cattle Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, bovid ungulates widely kept as livestock. They are prominent modern members of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus '' Bos''. Mature female cattle are calle ...

), and a

powder mill A powder mill was a mill where gunpowder is made from sulfur, saltpeter and charcoal. Milling steps Crude grinding and mixing operations such as the Frankford Powder-Mill of Philadelphia were a cottage industry until the Industrial Revolution ...

. The

Rumford Falls and Buckfield Railroad The Maine Central Railroad Rumford Branch is a railroad line in Maine now operated as part of the CSX Transportation system. The Rumford Branch leaves the mainline at Leeds Junction and continues northwest up the Androscoggin River valley, passin ...

opened a station near East Sumner in 1878.George J. Varney, ''History of Sumner, Maine;'' Boston, Massachusetts 1886
/ref>

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. It is drained by the

east East is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fact that ea ...

and

west West is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some Romance langu ...

branches of the

. The town is bordered by

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

to the north,

Hartford Hartford is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The city, located in Hartford County, Connecticut, Hartford County, had a population of 121,054 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 ce ...

to the east, Buckfield to the south, and

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

and

Woodstock The Woodstock Music and Art Fair, commonly referred to as Woodstock, was a music festival held from August 15 to 18, 1969, on Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York, southwest of the town of Woodstock, New York, Woodstock. Billed as "a ...

to the west. Sumner is served by state routes 140 and

219 __NOTOC__ Year 219 ( CCXIX) was a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known in Rome as the Year of the Consulship of Antonius and Sacerdos (or, less frequently, year 972 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomina ...

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 939 people, 383 households, and 266 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 565 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the town was 97.4%

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 ...

, 0.4%

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 ...

, 0.5% Native American, 0.3% Asian, 0.5% from other races, and 0.7% 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 2.0% of the population. There were 383 households, of which 26.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 59.3% 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, 4.7% had a female householder with no husband present, 5.5% had a male householder with no wife present, and 30.5% were non-families. 21.9% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.45 and the average family size was 2.85. The median age in the town was 45.5 years. 20.7% of residents were under the age of 18; 6.7% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 21.4% were from 25 to 44; 36.5% were from 45 to 64; and 14.7% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the town was 50.9% male and 49.1% female.

2000 census

As of the

of 2000, there were 854 people, 330 households, and 248 families living in the town. The

was 19.3 people per square mile (7.5/km). There were 488 housing units at an average density of 11.0 per square mile (4.3/km). The racial makeup of the town was 98.59%

, 0.12%

, 0.47% Native American, 0.23% from other races, and 0.59% from two or more races.

or Latino of any race were 0.47% of the population. There were 330 households, out of which 28.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 61.2% were

living together, 7.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 24.8% were non-families. 18.2% of all households were made up of individuals, and 7.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.59 and the average family size was 2.87. In the town, the population was spread out, with 23.4% under the age of 18, 6.2% from 18 to 24, 28.2% from 25 to 44, 31.5% from 45 to 64, and 10.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females, there were 98.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 101.2 males. The median income for a household in the town was $39,196, and the median income for a family was $41,786. Males had a median income of $31,806 versus $23,500 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 $17,370. About 7.7% of families and 11.0% 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 26.1% of those under age 18 and 2.4% of those age 65 or over.

Notable person

* Samuel F. Hersey, US congressman; lumber baron

References

External links

Town of Sumner, Maine

Maine Genealogy: Sumner, Oxford County, Maine

Centennial Committee, ''Centennial History of the Town of Sumner, Maine 1798–1898;'' Charles E. Handy, Jr., West Sumner, Maine 1899

Maine.gov – Sumner, Maine
{{authority control Towns in Oxford County, Maine Towns in Maine