Turner 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 ...

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 most populous city is Lewiston. Androscoggin Cou ...

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. The population was 5,817 at the 2020 census. The town includes the villages of

Turner Turner may refer to: People and fictional characters * Turner (surname), a common surname, including a list of people and fictional characters with the name * Turner (given name), a list of people with the given name *One who uses a lathe for tur ...

, Turner Center and North Turner. The town is part of the Lewiston-Auburn, Maine Metropolitan New England City and Town Area.

History

First called Sylvester-Canada, the township was granted by the

Massachusetts General Court The Massachusetts General Court, formally the General Court of Massachusetts, is the State legislature (United States), state legislature of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts located in the state capital of Boston. Th ...

on June 20, 1768, to Major James Warren and others, survivors of Captain Joseph Sylvester's company for their services in the 1690 Battle of Quebec. It replaced a 1735 grant of the same name located at what is now

Richmond, New Hampshire Richmond is a New England town, town in Cheshire County, New Hampshire, Cheshire County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 1,197 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. History The town was first chartered in 1735 by Governo ...

, but which was ruled invalid in 1741 because of prior claims from the heirs of John Mason. Reverend Charles Turner of

Scituate, Massachusetts Scituate () is a seacoast town in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States, on the South Shore, midway between Boston and Plymouth. The population was 19,063 at the 2020 census. History The Wampanoag and their neighbors inhabited the ar ...

, acted as an agent for the dispossessed grantees, and would become the first minister of their new town. It was settled in 1772 by Daniel Staples, Thomas Record, Elisha Record, Joseph Leavitt and Abner Phillips. Many of the first settlers came from

Pembroke, Massachusetts Pembroke is an historic town in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States. Pembroke is a South Shore (Massachusetts), South Shore suburb of the Greater Boston, Boston metropolitan area. The town is located app ...

, where most of the proprietors of Sylvester-Canada resided. Nearly all the early settlers came from towns which had sprung up around

Plymouth, Massachusetts Plymouth ( ; historically also spelled as Plimouth and Plimoth) is a town in and the county seat of Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States. Located in Greater Boston, the town holds a place of great prominence in American history, folklor ...

, including the Leavitt family, descendants of

Deacon A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian denominations, such as the Cathol ...

John Leavitt Deacon John Leavitt (1608–1691) was a tailor, public officeholder, and founding deacon of Old Ship Church in Hingham, Plymouth County, Massachusetts, the only remaining 17th-century Puritan meeting house in America and the oldest church in cont ...

Old Ship Church The Old Ship Church (also known as the Old Ship Meetinghouse) is a Puritan Church (building), church built in 1681 in Hingham, Massachusetts. It is the only surviving 17th-century Puritan Meeting house, meetinghouse in the United States. Its c ...

Hingham, Massachusetts Hingham ( ) is a town in northern Plymouth County, Massachusetts, Plymouth County in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. Part of the Greater Boston region, it is located on the South Shore (Massachusetts), South Shore of Massachusetts. At the 2020 ...

, and the Bradford family, descendants of Governor William Bradford of the

Plymouth Colony Plymouth Colony (sometimes spelled Plimouth) was the first permanent English colony in New England from 1620 and the third permanent English colony in America, after Newfoundland and the Jamestown Colony. It was settled by the passengers on t ...

. Following the Revolutionary War, settlement began to pick up, and by 1784 the expanding village had 30 families. Incorporated on July 7, 1786, Sylvester-Canada was renamed for Reverend Turner. It was primarily a

farming 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 ...

town producing

corn Maize (; ''Zea mays''), also known as corn in North American English, is a tall stout Poaceae, grass that produces cereal grain. It was domesticated by indigenous peoples of Mexico, indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 9,000 years ago ...

and

apple An apple is a round, edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus'' spp.). Fruit trees of the orchard or domestic apple (''Malus domestica''), the most widely grown in the genus, are agriculture, cultivated worldwide. The tree originated ...

s, but with exceptional

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 ...

sites on 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 ...

. Here, Samuel Blake built in 1775 the first

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 ...

, both a

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 ...

and

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 ...

, although it was destroyed by the great

freshet The term ''freshet'' is most commonly used to describe a snowmelt, an annual high water event on rivers resulting from snow and river ice melting. Description A spring freshet can sometimes last several weeks on large river systems, resulting ...

of 1785. It was rebuilt the next season. There were 5 sawmills and 3 gristmills in the community when a fire destroyed those at Turner Village in 1856. They were replaced, and by 1886, industries included not only sawmills and gristmills but a box factory,

carriage A carriage is a two- or four-wheeled horse-drawn vehicle for passengers. In Europe they were a common mode of transport for the wealthy during the Roman Empire, and then again from around 1600 until they were replaced by the motor car around 1 ...

factory,

shoe A shoe is an item of footwear intended to protect and comfort the human foot. Though the human foot can adapt to varied terrains and climate conditions, it is vulnerable, and shoes provide protection. Form was originally tied to function, but ...

factory,

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 ...

paper pulp Pulp is a fibrous lignocellulosic material prepared by chemically, semi-chemically, or mechanically isolating the cellulosic fibers of wood, fiber crops, waste paper, or rags. Mixed with water and other chemicals or plant-based additives, pul ...

mill,

cheese Cheese is a type of dairy product produced in a range of flavors, textures, and forms by coagulation of the milk protein casein. It comprises proteins and fat from milk (usually the milk of cows, buffalo, goats or sheep). During prod ...

factory,

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

mill and

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 ...

factory.

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. Turner is drained by the

, Martin's Stream and the

Androscoggin River The Androscoggin River (Abenaki: ''Ammoscongon'') is a river in the U.S. states of Maine and New Hampshire, in northern New England. It is U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data''The National Map'', a ...

, which forms the town's border to the east. The town is crossed by state routes 4, 117 and 219. It borders the towns of

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 ...

, Buckfield and

Hebron Hebron (; , or ; , ) is a Palestinian city in the southern West Bank, south of Jerusalem. Hebron is capital of the Hebron Governorate, the largest Governorates of Palestine, governorate in the West Bank. With a population of 201,063 in ...

to the west, Livermore to the north, and

Minot Minot ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Ward County, North Dakota, United States, in the state's north-central region. It is most widely known for the Air Force base approximately north of the city. With a population of 48,377 at the 2 ...

and Auburn to the south, and Greene and Leeds to the east.

Climate

This

climatic Climate is the long-term weather pattern in a region, typically averaged over 30 years. More rigorously, it is the mean and variability of meteorological variables over a time spanning from months to millions of years. Some of the meteorolog ...

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 The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

system, Turner 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 cold ...

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

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 5,734 people, 2,193 households, and 1,641 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 2,481 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the town was 96.8%

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%

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, 0.3% 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 ...

, 0.9% from other races, and 1.1% 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 2.7% of the population. There were 2,193 households, of which 34.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 60.0% 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, 9.5% had a female householder with no husband present, 5.3% had a male householder with no wife present, and 25.2% were non-families. 18.5% of all households were made up of individuals, and 6.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.61 and the average family size was 2.94. The median age in the town was 41.1 years. 24.3% of residents were under the age of 18; 7.1% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 25% were from 25 to 44; 31.9% were from 45 to 64; and 11.8% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the town was 49.9% male and 50.1% female.

2000 census

As of the

of 2000, there were 4,972 people, 1,768 households, and 1,393 families living in the town. The population density was . There were 1,977 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the town was 96.78%

, 0.10%

, 0.18% Native American, 0.28% Asian, 0.04%

, 1.81% from other races, and 0.80% from two or more races.

or Latino of any race were 2.78% of the population. There were 1,768 households, out of which 41.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 67.0% were

living together, 8.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 21.2% were non-families. 15.0% of all households were made up of individuals, and 6.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.81 and the average family size was 3.11. In the town, the population was spread out, with 29.3% under the age of 18, 6.5% from 18 to 24, 32.0% from 25 to 44, 23.1% from 45 to 64, and 9.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females, there were 97.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 95.7 males. The median income for a household in the town was $46,207, and the median income for a family was $52,241. Males had a median income of $34,917 versus $24,975 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 $23,439. About 2.6% of families and 5.5% 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 5.5% of those under age 18 and 7.1% of those age 65 or over. Voter registration

Notable people

* Solon Chase (Chase's Mill), state legislator, candidate for Governor (1882) and founder of the

Greenback Party The Greenback Party (known successively as the Independent Party, the National Independent Party and the Greenback Labor Party) was an Political parties in the United States, American political party with an Competition law, anti-monopoly ideolog ...

in Maine * Alonzo Conant, Judge Auburn Municipal Court (1946–1958) *

Eugene Hale Eugene Hale (June 9, 1836October 27, 1918) was an American politician who was a Republican Party (United States), Republican United States Senator from Maine. Biography Born in Turner, Maine, he was educated in local schools and at Maine's Hebr ...

, US senator * James Henry Howe, federal judge * Samuel Merrill, Governor of Iowa 1868 to 1872 * Joshua Morris, Maine state legislator * Sewall A. Phillips, Wisconsin state legislator * Job Prince, President of the Maine Senate *

Mike Rowe Michael Gregory Rowe (born March 18, 1962) is an American television host and narrator. He is known for his work on the Discovery Channel series '' Dirty Jobs'' and the series '' Somebody's Gotta Do It'' originally developed for CNN. He hosted ...

, racing driver * Alexander B. Whitman, Wisconsin state legislator * Royal Emerson Whitman,

Army An army, ground force or land force is an armed force that fights primarily on land. In the broadest sense, it is the land-based military branch, service branch or armed service of a nation or country. It may also include aviation assets by ...

officer who served in the

Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

Reconstruction Reconstruction may refer to: Politics, history, and sociology *Reconstruction (law), the transfer of a company's (or several companies') business to a new company *''Perestroika'' (Russian for "reconstruction"), a late 20th century Soviet Union ...

and the

Indian wars The American Indian Wars, also known as the American Frontier Wars, and the Indian Wars, was a conflict initially fought by European colonial empires, the United States, and briefly the Confederate States of America and Republic of Texas agains ...

Ray LaMontagne Raymond Charles Jack LaMontagne (; born June 18, 1973) is an American singer-songwriter and musician. LaMontagne has released nine studio albums: '' Trouble'', ''Till the Sun Turns Black'', '' Gossip in the Grain'', '' God Willin' & the Creek Don ...

, singer-songwriter

Education

Leavitt Area High School Leavitt Area High School is a public secondary school that serves grades 9–12 in Turner, Maine, United States. It is a regional high school and serves the communities of Turner, Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the ...

References

External links

*
Turner Public Library

Turner Ridge Riders Snowmobile Club

Turner Timberland ATV club

Maine.gov – Turner, Maine

* {{Coord, 44, 15, 23, N, 70, 15, 22, W, type:city_region:US-ME, display=title Towns in Androscoggin County, Maine Towns in Maine

History

Geography

Climate

Demographics

2010 census

2000 census

Notable people

Education

References

Further reading

External links