Baldwin 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 ...

Cumberland County, Maine Cumberland County is a county in the U.S. state of Maine. As of the 2020 census, the population was 303,069, making it the most populous county in Maine. Its county seat is Portland. Cumberland County was founded in 1760 from a portion of ...

, United States. The population was 1,520 at the 2020 census. It is part of the

Portland-South Portland-Biddeford metropolitan area The city of Portland, Maine, is the hub city of a metropolitan area in southern Maine. The region is commonly known as Greater Portland or the Portland metropolitan area. For statistical purposes, the U.S. federal government defines three differ ...

History

First called Flintstown Plantation, it was granted in 1774 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 ...

to survivors of the Concord,

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 ...

, company commanded by Captain John Flint. It replaced a grant of about 1735 which gave them Township No. 3, because when state borders were adjusted in 1741, the town turned out to be in

New Hampshire New Hampshire ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...

—present-day Walpole. On June 23, 1802, Flintstown was incorporated as Baldwin, named for Colonel Loammi Baldwin, for whom the Baldwin apple was named. Sebago was set off and incorporated in 1826. The surface of the town is broken, but with soil favorable to

grain A grain is a small, hard, dry fruit (caryopsis) – with or without an attached husk, hull layer – harvested for human or animal consumption. A grain crop is a grain-producing plant. The two main types of commercial grain crops are cereals and ...

and

hay Hay is grass, legumes, or other herbaceous plants that have been cut and dried to be stored for use as animal fodder, either for large grazing animals raised as livestock, such as cattle, horses, goats, and sheep, or for smaller domesticate ...

. Baldwin would be noted for its

orchard An orchard is an intentional plantation of trees or shrubs that is maintained for food production. Orchards comprise fruit tree, fruit- or nut (fruit), nut-producing trees that are generally grown for commercial production. Orchards are also so ...

s, and a factory was established in East Baldwin for drying

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. There was also a

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 ...

factory. Brooks 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 various mills which produced board

lumber Lumber is wood that has been processed into uniform and useful sizes (dimensional lumber), including beams and planks or boards. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as finishing (floors, wall panels, window frames). ...

, barrel staves and shooks. During times of

drought A drought is a period of drier-than-normal conditions.Douville, H., K. Raghavan, J. Renwick, R.P. Allan, P.A. Arias, M. Barlow, R. Cerezo-Mota, A. Cherchi, T.Y. Gan, J. Gergis, D. Jiang, A. Khan, W. Pokam Mba, D. Rosenfeld, J. Tierney, ...

, the Saco Water Power Company could regulate water at Great Falls to run mills down the Saco River in Saco and in Biddeford. The

Portland and Ogdensburg Railroad The Portland & Ogdensburg Railroad was a railroad planned to connect Portland, Maine, Portland, Maine to Ogdensburg, New York. The plan failed, and in 1880 the Vermont section was reorganized and leased by the Boston and Lowell Railroad, Boston ...

followed the Saco River valley for the length of Baldwin.George J. Varney, ''History of Baldwin, Maine'' (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. Baldwin is drained by Breakneck Brook and the Saco River. The town is crossed by state routes 5, 107, 113 and 117, and is bordered by Sebago on the north; Standish on the east; Hiram on the west; and Cornish and

Limington Limington, also archaically Lymington, is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Yeovilton and District, in Somerset, England, situated north of Yeovil. The parish has a population of 199. The parish included the Hamlet (place ...

on the south.

Demographics

Image:Great Falls, Saco River, ME.jpg, Great Falls in 1869 Image:Cottage at Dyke Mt. Farm, West Baldwin, ME.jpg, Dyke Mtn. Farm in 1919 Image:Street Scene, East Baldwin, ME.jpg, East Baldwin

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 1,525 people, 588 households, and 431 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 700 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the town was 97.9%

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 ...

, 0.1%

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 ...

, 0.2% Native American, 1.1% Asian, 0.3% from other races, and 0.5% 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 0.4% of the population. There were 588 households, of which 31.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 60.7% 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, 7.7% had a female householder with no husband present, 4.9% had a male householder with no wife present, and 26.7% were non-families. 19.7% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9% 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 2.98. The median age in the town was 42.4 years. 22.4% of residents were under the age of 18; 6.5% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 24.6% were from 25 to 44; 32.3% were from 45 to 64; and 14.4% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the town was 49.0% male and 51.0% female.

2000 census

As of the

of 2000, there were 1,290 people, 493 households, and 385 families living in the town. The population density was . There were 577 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the town was 98.91%

, 0.31%

, 0.16% Native American, 0.31% Asian, 0.08%

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 ...

, and 0.23% from two or more races.

or Latino of any race were 0.47% of the population. There were 493 households, out of which 31.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 65.1% were

living together, 7.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 21.9% were non-families. 16.0% of all households were made up of individuals, and 6.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.62 and the average family size was 2.89. In the town, the population was spread out, with 24.2% under the age of 18, 5.3% from 18 to 24, 30.8% from 25 to 44, 24.8% from 45 to 64, and 14.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females, there were 96.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 99.6 males. The median income for a household in the town was $36,500, and the median income for a family was $38,750. Males had a median income of $31,667 versus $21,563 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 $15,689. About 8.2% of families and 11.2% 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 13.9% of those under age 18 and 9.5% of those age 65 or over.

Local schools

* Sacopee Valley Middle School * Sacopee Valley High School

Notable people

* Isaac W. Dyer, US District Attorney * Josiah Pierce, president of the

Maine Senate The Maine Senate is the upper house of the Maine Legislature, the state legislature (United States), state legislature of the U.S. state of Maine. The Senate currently consists of 35 members representing an equal number of districts across the st ...

* Ledell Titcomb, baseball player * Andrew Clements, author * Philip Cresey Jr., politician

References

External links

Town of Baldwin, Maine

Maine.gov – Baldwin, Maine

Brown Memorial Library
{{authority control Towns in Cumberland County, Maine Portland metropolitan area, Maine Towns in Maine