Gazetteer of the State of Maine With Numerous Illustrations, by Geo. J. Varney

BOSTON: PUBLISHED BY B. B. RUSSELL, 57 CORNHILL. 1882. Public domain image from

BIDDEFORD.    117

property is estimated at $30,000. The total amount actually expended
for public schools from April 1, 1878 to April 1, 1879, $16,246. The
value of estates in 1870 w^ras $5,682,402. In 1880 it was $5,877,867.
The rate of taxation in the latter year was 2 per cent. The popu-
lation in 1870 was 12,652. In 1880 it was 10,282. The city hall is a
handsome brick edifice three stories in height. The lower story is oc-
cupied by stores and the post office ; the second, by private and gov-
ernment offices and rooms; and the third, by an excellent hall. The
building also contains a public library of about 3,000 volumes.

There are small powers on Swan Pond Creek, in the north of the
town, and on Little River, at the south ; but the business centre and
the manufacturing power is at the falls of the Saco river. The river
has here a descent of forty feet, divided into two falls, about one-
eighth of a mile apart, the upper being eight feet and the lower
thirty-two. At this point are located seven cotton mills, aggregating

165,000 spindles. Of these, the Laconia Company (organized in 1845)

has 75,000 and the Pepperell Company (organized 1850) 90,000. The
Hardy Manufacturing Company, incorporated in 1865, manufac-
tures card-grinders, cotton and woolen machinery, gas fixtures, etc.
The Saco Water-Power Machine Shop Company was incorporated and
went into operation in 1867, with a capital of $300,000. It manufac-
tures cotton and woolen machinery, and gives employment to about
500 men. There are also three boot and shoe factories, three foun-
dries for brass, iron aud stoves respectively, loom picker and harness
manufactories, several lumber and grain mills, granite quarries, brick-
yards, and other lesser manufactures. The Boston aud Maine, and
the Portland, Saco and Portsmouth Railroads each have a station in
Biddeford; and.steam and sailing vessels ascend the river to within a
short distance of the lower fall. Biddeford is a port of delivery in the
Saco Customs District. The city has one daily and two weekly news-
papers, and one humorous and one religious monthly. The “Union
and Journal ” is an excellent and well-established paper, now pub-
lished on Friday of each week by G. A. Hobbs. It is Republican in