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

418    GAZETTEER    OF    MAINE.

and many very attractive residences. A drive along some of its roads
is delightful. Orrington Great Pond, formerly Brewer Pond, lies on
the eastern line of the town, and with a smaller connected pond on the
north, gives a water surface of about 10 square miles. It discharges
through Segeunkedunk Stream into the Penobscot in Brewer, just over
the north line of Orrington. This stream furnishes at East Orrington
power for a saw-mill, and a short distance below for a shingle-mill and
tannery; then by successive falls, for two grist-mills and another saw-
mill. In the southern part of the town lies Sweet’s Pond, smallest of
the three, sending its overflow into the Penobscot at the village of
South Orrington. At this place are two lumber-mills and a grist-mill.
Other manufactures in the town are drain-tile, earthen-ware, churns,
boots and shoes, etc.

The first settlement in Orrington was made hy Capt. John Brewer,
from Worcester, Mass., in June, 1770, at the mouth of the Segeunke-
dunk Stream, where he built a mill. He had obtained consent of the
General Court to settle here upon condition that he should receive a
grant of the territory from the crown within three years; and with
his associates, he caused the exterior lines of a tract large enough for
a township to be surveyed. They had sent to the king a petition,
and a grant was promised ; hut just then news of the battle of Lexing-
ton was received, and tbe patent was not issued. During the war,
Brewer and other settlers w^rere annoyed by the British from the river
below to such an extent that they left the place, returning when the
war closed. In 1784, the township was surveyed by R. Dodge, and on
March 25th, 1786, Captain Brewer, with Simeon Fowler (who had
settled three miles below in what is now Orrington) purchased from
Massachusetts for £3,000 in joint notes, the lots abutting on the river,
to the extent of 10,864 acres. The residue of the township was
granted to Moses Knapp and his associates. Many of the first settlers
were mariners, who had been forced by the approach of war to seek
other business ; but navigation reviving on the return of peace, many
of these returned to their old pursuits, taking with them their grown-
up sons. Previous to its incorporation as a town on March 21, 1788,
the settlement had borne the name of New Worcester, or Plantation
No. 9. The town was named for Orangetown, Md., but, by a mis-
spelling in the act of incorporation, the name became Orrington. The
first representative to the legislature was Oliver Leonard, in 1798.
The centres of business are Orrington, on the river near the middle of
the town; East and South Orrington, the last being the largest. At
Goodale Corners, in the south-eastern part of the town, is an excellent
nursery ; and the town abounds in fine orchards. There were first
erected in Orrington two meeting-houses seven miles apart, and
equally distant from each end of the town. There is now a Methodist
church at Orrington village, at South Orrington and at the Centre, and
a Congregational church at East Orrington. The town has some ex-
cellent schoolhouses, the entire number being thirteen. They are
valued at $4,975. The population in 1870 was 1768. In 1880 it was
1,529. The valuation of estates in 1870 was $400,839. In 1880 it was
$405,898.

Orr’s Island,—a post-office on an island of the same name
In Harpswell, Cumberland County.