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 wras $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
PREVIOUS PAGE ... NEXT PAGE
This page was written in HTML using a program written in Python 3.2
|