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

DEERING.    195

canned foods, and a grain and salt mill producing about 80,000 bushels
of meal and 40,000 boxes of ground salt annually. The first church
was organized herein 1765, and Thomas Brown was ordained as pastor.
Stroudwater was a flourishing village in the period when shipbuilding
and the coasting trade were prosperous. There is another canning-
factory at Bride’s Bridge (Riverton), on the Presumpscot River. At
Morrill’s Corner are tanneries, manufactories of brittania ware, boots
and shoes, marble and granite monuments, etc. Near Deering’s Bridge
C* ....    are    the pottery, tile, and fire-brick works of the Portland Stoneware

Co., occupying nearly four acres of ground. They have some of the
largest kilns in the country, and turn out monthly about 30,000 fire-
bricks and $2,000 worth of stone ware. About 70 men are employed.
Other industries of the town are tree and plant nurseries, brick-making,
pork-packing, boat-building, carriage and harness making, etc.

Richard Tucker and George Cleeves were tbe first local proprietors
of land within the limits of Deering, having purchased of Sir Ferdin-
ando Gorges, about 1637, 1,500 acres on Back Cove, between Fore River
and the Presumpscot. In 1640 there were four families residing at Back
Cove. King Philip’s, or the first Indian war, broke out in 1675, but
his vicinity was not attacked until August of the following year when an
Indian known as “ Simon, the Yankee-killer,” a fugitive from Philip’s de-
feated forces, made himself familiar at the house of Anthony Brackett,
the principal settler at Back Cove. A few days later one of his cows was
missing, and the fact being mentioned before Simon, he said, “ I can
show you the Indians who killed the creature.” He departed ; but a
f*    few    days later he returned accompanied by a band of savages. “ Here

are the Indians who took your cow,” said he. They killed Mr. Brackett
and three of his neighbors, and carried their wives and children away
captive, except that one woman with her children escaped in a
canoe. Again in 1689, Brackett’s farm was the scene of a fierce
contest between a large body of French and Indians and the forces
under the noted Major Church, by whose victory the neighboring vil-
lage of Casco Neck was saved. The Deering mansion and farm, just
north and west of the Deering Bridge, now occupy the locality of the
fight. Futher incidents of its history can be found in the accounts of
the towns of Falmouth and Westbrook, from which it was set off and
incorporated in 1871.

“ The village of Steven’s Plains,” says Elwell, “ with its broad level
streets, and side-walks shaded with umbrageous maples and elms, has
a quiet and rural beauty. Its chief ornament is the Universalist
Church, a very tasteful structure, built in 1867, at a cost of about
$14,000. The church stands at the entrance of the grounds of the
Westbrook Seminary. This institution, incorporated in 1831, was tbe
first seminary of learning established in New England under the pat-
ronage of the Universalist denomination. The seminary building was
erected in 1834, at a cost of $7,000.” Goddard Hall and Hersey Hall,
both large edifices of brick, were built, the first in 1859, the last in
1869. The institution has two courses in the collegiate department,
and confers the degree of Laureate of Arts upon all young ladies who
successfully pass examination in a classical course, and Laureate of
Science in the scientific course. In the academic department diplomas
are granted in two courses, English and College Preparatory.

Back Cove, Pride’s Bridge, an elegant span of iron, Cumberland