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

MANCHESTER.    351

Madrid is situated near the middle of Franklin County, being
bounded by Mount Abraham township and Salem on the east, by
Phillips on the south, Sandy River Plantation on the west, and No. 1,
of Range 2, on the north. The township is of about the usual size,
being nearly square in form. In 1872 it received an addition of terri-
tory from Letter E Plantation. The west branch of Sandy River
crosses the south-west part, and Perkins Stream, forming the eastern
branch, comes down through the south-east part of the town, though
having its origin in the north-west and at the north. The Sandy River
Falls are an attraction to all lovers of the beautiful. There are two
streams only a few rods apart, and each has a fine cataract. The town
is quite uneven, and in the northern portion is quite mountainous.
The principal elevations are Saddleback and Spruce Scrabble moun-
tains and Potatoe Hill. The principal business centre is on Sandy
River, at the south-western part of the town. The principal manu-
factures are lumber and carriages. Madrid is some 20 miles north-
west from Farmington, the village being about 7 miles from the station
of the Sandy River Railroad in Phillips.

The township was formerly owned by Mr. Phillips, but passed into
tfee hands of Jacob Abbot, whose heirs, down to a recent date and per-
haps still, own the unoccupied land. Settlements were commenced in
1807 or 1808 by Abel Cook, David Rose, John Sargent, Lemuel
Plummer, Miller Hinckley, Josejjh Dunham, Ebenezer Cawkins and
Nathaniel Wells. The town was incorporated 1886.

The Free Baptists have a society in the town. Madrid has seven
public schoolhouses which, with other school property, are valued at
$1,600. The valuation of the town in 1870 was $55,764. In 1880 it
was $69,866. The population in 1870 was 394. In 1880 it was 437.

Main Stream Village, a small village in Harmony,
Somerset County.

Mallison Falls, a village in Gorham, Cumberland County.

Manchester lies near the centre of Kennebec County, on
the west side of the Kennebec River, and separated from it by the town
of Farmingdale, the city of Hallowell and the western section of the
city of Augusta. It is 12 miles long and averages less than 3 miles
wide. Sidney and Belgrade bound it on the north, Redfield and Win-
throp on the west. It is almost wholly separated from the latter by
Cobbosse Contee Great Pond, noted for its white perch and black
bass.

The early history of this town will be found combined with that of
the towns from which it was formed. These are Augusta, Hallowell,
Winthrop and Readfield. The settlement commenced about 1774.
Nathaniel Floyd appears to have been the first settler in the southern
part, and Thomas Allen in the northern part, in the same year. This
Allen lot remains in the family to the present day, being owned by a
grandson of the pioneer, William H. Allen, president of Girard Col-
lege. Captain John Evans, Francis Fuller and Reuben Brainard took
up lots in 1776; Samuel Cummings, in 1778, and several other persons
soon after. The incorporation of Manchester as an independent town
occurred in 1850 under the name of Kennebec. A strip from the