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

able period the town was called Alamasook, and then “ Eastern River.”
It was incorporated in 1800. Its name is supposed to have been de-
rived from “Oarland,” an oar having been found upon its shores by
Joseph Gross, the first settler, who came in 1764. Ebenezer Gross
came in 1765, and Joseph Viles in 1766. The latter built the first
framed house,—which was used for the plantation meetings until 1804,
when the first schoolhouse w^ras built. Zachariah Gross, the first child,
w\as born in 1766. The first road was laid out in 1771, by John Han-
cock and Samuel Craig. The first saw and grist-mills were built at
the lower falls by Calvin Turner, in 1773. Large accessions of inhab-
itants were made between 1767 and 1780, from Boston. The popula-
tion in 1790 was 290. The first county road through the plantation
was laid out in 1793. There are fifteen persons residing in the towm
who are above eighty years of age. Orland furnished 195 men for the
Union cause during the w^rar of the Rebellion, paying bounty to the
amount of $14,855.

The Methodists, Congregationalists and Universalist* each have a
church in town. Orland has fifteen public schoolhouses, and the school
property is valued at $6,500. The valuation of estates in 1870
was $374,390. In 1880 it was $358,325. The population in 1870 was
1,701. In 1880 it was 1,689.

Orneville is the south-easterly town of Piscataquis County,
and contains 23,040 acres. The township was purchased from the
State by General J. P. Boyd, soon after his return from India, and was
known as Boyd’s Plantation. Abner and Allen Hoxie, James Philpot,
William M. and Eben Ewer, William and Solon Hamlin, were the first
settlers. In 1832 the township was incorporated as the town of Mil-
ton. The town affairs were badly managed, and the corporation and
many of the inhabitants thereby became impoverished. After the
death of the proprietor, General Boyd, Hon. Henry Orne, of Boston,
one of the heirs, lent his aid to place matters on a better basis. He
built a saw-mill and grist-mill at the outlet of Boyd’s Lake, and a
noble residence for himself near by. Elder Spencer How^re, who opened
a store near the mills, also contributed to the prosperity of the town.
Another minister, Elder Gershom Lord, pursued a successful business
career in town.

In 1841, the name of the town was changed to Almond, and the
next year to Orneville, in honor of its leading citizen. The manufac-
tories are chiefly on the outlet of Boyd’s Lake. They consist
of two lumber-mills, a shingle-mill, and two grist-mills. The Bangor
and Piscataquis Railway passes near. Granite is the prevailing rock.
The chief crops are hay and potatoes.

Orneville is without any effective religious organization. All its
public reserves go toward the support of the schools. It has six pub-
lic schoolhouses, valued at $1,000. The valuation of estates in 1870
was $80,062. In 1880, $73,730. The rate of taxation in 1880 was 047
on the dollar. The population in 1870 was 575. In 1880 it was 501.

Orono, in Penobscot County, lies on the west side of the Pen-
obscot River, and adjoins Bangor on the western part of eacb. On
the north it is bounded by Oldtown, south by Veazie and Bangor,
west by Glenburn and east by Bradley. Tbe river separates it from