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

584    GAZETTEER    OF    MAINE.

Mile Square,” which he purchased of two sagamores. The paper
factories now operated here give employment to about 300 persons.

Westbrook was formerly a part of old Falmouth, from which it was
set off and incorporated as “ Stroudwater ” in 1814. The next year its
name was changed to Westbrook, in honor of Colonel Thomas West-
brook, who distinguished himself in the Indian wars. Deering was set
off from Westbrook in 1871. Westbrook was for many years the home
of Rev. Prof. Henry B. Smith and Miss Annie Louise Cary. Paul
Akers, the sculptor, was born in this town in 1825, dying in Phila-    _,

delphia in 1861. Other persons of eminence still reside here.

Saccarappa has a flourishing Methodist church, a Congregational
church which dates its organization from 1832 ; a Universalist and a
Catholic church. There is also a Congregational church at Cumberland
Mills. Westbrook has 8 public schoolhouses valued at $1,700. The
amount paid for the support of schools for the year ending April 1st,

1879, was $4,296. The valuation of estates in 1870 was $3,291,-
143. In 1880 it was $1,527,880. The population in 1870 was 2,788.

The census of 1880 shows it to have increased to 3,981.

Westfield Plantation, in    Aroostook    County, lies    in    ^

the second range of townships from the New Brunswick border. It is
32 miles north of Houlton on the stage-line to Upper Aroostook. It
was formed from Deerfield and Westfield Academy grants. The    l

Presque Isle Stream (of the St. John) runs for quite a distance through
the north-eastern part. Clark Brook drains the middle of the town-
ship on the northern side, Young’s Brook and its branches, the south-    %

eastern quarter, and Beaver Dam Brook, the south-western quarter.    »

The settlements are almost wholly in the north-eastern quarter, but are    [j

now overrunning this limit.    '

The plantation has a public schoolhouse, valued with land at $400.

The population in 1870 was 76, with 17 taxable polls. In 1880 the
polls numbered 29; but the population in the preliminary report of the
census, is massed with other divisions. The valuation in 1870 was
$20,869. In 1880 it was $31,426.    ?

West Forks Plantation,    in Somerset County, lies    on    i

the western bank of the Kennebec River, where it receives the waters
of Dead River. It is bounded on the west by Pierce Pond Plantation,
and on the east by the Forks Plantation from which it is separated by
the Kennebec. On the western border lies Pierce Pond, extending nearly
from the north to the south line of its tier of townships. Dead River
forms the entire northern line. Two ponds in the southern part of the    ,

township bear the name of Otter Ponds. Between the northern one    1

and the western line of the township begins the short Otter range of
mountains. The highest elevation in the town is Churchill Hill, whose
summit is about 500 feet above the plain.

Slate, granite and quartz are found in the township. The soil is
loamy, yielding well of hay, potatoes, the cereals and the esculent
roots. Pine, spruce, maple and ash are the chief forest trees. The
manufactures of this town consist of lumber, edge-tools, cant-dogs, etc.

It is the head quarters of one or more lumbering firms. The roads in.
this plantation are called very good. There is here a bridge across the
Kennebec 200 feet in length, constructed of spruce and pine. The place