Jay is a town in Franklin County
, Maine
, United States
. The population was 4,985 at the
2000 census.
Jay, which includes
the village of Chisholm
, is the
regional commercial center.
History
Jay Bridge Falls in 1869
This was once territory of the Anasagunticook (or
Androscoggin)
Abenaki Indians, whose main
village was Rockameko, located on Canton Point. They were wiped out
by
smallpox in 1757. The township was then
granted by the
Massachusetts
General Court to Captain Joseph Phipps and 63 others for their
services in the
French and Indian
War. Called Phipps-Canada, the plantation was not settled until
after the
Revolutionary
War.
On February 26,
1795, Phipps-Canada was incorporated as Jay for
John Jay, the first chief justice of the
Supreme
Court
. In 1821, Canton
was set off
and incorporated as a town.
Farmers found the soil to be loamy and
productive, yielding great quantitites of
hay,
corn,
wheat,
potatoes,
oats and
apples. In 1793, a tavern was constructed at Jay Hill.
On the
Androscoggin River near
Jay Hill was erected a
toll bridge, then
in 1839 a
sawmill. At North Jay was built a
sawmill,
brickyard and
granite quarry.
White granite from the
North Jay Granite Company, established in 1884, would be used to
construct numerous important buildings throughout the country,
including Grant's
Tomb
. East Jay had a sawmill, and Bean's Corner a
carriage factory. In 1857, the
Maine Central Railroad reached
town.
Jay had a population of 1,490 in 1870. The following years would
see
papermaking develop into the town's
predominant industry. In 1888, industrialist
Hugh J. Chisholm built at southern Jay the Otis
Falls Pulp & Paper Company mill, then the 3rd largest
paper mill in the country. Nearby developed the
mill town village of Chisholm. In 1898, it
became one of the founding mills of
International Paper. In 1905,
International Paper built a mill on the opposite side of the river,
which became known as the Otis mill. In 1978, this mill was sold to
Wausau Paper. In 1965, International Paper opened the Androscoggin
Mill. It is an integrated
pulp and
finished paper goods plant employing 990 people operating 5 paper
machines. In 1987, it was site of the
International Paper strike. In
March 2009, Wausau Paper announced the closing of the Otis mill.
Operations there will stop permanently at the end of May,
2009.
Geography
According to the
United
States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of
49.2 square miles (127.5 km²), of which, 48.5 square
miles (125.5 km²) of it is land and 0.8 square miles
(2.0 km²) of it (1.58%) is water. Jay is drained by Seven Mile
Stream and the
Androscoggin
River.
The town is crossed by state routes
4, 17, 133, 140 and 156.
It is bounded by the
towns of Wilton
to the
north, Chesterville
to the east, Livermore
and Livermore Falls
to the south, and Canton and Dixfield
to the west.
Demographics
View at Jay in 1910
As of the
census of 2000, there were 4,985
people, 2,019 households, and 1,449 families residing in the town.
The
population density was 102.9
people per square mile (39.7/km²). There were 2,155 housing units
at an average density of 44.5/sq mi (17.2/km²). The racial
makeup of the town was 97.91%
White, 0.26%
African American, 0.46%
Native American, 0.22%
Asian, 0.06%
Pacific Islander, 0.10% from
other races, and 0.98%
from two or more races.
Hispanic or
Latino of any race were 0.48% of the
population.
There were 2,019 households out of which 32.7% had children under
the age of 18 living with them, 55.9% were
married couples living together, 11.4% had a female
householder with no husband present, and 28.2% were non-families.
22.9% of all households were made up of individuals and 10.4% had
someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average
household size was 2.47 and the average family size was 2.87.
Paper mills at Chisholm c.
In the town the population was spread out with 26.2% under the age
of 18, 6.0% from 18 to 24, 28.2% from 25 to 44, 25.3% from 45 to
64, and 14.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was
39 years. For every 100 females there were 95.0 males. For every
100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.5 males.
The median income for a household in the town was $36,746, and the
median income for a family was $43,365. Males had a median income
of $35,405 versus $20,897 for females. The
per capita income for the town was
$17,123. About 8.7% of families and 10.4% of the population were
below the
poverty line, including 12.8%
of those under age 18 and 7.9% of those age 65 or over.
Education
Jay has the only independent school department in Franklin County,
and provides full public education K-12 (some independent school
districts in Maine only cover K-8).
Government
Sites of interest
Residents
Further reading
External links
Wikis
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