Winslow is a town and census-designated place in Kennebec
County
, Maine
, United States
, along the Kennebec
River. The population was 7,743 at the
2000 census.
History
Winslow was originally settled by colonists from
Plymouth Colony. The area was covered by the
land patent given by the English Crown to
Pilgrim governor
William
Bradford and his associates. The earliest settlers had such Old
Colony and Pilgrim names as Winslow, Bradford, Warren, and Otis.
Descendants of those early settlers can still be found in the
town.
In 1754,
Fort
Halifax
was built by order of the Massachusetts General Court on
the peninsula at the confluence of the Sebasticook and Kennebec rivers. A settlement
subsequently sprang up under its protection, and was named in honor
of General John
Winslow, of Marshfield, Massachusetts
who had overseen the fort's construction.
General Winslow was a descendant of
Edward Winslow, a
Pilgrim governor of
Plymouth Colony who arrived on the
Mayflower and founded the town of Marshfield.
General Winslow lived in the mansion built in 1699 by his father,
Isaac Winslow. The historic Winslow House still stands today in
Marshfield and is on the
National Register of
Historic Places.
The Sebasticook and Kennebec rivers provided major early routes to
transport food, goods, and more settlers.
Benedict Arnold followed the Kennebec River
north in 1775, stopping at Fort Halifax in Winslow on his ill-fated
attempt to
invade Canada.
The Fort Halifax
blockhouse, formerly the
nation's oldest wooden structure of its type, was rebuilt after the
original was swept down the Kennebec River by raging
flood waters on
April 1,
1987.
Thousands of
Irish and
French Canadian immigrants used the Old Canada Road (now a
scenic byway) section of
U.S. Route 201
during the 19th century to find seasonal or project employment, and
later make the Kennebec River Valley region their home. Modern
Winslow developed around the Hollingsworth & Whitney Company
paper mill, located along the Kennebec
River. The mill was later purchased by the
Scott Paper Company, whose 1995 merger
with
Kimberly-Clark led to the
factory's closure in 1997. Winslow's industrial decline started in
the 1980s, although some small
light
industry still exists, and new businesses continue to move into
the town. Despite this, the service sector remains limited.
Today,
Winslow is a bedroom community for
many middle and upper middle class families who work in nearby
Waterville
and Augusta
.
Scenes from the 2005 miniseries
Empire Falls, starring
Paul Newman,
Ed
Harris, and
Helen Hunt, and based on
the 2001 book
Empire Falls by
Richard Russo, were shot in Winslow.
The town is home to the state's largest
4th of July fireworks display.
Notable residents
Geography
Winslow is located at (44.542428, -69.605101).
According to the
United
States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of
38.7
square miles
(100.3
km2), of which,
36.8 square miles (95.4 km
2) of it is land and
1.9 square miles (4.8 km
2) of it (4.83%) is
water. Winslow is located at the confluence of the
Sebasticook River with the
Kennebec River.
The town is crossed by
U.S. Route 201 and State Routes
11,
32,
100 and
137.
It borders the towns of Benton
to the north, Albion
to the east,
China
to the
southeast, Vassalboro
to the south, and (across the Kennebec River)
Waterville to the west.
Demographics
Scott Paper mill (originally
Hollingswoth & Whitney) 10 years after the Kimberly Clark
closing
As of the
census of 2000, there were 7,743
people, 3,268 households, and 2,212 families residing in the town.
The
population density was 210.1
people per square mile (81.1/km
2). There were 3,591
housing units at an average density of 97.4/sq mi
(37.6/km
2). The racial makeup of the town was 98.05%
White, 0.13%
Black or
African American, 0.27%
Native American, 0.35%
Asian, 0.01%
Pacific Islander, 0.22% from
other races, and 0.97%
from two or more races.
Hispanic or
Latino of any race were 0.77% of the
population.
There were 4,268 households out of which 30.7% had children under
the age of 18 living with them, 53.7% were
married couples living together, 10.4% had a female
householder with no husband present, and 32.3% were non-families.
26.8% of all households were made up of individuals and 13.5% had
someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average
household size was 2.35 and the average family size was 2.83.
Fort Halifax in c.
In the town the population was spread out with 24.1% under the age
of 18, 6.3% from 18 to 24, 27.0% from 25 to 44, 24.6% from 45 to
64, and 18.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was
41 years. For every 100 females there were 90.6 males. For every
100 females age 18 and over, there were 86.0 males.
The median income for a household in the town was $39,580, and the
median income for a family was $46,725. Males had a median income
of $37,116 versus $25,429 for females. The
per capita income for the town was
$18,501. About 3.7% of families and 7.0% of the population were
below the
poverty line, including 7.1%
of those under age 18 and 9.9% of those age 65 or over.
Government
Winslow has a
town council government.
A
town manager handles day to day
affairs.
Education
Winslow has an independent school department, which provides
education from
kindergarten through
high school. It also has a Catholic
grammar school, St. John.
The Winslow school system is a member of
School Union 52, which includes the towns of Vassalboro
and China, but doesn't
include St. John. While the three towns share a
superintendent, each one has its own
school
board. Winslow is still in the process of completing a
$9,000,000 high school renovation project.
Sites of interest
- Two Cent Bridge
- Fort Halifax
- Winslow Congregational Church
- Big G's Deli, a well-known restaurant in central Maine, famous
for its oversized sandwiches and pastries.
References
External links
Wikis
Map
Search
