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Norway, Maine

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Norway is a town in Oxford County, Maine, United States. The population was 4,611 at the 2000 census.

History

Main Street in 1908

The town was first called Rustfield after Henry Rust of Salem, Massachusetts, a large landowner. It was cleared and settled after 1786 by Joseph Stevens, followed by George Leslie, Amos Hobbs, Jeremiah Hobbs, Jonas Stevens and Nathaniel Stevens, together with their families from Gray. Many who moved here had been soldiers in the Revolutionary War, including Phineas Whitney, who fought at the Battle of Bunker Hill. A sawmill and gristmill were established in 1789, and in 1796 the first road was built. Rustfield Plantation was incorporated on March 9, 1797 as Norway. The town had petitioned the Massachusetts General Court to be named Norage, but what the word signified, and why it was altered to Norway, remains speculative. Fire destroyed the entire records of the town in 1843. During the American Civil War, Norway and other municipalities in Oxford County provided a militia company to the 1st Maine Volunteer Infantry Regiment, under the command of George Lafayette Beal, who would later rise to the rank of Major General and serve as Maine's State Treasurer from 1888 to 1894.

The town had fertile soil for cultivation. The Pennesseewassee Stream, which drains Lake Pennesseewassee into the Little Androscoggin River, provided water power for industry. At the falls were established 2 grain mills, a cloth and carding mill, furniture factory, box factory and a shovel handle factory. There was a tannery, with other businesses making harness and trunks. A shoe manufactory was established in 1872. The busy stage route from Paris, the county seat, to Fryeburg passed through Norway. By 1878, there were 32 stores in the town, which for a number of years had the fastest growing population of any similar town in the state. On December 30, 1879, the Norway Branch Railroad opened, running from Norway village on a line 1.45 miles long to connect with the Atlantic and St. Lawrence Railroad (later Grand Trunk Railroad) at South Paris. But the Great Norway Fire of May 9, 1894 would destroy a substantial portion of the business district. It started in the C. B. Cummings & Sons mill, and was spread by a strong wind down Main Street. The opera house, tannery, Congregational Church, and 80 homes and other buildings were lost. Much of Norway was rebuilt the same year, with several structures in brick.

Norway was once called the "Snowshoe Capital of the World" because of the many snowshoes manufactured here. In 1906, Walter Tubbs established the Tubbs Snowshoe Company to produce ash snowshoes, skis, sleds and furniture. The firm made 70% of the snowshoes ordered by the U.S. government during World War II, and also supplied the polar expeditions of Byrd and Peary.[1] In the 1940s, the Tubbs Company moved to Vermont, and in 2004, it was bought by K2 Sports. The snowshoes are now made at a factory in Guangzhou, China. In 1997, the New Balance Shoe Company built a new manufacturing facility at Norway. The C. B. Cummings & Son Company, founded in 1860 to make dowels and other wood products, closed and auctioned its downtown plant in 2001 because of competition from China. In addition, the business had lost customers when furniture factories in the Carolinas shut down.

Notable residents

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 47.5 square miles (123.0 km²), of which, 45.1 square miles (116.8 km²) of it is land and 2.4 square miles (6.2 km²) of it (5.03%) is water. Norway is drained by the Pennesseewassee Stream and Little Androscoggin River.

Demographics

See also: Norway (CDP), Maine

File:Upper Main Street, Norway, ME.jpg
Upper Main Street in c. 1906

As of the censusTemplate:GR of 2000, there were 4,611 people, 1,972 households, and 1,256 families residing in the town. The population density was 102.3 people per square mile (39.5/km²). There were 2,551 housing units at an average density of 56.6/sq mi (21.8/km²). The racial makeup of the town was 97.83% White, 0.30% Black or African American, 0.37% Native American, 0.37% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 0.13% from other races, and 0.98% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.50% of the population.

There were 1,972 households out of which 27.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 49.3% were married couples living together, 11.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 36.3% were non-families. 29.3% of all households were made up of individuals and 13.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.29 and the average family size was 2.78.

File:Boat Landing, Lake Pennesseewassee, Norway, ME.jpg
Boat Landing at Lake Pennesseewassee in 1910

In the town the population was spread out with 22.5% under the age of 18, 7.0% from 18 to 24, 26.2% from 25 to 44, 26.0% from 45 to 64, and 18.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 42 years. For every 100 females there were 87.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 85.2 males.

The median income for a household in the town was $28,497, and the median income for a family was $34,464. Males had a median income of $26,612 versus $20,417 for females. The per capita income for the town was $17,020. About 9.8% of families and 12.7% of the population were below the poverty line, including 16.1% of those under age 18 and 10.1% of those age 65 or over.

Site of interest

References

  1. ^ Maine League of Historical Societies and Museums (1970). Doris A. Isaacson (ed.). Maine: A Guide 'Down East'. Rockland, Me: Courier-Gazette, Inc. p. 399.
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