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The county derives its name from that ot the river, which is a
corruption of Anasagunticook, the name of the Indian tribe which
formerly occupied the region. It contains the larger proportion
of the practically available water power of the Androscoggin and
its tributaries, including three of the greatest powers on the
main river. Demand for a new county emerged when
the rapidly growing town of Lewiston complained of the long
distance it had to travel to reach Wiscasset, the county seat of
Lincoln County, which Lewiston was originally in. It was also an
unpractical circumstance as Lewiston's neighbor, Auburn, was
part of Cumberland County. As the growing partnership of the two
towns emerged, the case for the towns to be in the same county
grew. Different plans were discussed, including Lewiston joining
Cumberland County. Eventually, the idea of a new county came to
the table. At this point in time there was a debate between
which town the new county would be its center.
The
county was organized March 18th, 1854; having gained its
territory from four other counties - Cumberland County, Lincoln
County, Kennebec County, and Oxford County.
Auburn, Danville (the latter since annexed to the former),
Durham, Polani and Minot were taken from Cuinberland County;
Livermore and Turner from Oxford County; East Livermore, Leeds,
Greene, and Wales from Kennebec and Lewiston, Webster and
Lisbon, from Lincoln. In 1885 the county contained eleven towns
and two cities, several of them exceedingly flourishing. These
are the cities of Auburn and Lewiston and the towns of Durham,
East Livermore, Green, Leeds, Lisbon, Livermore, Minot, Poland,
Turner, Wales and Webster.
The next issue centered on
where to put the county seat. Both Lewiston and Auburn desired
to be named the county seat. It would eventually be put to a
vote, with both towns putting different offers on the table that
would cut the costs of the new county buildings for surrounding
towns. Auburn would eventually win a convincing victory with the
towns on each side of the river voting for the town on their
side. As more people lived to the west of the Androscoggin
River, Auburn won the vote. The county buildings are at Auburn,
where, too, the courts are held.
The area of the county is about 400 square miles. The population
in 1870 was 35,866; in 1880, it was 45,063. The value of estates
in 1870 was $17,592,555. In 1880, it was $20,776,973.
Source: Varney, George J., Gazetteer of the
State of Maine. Boston: B. B. Russell, 1886.
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