Auburn is a city in south-central Maine within the United States. The city serves as the county seat of Androscoggin County. The population was 24,061 at the 2020 census. Auburn and its sister city Lewiston are known locally as the Twin Cities or Lewiston–Auburn (L–A).
Lewiston is the second largest city in the U.S. state of Maine and the most central city in Androscoggin County. The city lies halfway between Augusta, the state's capital, and Portland, the state's most populous city. It is one-half of the Lewiston-Auburn Metropolitan Statistical Area, commonly referred to as "L/A." or "L-A." Lewiston exerts a significant impact upon the diversity, religious variety, commerce, education, and economic power of Maine. It is known for an overall low cost of living, substantial access to medical care, and a low violent-crime rate. In recent years, the city of Lewiston has also seen a spike in economic and social growth. While the dominant language spoken in the city is English, it is home to a significant Somali population as well as the largest French-speaking population in the United States while it is second to St. Martin Parish, Louisiana, in percentage of speakers.
A mill town, also known as factory town or mill village, is typically a settlement that developed around one or more mills or factories, usually cotton mills or factories producing textiles.
The St. Lawrence and Atlantic Railroad, known as St-Laurent et Atlantique Quebec in Canada, is a short-line railway operating between Portland, Maine, on the Atlantic Ocean, and Montreal, Quebec, on the St. Lawrence River. It crosses the Canada–US border at Norton, Vermont, and Stanhope, Quebec, and is owned by short-line operator Genesee & Wyoming.
The Androscoggin River is a river in the U.S. states of Maine and New Hampshire, in northern New England. It is 178 miles (286 km) long and joins the Kennebec River at Merrymeeting Bay in Maine before its water empties into the Gulf of Maine on the Atlantic Ocean. Its drainage basin is 3,530 square miles (9,100 km2) in area. The name "Androscoggin" comes from the Eastern Abenaki term /aləssíkɑntəkw/ or /alsíkɑntəkw/, meaning "river of cliff rock shelters" ; or perhaps from Penobscot /aləsstkɑtəkʷ/, meaning "river of rock shelters". The Anglicization of the Abenaki term is likely an analogical contamination with the colonial governor Edmund Andros.
Benjamin Edward Bates IV was an American rail industrialist, textile tycoon and philanthropist. He was the wealthiest person in Maine from 1850 to 1878, and is considered to have introduced both the Efficiency and Taylorism movements to the economy of Maine.
The Androscoggin Mill Block is an historic tenement house at 269-271 Park Street in Lewiston, Maine, United States. The two-story brick building was one of several built in 1866 by the Androscoggin Mill Company to provide housing for workers with families, and is one of only three such 19th-century buildings to survive in the city. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2001.
The Lewiston station is a historic railroad station at 103 Lincoln Street in Lewiston, Maine. It was built in 1874 for a spur line connecting Lewiston and Auburn to the Grand Trunk Railway, to which it was leased. It is through this station that many of the area's French Canadian immigrants arrived to work in the area mills. The station was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.
The Androscoggin County Courthouse and Jail is located at 2 Turner Street in Auburn, Maine, the county seat of Androscoggin County. The original portion of the large brick Renaissance Revival complex was designed by Gridley James Fox Bryant and was built in 1857, with a sympathetic enlargement c. 1915-20. The jail was expanded in 1970 and 1990, and is now accessed via an entrance on Pleasant Street. The complex was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983 for its architecture and its association with the history of Auburn and the county, particularly with respect to the contentious debate over the choice of county seat in the 1850s.
The Barker Mill is an historic mill at 143 Mill Street in Auburn, Maine. Built in 1873, this five-story brick mill building is one a relatively few in the state that has a mansard roof, and has a higher degree of decorative styling than other period mill buildings. It was the first major mill on the Auburn side of the Androscoggin River. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979, and is now residential housing. It was built in the Second Empire architectural style.
The Main Street Historic District is a small residential historic district south of the downtown area of Auburn, Maine. The fourteen houses in the district represent a cross-section of residential development during Auburn's growth between about 1825 and 1925. The district extends along Main Street, from Drummond Street south just past Elm Street, and includes a few houses on Elm and Vine Streets. The district was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1989.
The First National Bank is a historic commercial building in Lewiston, Maine. Built about 1903 for the city's first chartered bank, it is a fine local example of French-inspired Classical Revival architecture. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986.
St. Mary’s Health System, a member of Covenant Health, was founded in 1888 by the Sisters of Charity of Saint-Hyacinthe. Today, it is an integrated medical system comprising a 233-bed acute care community hospital, an employed group of primary care and specialty providers, urgent care and emergency department, an extensive complement of behavioral and mental health services and outpatient specialty practices. The system also includes d’Youville Pavilion, a senior care community that offers a rehabilitation center, long-term skilled nursing care and memory care. Its historic Saint Mary's General Hospital building, built in 1902, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The Boott Mills in Lowell, Massachusetts were a part of an extensive group of cotton mills, built in 1835 alongside a power canal system in this important cotton town. Their founder was Kirk Boott, one of the early mill owners in Lowell. Today, the Boott Mills complex is the most intact in Lowell and is part of Lowell National Historical Park. It houses the Boott Cotton Mills Museum.
Maine Museum of Innovation, Learning and Labor is located in the Bates Mill Historic District, in Lewiston, Androscoggin County, Maine.
Lewiston–Auburn (L–A) are twin cities in Androscoggin County, Maine, USA. Together, they have a population of 61,182 in a combined 101 square miles (260 km2). The cities are commonly called "Cities of the Androscoggin," as they are seated along the banks of the Androscoggin River which separates them. They share infrastructure and transportation, such as the Lewiston-Auburn CityLink, the Lewiston and Auburn Railroad Company and the Auburn/Lewiston Municipal Airport. They also form the Lewiston-Auburn Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses Androscoggin County. The Lewiston–Auburn Economic Growth Council has been promoting the cities as one community for decades in its campaign to promote growth in industry and business.
The Central Maine Medical Center is a hospital located at 300 Main Street in the city of Lewiston, Maine. It serves most of Androscoggin County, including Lewiston and Auburn, Maine and various small and medium-sized communities. It is designated as a trauma center. The hospital was established in the 1860s and officially incorporated in 1888 by Dr. Edward H. Hill, an alumnus of nearby Bates College and also Harvard Medical School. The hospital is currently a teaching affiliate of Boston University School of Medicine and University of New England College of Osteopathic Medicine.
The Portland–Lewiston Interurban (PLI) was an electric railroad subsidiary of the Androscoggin Electric Company operating from 1914 to 1933 between Monument Square in Portland and Union Square in Lewiston, Maine. Hourly service was offered over the 40-mile (64 km) route between the two cities. Express trains stopping only at West Falmouth, Gray, New Gloucester, Upper Gloucester and Danville made the trip in 80 minutes, while trains making other local stops upon request required 20 minutes more. The line was considered the finest interurban railroad in the state of Maine.
The Auburn Commercial Historic District encompasses the main late 19th-century historic downtown area of Auburn, Maine. The twelve buildings in the district represent the city's growth between 1855 and 1902, housing businesses, professional offices and social halls, and also the city's municipal offices. The district was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2014.
The Lewiston Mills and Water Power System Historic District encompasses the major 19th-century mill complexes and associated water power systems in Lewiston, Maine. Developed beginning in 1850, Lewiston's canals and mills were the largest textile mill complex in the state, and one of the best-preserved mature large-scale expressions of the Lowell system of cotton textile manufacturing, perfected at Waltham and Lowell, Massachusetts earlier in the 19th century. The district includes a series power canals and mill complexes developed over a 100-year period, along with mill worker housing and transportation infrastructure. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2015.
