History of Saco, Maine, USA

It was later renamed Thornton Academy.

Lumbering was the early business of the place, and the raw material was here turned into all varieties of stuff; and a large business was carried on in it with the West Indies. In 1811 Joseph Calef and Thomas Cutts erected on Factory Island a rolling and slitting mill for iron, and eleven machines for making nails. A company, consisting mostly of Boston capitalists, began preparations for a cotton mill on Factory Island, cutting a canal through the solid rock to conduct the water power.

Saco, Maine
York county. Saco is situated on the east side of the river of that name. It is 71 miles S.S.W. from Augusta, 15 S.W. from Portland, and 29 N.E. from York.

Saco is a port of entry, a place of some ship building, and commands a flourishing trade. Population, 1830, 3,219; 1837, 4,229.

Saco enjoys the rare privilege of possessing great hydraulic power united with navigable accommodations. The Saco river terminates its fantastic course at this place, by leaping, within a short distance, 42 feet, and mingling with the ocean. This water power is very valuable and cannot fail of becoming the site of large manufacturing operations.

From the mouth of the river a fine beach extends to the east about 5 miles, called Old Orchard beach. This name arose from a growth of apple trees formerly near the beach, planted at a very early period; some of them remained as late as 1770. Another beach of less extent but not inferior in other respects, is found at the Pool, connecting...

Saco, a thriving post-town and port of entry of York county, Maine, on the E. or left bank of the Saco river, about 6 miles from its mouth, and on the Eastern railroad, 13 miles S. W. from Portland. The industry of this place and of Biddeford, a flourishing village on the opposite side of the river, is chiefly directed to the lumber trade and to cotton manufactures, each of which employs a large amount of capital. A fall of about 42 feet in the Saco river, here furnishes excellent water-power, which is extensively used for sawing and driving machinery. There are now 10 large cotton mills in operation at these falls - 5 on the Saco and 5 on the Biddeford side - containing about 55,000 spindles and 2800 looms. The York Manufacturing Company, incorporated in 1831, have a capital of $1,500,000, and produce annually $6,200,000 yards of cloth. The most extensive corporation, however, is the Saco Water-power Company, organized in 1839, with a capital of $1,500,1)00, since increased to...

SACO, Me., March 12. As the 12 o'clock train from Boston for Portland was passing a crossing in this city this afternoon the engine struck a sleigh containing J. J. Sawyer of Buxton, Oliver Tracy, agent of the West Buxton Woolen Mills, and H. Partridge of Saco. Partridge escaped unhurt, but Tracy was killed almost instantly and Sawyer was fatally injured.

SACO, Me., March 12. Mr. John J. Sawyer, the man who was so badly injured by the railroad accident yesterday, died last evening. An inquest will be held tomorrow.

Saco, in York County, was granted in 1630, to Thomas Lewis and Richard Bonython, by the Plymouth Company, though the latter had, in 1622, granted nearly the whole territory between this and the Kennebec River, to Mason and Gorges. The tract granted to Lewis and Bonython, extended four miles along the sea in a straight line, and back into the country eight miles. The limits, as surveyed by the commissioners appointed by Massachusetts, in 1659, commenced at the mouth of Little River and run on a north-west line, leaving about 3,000 acres in Scarborough that belonged to the original patent. This grant was also over-lapped by the “Plough Patent,” issued the same year. The settlement on this grant with that on the other side of the river was known as Winter Harbor. In 1653, it was organized as Saco, and
in 1659, began to be represented in General Court. In 1719, it was incorporated as Biddeford, being the fourth town in Maine; in 1762 it received a separate incorporation, with all the...

Saco, saw'ko, a city, port of entry, and one of the capitals of York co., Me., on the left bank of the river of the same name, about 6 miles from its mouth, and 14 miles W.S.W. of Portland. It is on the Eastern Railroad, and is connected by a bridge with Biddeford, a city on the opposite bank of the river. It is also on the Boston & Maine Railroad, 100 miles from Boston. It contains 7 churches, the Saco Athenaeum, a high school, a public library, 2 national banks, 2 savings-banks, a newspaper office, several large cotton-factories, machine-shops, saw-mills, manufactories of shoes, &c. The river here falls more than 40 feet, and affords excellent water-power, which is extensively employed. Pop. in 1880, 6389; in 1890, 6075.