History of Skowhegan, Maine, USA

The land was settled in 1773 as a part of Canaan. Colonel Benedict Arnold and his troops passed through the village in 1775 on their way to the ill-fated Battle of Quebec. It would be set off from Canaan and incorporated on February 5, 1823 under the name Milburn. The first officials of the town were as follows: Moderator, Joseph Patten; Town Clerk, Samuel Weston; Selectmen, Benjamin Eaton, Joseph Merrill, Samuel Weston, and Josiah Parlin. However, inhabitants preferred the old name of Skowhegan, as it would be renamed in 1836. In 1861, the town annexed Bloomfield across the river. Skowhegan became county seat in 1871.

en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/ Skowhegan,_Maine

The Skowhegan State Fair was established in 1818. It is the nation's oldest consecutively running agricultural fair.

Skowhegan, Maine
Somerset county. This town was formerly called Milburn: it took the Indian name of the place in 1836. It is situated on the N. side of Kennebec river, at Skowhegan Falls. The river runs here in an eastern direction. The local situation of Skowhegan, its admirable water power, and the fertility of the adjacent country, united with the enterprise of its inhabitants, has rendered the place, but recently a wilderness, one of the best cultivated townships in the state, the site of a great number of mills, and a mart of an extensive trade. There is much delightful scenery about Skowhegan: the village is neatly built, and its beauty is much enhanced by the whiteness of the houses contrasted with the blue and green of the river and its banks. Between Skowhegan and Bloomfield is a small island in the river. Across this island are noble bridges uniting the towns. This place lies 5 miles below Norridgewock, and 33 N. from Augusta. Population, 1830, 1,006; 1837, 1,433.

Bloomfield, Maine
Somerset county. This town was incorporated in 1814, and lies on Kennebec river, 33 miles N. from Augusta and 7 below Norridgewock, opposite to Skowhegan. Population, 1837, 1,053. Bloomfield is a fine township of land, and produced, in 1837, 5,080 bushels of wheat.

Skowiiegan, a post-township of Somerset co., Maine, about 30 miles N. from Augusta. Population, 1756.

Skowheoan, a thriving post-village in the above township, on the Kennebec river, opposite Bloomfield, with which it is connected by a bridge, about 30 miles N. by E. from Augusta. It contains 3 newspaper offices, several shoe manufactories, and 2 churches.

LEWISTON, Me., Saturday, Feb. 8. - In Skowhegan, last night, a fire destroyed the building known as the Excelsior Factory, occupied as follows:

ALMA ABBOTT, planing mills, loss $3,000
L. MILLS, slate grinding mills, loss $3,000
L. C. HOUGHTON & Co., millwrights, loss $1,500
J. F. TURNER, bedsted manufactory, loss $1,000
C. F. DOUGLAS, architect and builder, loss $700
BROWN & BARBER, carving-knife manufacturers, loss $500

The building was entirely destroyed. It was owned by M. WILLIS, whose loss is $5,000. None of the above property was injured.

The fire crossed the street, and entirely destroyed a two-and-a-half story wooden building, owned and occupied by S. L. GOULD as a machine-shop and foundry. The loss on the building, including the machinery, is $15,000.

The property was insured in a Springfield Company, of Providence, R. I., for $2,500. DARNET WHORFF's ax factory was slightly damaged, but is insured. Half the bridge crossing the river was burned. The total loss ...

Skowhegan is a prosperous manufacturing town lying on both sides of the great bend of the Kennebec in the southern part of Somerset County, of which it is the shire town. Cornville bounds it on the north, Canaan on the east, Fairfield on the south and Norridgewock on the west. The surface is somewhat broken by swells and ridges, Bigelow Hill, the greatest elevation being about 500 feet in height. Slate rock generally underlies the soil, the latter being sandy loam, and quite fertile. Hay, potatoes and wool are the principal agricultural products. The water-power of the town is on the Kennebec, at Skowhegan Falls, where the whole volume of the river descends 28 feet in half a mile. An island, the head of which is at the crest of the perpendicular fall, divides the river into two channels, and serves at once as a natural pier and as a site for mills. The bottom and banks of the stream are of solid ledge, and other vast masses of rock support the dam and render it of great strength. The ...

The oddity of its old Indian name has secured to Skowhegan a wider celebrity beyond the borders of the State than most towns of its size enjoy, but in the beauty of its situation, the character and refinement of its people and the solidity of its interests, this enterprising town is worthy of all and even more fame than it has received. It is situated thirty-three miles from Augusta, and can be reached directly by a branch of the Maine Central Railroad, of which it is the terminus. Sheltered by lovely hills, with fine water privileges, a fertile soil and salubrious climate, this beautiful town near the center of Maine is one of those delightful spots which sometimes surprise, an experienced traveler with glimpses of charms he has never seen before, and remain one of the most treasured of memory’s bright pictures. The name of the town was about the only thing bequeathed to it by its earliest, inhabitants, who were quite famous for inventing odd cognomens of this character, and who seem ...