Yarmouth is a town in Cumberland County, Maine, United States, located approximately ten to fifteen miles north of Portland, the state's largest city. Its population was 8,360 at the 2000 census.
Yarmouth is part of the Portland–South Portland-Biddeford Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 22.8 square miles (59.0 km²), of which 13.3 square miles (34.6 km²) is land and 9.4 square miles (24.4 km²) (41.44%) is water.
Yarmouth is nearly square in form, and is bisected by the Royal River. Cousins River separates it from Freeport to the north-east. Freeport and Pownal bound it to the east, North Yarmouth to the north, Cumberland to the west and Casco Bay to the south. Also included as part of the town are Cousins Island, Lane's Island, Great and Little Mosier, Littlejohn and Crab islands.
Demographics
See also: Yarmouth (CDP), MaineAs of the census of 2000, there were 8,360 people, 3,432 households, and 2,306 families residing in the town. The population density was 626.7 people per square mile (242.0/km²). There were 3,704 housing units at an average density of 277.7/sq mi (107.2/km²). The racial makeup of the town was 98.49% White, 0.37% Black or African American, 0.04% Native American, 0.36% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 0.22% from other races, and 0.50% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.59% of the population.
There were 3,432 households out of which 33% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 57.2% were married couples living together, 7.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 32.8% were non-families. 27.4% of all households were made up of individuals and 10.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.41 and the average family size was 2.96.
In the town the population was spread out with 24.6% under the age of 18, 5.4% from 18 to 24, 26.3% from 25 to 44, 29.0% from 45 to 64, and 14.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 42 years. For every 100 females there were 92.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 86.6 males.
The median income for a household in the town was $58,030, and the median income for a family was $73,234. Males had a median income of $48,456 versus $34,075 for females. The per capita income for the town was $34,317. About 4.0% of families and 4.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 5.2% of those under age 18 and 4.3% of those age 65 or over.
History
Traces of human occupation in the Yarmouth area date to about 2,000 BC. During the years prior to the arrival of the Europeans, many Native American cultures are believed to have existed in the area.
When settlers arrived at Yarmouth's site around 1636, they found a fort already built. The fort had for some time been occupied by George Felt, who had in turn purchased it from John Phillips, a Welshman. In 1646, William Royall purchased a farm on the river which has ever-since borne his last name (minus the second L ). This stream and its vicinity were called by the Indians "Westcustogo" - a name preserved by an inn of the same name on Princes Point Road at its intersection with Lafayette Street. (The building is no longer an inn, but its name remains on its front.) John Cousins had arrived a year or more earlier than Royall, occupying the neck of land between the branches of the stream which has since been called Cousin's River, and owning the island now bearing his name.
In 1674, the first sawmill was built at the Royal River's first waterfalls. There are three other falls in Yarmouth: the second (which is actually a dam) is just north of the Sparhawk Mill, on Bridge Street; the third, a paper mill (owned by The Forest Paper Company) whose remnants can still be seen, is within the bounds of Royal River Park; and the fourth is another dam, near the intersection of East Elm Street and Melissa Drive.
By 1676, approximately sixty-five people lived in Westcustogo. Soon after, however, conflicts forged by King Philip's War caused them to abandon their homes and move south.
Some settlers returned to their dwellings in 1679, and within twelve months the region became incorporated as North Yarmouth, the eighth town of the province of Maine. Around the same time, saw and gristmills at the first falls were rebuilt.
In 1688, while the inhabitants on the eastern side of the river were building a garrison, they were attacked by Indians, and attempted a defense. They continued the contest until nightfall, when the Indians retired. It was not long before they appeared again, in such force that the thirty-six families of the settlement were forced to flee, abandoning their homes for a second time.
The unrest kept the area deserted for many years, but by 1715 settlers revisited their homes, by which point they found their fields and the sites of their habitations covered by a young growth of trees. In 1722, a "Committee for the Resettlement of North Yarmouth" was formed in Boston, Massachusetts. North Yarmouth held its first town meeting on May 14, 1733. The structural frame of the first meeting house was raised in 1729, and nine years later the first school was built.
Once resettlement began, the town's population began to grow rapidly. By 1764, 1,098 individuals lived in 154 houses. By 1810, the population was 3,295. During a time of peace, settlement began to relocate along the coast and inland.
The town's Main Street gradually became divided into the Upper Village and Lower Falls, the split roughly located around the present-day Route 1 overpass.
Among the new proprietors at the time were descendants of the Plymouth pilgrims. Until after the year 1756 the Indians were again very troublesome. In 1725, William and Matthew Scales and Joseph Felt were killed, and the wife and children of the latter was carried into captivity. A grandson of Felt, Joseph Weare, became a noted scout, pursuing the Native Americans at every opportunity. In August 1746, a party of thirty-two Indians secreted themselves near the lower falls for the apparent purpose of surprising Weare's garrison, in the process killing Philip Greely, who came upon them. This was the last act of resistance by the indigenous people to occur within the limits of the town.
Yarmouth constituted the eastern part of North Yarmouth until 1849, when it was set off and incorporated as an independent town. The split occurred due to bickering between the inland, farming-based contingent and the coastal maritime-oriented community. Unable to resolve this difference, the two halves of the town separated into present-day Yarmouth and North Yarmouth.
By 1850, Yarmouth's population was 2,144, and very little changed over the hundred years that followed.
18th- and 19th-century business relied heavily upon a variety of natural resources. Once lumber was cut and sent to market, the land was farmed. Tanneries were built near brooks; potteries and brickyards put to use the natural clay in the area; and mills flourished along the Royal River, providing services such as iron-forging and fulling cloth.
Maritime activities were important from the beginning of the third settlement. Lumber from inland areas was shipped out from the harbor. Vessels were being built by 1740, and by 1818 shipbuilding in the area was in full swing, though Yarmouth's industry peaked in the 1870s, and declined rapidly shortly thereafter. The final large sailing vessel was built in 1890. Almost three hundred vessels were launched by Yarmouth's shipyards in the century between 1790 and 1890.
Rapid growth was experienced again around 1948 when U.S. 1 was constructed. Two years later, there were 2,699 inhabitants of the town. Interstate 295 was built through the harbor in 1961, and the town grew from 4,854 residents in 1970 to 8,300 thirty-five years later.
Businesses
19th- and 20th-century business that existed on Main Street in Yarmouth's Lower Falls section included Coombs (now Goffs hardware store); Rufus York's general store (located in the brick building now occupied by Runge's Oriental Rug store at the western corner of Main and Portland Streets; then Vaughan's Pharmacy from 1945 to 1963, later William H. Rowe's, then Melville Merrill's, and finally Frank Bucknam's drugstores); James Parsons' grocery store (located next to the then-post office); Cornelius Shaw's Cash Market; Leon Doughty's stove and hardware store, L.A. Doughty & Co. (located across from Shaws' but eventually moved onto Shaws' side of the street, into the building occupied today by Goffs, when his business expanded); William Freeman's hairdressing salon (located above Doughty's); Cyrus Curtis' Saturday Evening Post publishers; and Susan Kinghorn's millinery shop (located at the eastern corner of Main and Portland Streets).
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