Richmond, Maine facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Richmond, Maine
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From top, left to right: Richmond riverfront from Swan Island ferry dock, Thomas Jefferson Southard House, View of Swan Island from the Richmond rivefront
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 Richmond, Maine
Location in Maine
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| Country | United States |
| State | Maine |
| County | Sagadahoc |
| Incorporated | 1823 |
| Named for | Fort Richmond |
| Area | |
| • Total | 31.56 sq mi (81.74 km2) |
| • Land | 30.41 sq mi (78.76 km2) |
| • Water | 1.15 sq mi (2.98 km2) |
| Elevation | 210 ft (64 m) |
| Population
(2020)
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| • Total | 3,522 |
| • Density | 116/sq mi (44.7/km2) |
| Time zone | UTC-5 (Eastern (EST)) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC-4 (EDT) |
| ZIP code |
04357
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| Area code(s) | 207 |
| FIPS code | 23-62645 |
| GNIS feature ID | 0582695 |
| Website | www.richmondmaine.com |
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Richmond is a town in Sagadahoc County, Maine, United States. The population was 3,522 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Portland–South Portland–Biddeford, Maine metropolitan statistical area, situated at the head of Merrymeeting Bay.
Richmond is located adjacent to the 2,019 acre state-owned and managed Steve Powell Wildlife Management Area on Swan Island, a wildlife sanctuary and tourist area listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Swan Island is a major wildlife tourist attraction for the town, especially during the summer.
Richmond is also known for its collection of Greek Revival homes, unique for the area.
Contents
History
The tract of land which comprises Richmond and Gardiner was purchased in 1649 from the Abenaki Indians by Christopher Lawson. In 1719, Fort Richmond (Maine) was built by Massachusetts on the western bank of the Kennebec River at what is today Richmond village. Named for Ludovic Stewart, 1st Duke of Richmond, the fort included a blockhouse, trading post, chapel, officers' and soldiers' quarters, all surrounded by a palisade.
During Dummer's War, following the battle at Arrowsic, Maine, Fort Richmond was attacked in a three-hour siege by warriors from Norridgewock (1722). Houses were burned and cattle slain, but the fort held. Brunswick and other settlements near the mouth of the Kennebec were destroyed. The defense was enlarged in 1723 during Dummer's War. On August 19, 1724, a militia of 208 soldiers departed Fort Richmond under command of captains Jeremiah Moulton and Johnson Harmon, traveled up the Kennebec in 17 whaleboats and sacked Norridgewock. Fort Richmond would be rebuilt in 1740, attacked by another tribe in 1750, then dismantled in 1755 when forts Shirley (also called Frankfort), Western and Halifax were built upriver.
Settled in 1725, the community was part of Bowdoinham when it was incorporated in 1762 by the Massachusetts General Court. In 1790, Revolutionary War veteran John Plummer was awarded a land grant on Plummer Road, where his son built the surviving house about 1810. President Thomas Jefferson's Embargo of 1807 crippled the port's economy, bankrupted merchants and created a recession which lingered through the War of 1812.
The town was set off and incorporated on February 10, 1823, taking its name from the old fort. Farms produced hay and potatoes. With the arrival of steamboats in the 1830s, Richmond boomed as a shipbuilding and trade center on the navigable Kennebec River estuary. Among the more important shipbuilders were T. J. Southard, also considered one of the town's "founding fathers". A brass foundry was established. The community also produced shoes, sails and wood products. Its peak years were between 1835 and 1857, endowing the town with a wealth of fine Greek Revival architecture, which today makes the old river port popular with tourists.
Richmond was once the center of the largest Slavic-speaking settlement in the United States. People of Ukrainian, Russian, and Polish heritage emigrated to the United States during World War II to settle along the Kennebec Valley. In the 1950s and 1960s, there was also a large influx of White Russian emigres, who earlier fled the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 and eventually came to Richmond both from Europe and from major US cities like New York City. Many of these settlers were retirees, and their families often chose not to remain there. For this reason, the Richmond White Russian community has now largely disappeared. One of the churches that they built, however, the Russian Orthodox Church of St. Alexander Nevsky, continues to function to this day.
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Main Street in 1908
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Front Street c. 1910
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Swan Island ferry c. 1908
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Maxwell residence in 1907
Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 31.56 square miles (81.74 km2), of which 30.41 square miles (78.76 km2) is land and 1.15 square miles (2.98 km2) is water. Richmond is drained by Mill Brook, Abagadasset River and Kennebec River. Peacock Beach State Park, established in May 2010, is a state park located on Pleasant Pond in Richmond.
Demographics
| Historical population | |||
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| Census | Pop. | %± | |
| 1830 | 1,308 | — | |
| 1840 | 1,604 | 22.6% | |
| 1850 | 2,056 | 28.2% | |
| 1860 | 2,739 | 33.2% | |
| 1870 | 2,442 | −10.8% | |
| 1880 | 2,658 | 8.8% | |
| 1890 | 3,082 | 16.0% | |
| 1900 | 2,049 | −33.5% | |
| 1910 | 1,858 | −9.3% | |
| 1920 | 1,724 | −7.2% | |
| 1930 | 1,964 | 13.9% | |
| 1940 | 2,063 | 5.0% | |
| 1950 | 2,217 | 7.5% | |
| 1960 | 2,185 | −1.4% | |
| 1970 | 2,168 | −0.8% | |
| 1980 | 2,627 | 21.2% | |
| 1990 | 3,072 | 16.9% | |
| 2000 | 3,298 | 7.4% | |
| 2010 | 3,411 | 3.4% | |
| 2020 | 3,522 | 3.3% | |
| U.S. Decennial Census | |||
2010 census
As of the census of 2010, there were 3,411 people, 1,420 households, and 965 families residing in the town. The population density was 112.2 inhabitants per square mile (43.3/km2). There were 1,629 housing units at an average density of 53.6 per square mile (20.7/km2). The racial makeup of the town was 97.3% White, 0.4% African American, 0.3% Native American, 0.2% Asian, 0.3% from other races, and 1.5% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.9% of the population.
There were 1,420 households, of which 29.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 52.5% were married couples living together, 11.3% had a female householder with no husband present, 4.2% had a male householder with no wife present, and 32.0% were non-families. 24.9% of all households were made up of individuals, and 6.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.39 and the average family size was 2.85.
The median age in the town was 42.1 years. 22% of residents were under the age of 18; 6.4% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 25.7% were from 25 to 44; 31.9% were from 45 to 64; and 14% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the town was 49.0% male and 51.0% female.
Sites of interest
- Richmond Historical & Cultural Society
Notable people
- De Alva S. Alexander, journalist, lawyer, US congressman
- Walter A. Burleigh, physician, US congressman
- Andrey Dikiy, historian, writer. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn would visit him occasionally at this address
- Seth Goodall, Maine state senator
- George Hamilton-Gordon, Scottish earl, sailor
- T. J. Southard, shipbuilder, merchant fleet operator, entrepreneur, politician, philanthropist, and a Richmond "founding father"
Images for kids
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Richmond Welcome Sign, State Route 197
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Richmond as seen from Swan Island, 1908
See also
In Spanish: Richmond (Maine) para niños
