Lewiston

Lewiston is the most central city in Androscoggin County in Maine, and the second-largest city in the state. The population was 36,592 at the 2010 census. It is one of two principal cities of and included within the Lewiston-Auburn, Maine, metropolitan New England city and town area and the Lewiston-Auburn, Maine Metropolitan Statistical Area, which as of 2006 census estimates has a combined population of 107,702. It is also part of the extended Portland-Lewiston-South Portland, Maine, combined statistical area, which has a combined population 621,219 as of 2006 estimates. The city has historical French-Canadian connections; as much development of the city occurred during the migration of French-Canadians from Montreal, Canada.

A former mill town, it is located in south-central Maine, at the falls of the Androscoggin River, across from Auburn. Lewiston and Auburn are often considered a single entity and referred to as Lewiston–Auburn, colloquially abbreviated as L-A or L/A. They have a combined population of 59,647 people. Together, Lewiston-Auburn is somewhat smaller than Maine's largest city, Portland (excluding its own suburbs). Lewiston is most notably home to Bates College, which was founded by local preacher and politician Oren Burbank Cheney, and financed by Lewiston developer Benjamin Bates, the wealthiest person in the state for his lifetime in the city. The city also hold the college's Museum of Art.

The city has numerous traditional and festivals that draw crowds from around Maine, such as the Patrick Dempsey Challenge, Liberty Festival, Festival FrancoFun, The Great Falls Balloon Festival, and the Emerge Film Festival. It is also home to the Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul, the University of Southern Maine's Lewiston-Auburn College, and two significant regional general hospitals: Central Maine Medical Center and Saint Mary's Regional Medical Center.

History

Conception

The Lewiston area was formerly inhabited by peoples of the Androscoggin (or Arosaguntacook) tribe. The Androscoggins were a tribe of the Abenaki nation. Facing annihilation from English attacks and epidemics of new infectious diseases, the Androscoggins started to emigrate to Quebec around 1669. They were driven out of the area in 1680 sometime after King Philip's War (1675-1676). The governor of New France allocated two seigneuries on the Saint Francis River which is now known as the Odanak Indian Reservation; and the second was founded near Bécancour and is called the Wolinak Indian Reservation.

A grant comprising the area of Lewiston was given to Moses Little and Jonathan Bagley, members of the Pejepscot Proprieters, on January 28, 1768 on the condition that fifty families lived in the area before June 1, 1774. Bagley and Little named the new town Lewistown. Paul Hildreth was the first man to settle in Lewiston in the fall of 1770. By 1795, Lewiston was officially incorporated as a town. At least four houses that have survived from this period are currently listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

King Avenue and Ralph Avenue were named after Ralph Luthor King, who owned the land located near the fairgrounds. Elliott Avenue was named after his wife, Grace O. Elliott, whose son eventually built the family home at 40 Wellman Street.

Industrial development

Lewiston was a slow but steadily growing farm town throughout its early history. By the early-to-mid-19th century, however, as water power was being honed, Lewiston's location on the Androscoggin River would prove to make it a perfect location for emerging industry.

In 1809, Michael Little built a large wooden sawmill next to the falls. Burned in 1814 by an arsonist, it was later rebuilt. In 1836, local entrepreneurs — predominantly the Little family and friends — formed the Androscoggin Falls Dam, Lock & Canal Company:

...for the purpose of erecting and constructing dams, locks, canals, mills, works, machines, and buildings on their own lands and also manufacturing cotton, wool, iron, steel, and paper in the towns of Lewiston, Minot, and Danville.

Later reorganized as the Lewiston Water Power Company, the sales of stock attracted Boston investors — including Thomas J. Hill, Lyman Nichols, George L. Ward, Alexander De Witt.

Such economic development attracted New England industrialist Benjamin Bates who began building and developing mills in the town and rapidly expanded Lewiston's economy. He personally financed a canal system and several textile mills on the Androscoggin River. Bates Mill and Bates College–are named in his honor. This began the transformation from a small farming town into a textile manufacturing center on the model of Lowell, Massachusetts. The Bates Mill remained the largest employer in Lewiston from the 1850s to the mid-late 20th century.

In 1853, the Grand Trunk Railway was built, connecting Maine to the St. Lawrence River, Montreal, and the Canadian Maritimes, and making Portland the winter port for Canadian trade. Subsequently, trains connected Quebec with Lewiston on a daily schedule. During the Civil War, the high demand for textiles helped Lewiston develop a strong industrial base. In 1860, a flood of French-Canadian immigration into Maine began, spawned by industrial work opportunities in Maine cities with water power from waterfalls. This brought a significant influx of Québécois millworkers that replaced the former Yankee millgirls. Lewiston's population boomed between 1840 and 1890 from 1,801 to 21,701. Canadiens settled in an area downtown that became known as Little Canada, and Lewiston's character has remained largely Franco-American ever since.

In 1855, The Maine State Seminary in Lewiston, now Bates College, was incorporated. During this time, in 1863, Lewiston was incorporated as a city. In 1872, St. Peter's church was built in Lewiston. This was the first French-Canadian national church in Maine. In 1880, Le Messager, a French language newspaper, began printing in Lewiston to serve its predominant ethnic population.

The local Kora Shrine was organized in 1891 and held its first meetings in a Masonic temple on Lisbon Street. This group would from 1908 to 1910 build the Kora Temple on Sabattus Street, the largest home of a fraternal organization in the state. Architect George M. Coombs designed this Moorish style structure.

City leaders decided to build a cathedral in which the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland could relocate. Construction of the Church of Saints Peter and Paul began in 1905 and ended in 1938, mostly funded through thousands of small donations from Lewiston residents. It is the largest Roman Catholic Church in Maine, and Lewiston's most prominent landmark. While the Diocese of Portland did not relocate to Lewiston, the church nevertheless became a basilica in 2004. It is one of the few American basilicas located outside of a major metropolitan area.

In 1937, one of the largest labor disputes in Maine history occurred in Lewiston and Auburn. The Lewiston-Auburn Shoe Strike lasted from March to June and at its peak involved 4,000 to 5,000 workers on strike. After workers attempted to march across the Androscoggin River from Lewiston to Auburn, Governor Lewis Barrows sent in the Maine Army National Guard. Some labor leaders, CIO Secretary Powers Hapgood, were imprisoned for months after a Maine Supreme Judicial Court judge issued an injunction seeking to end the strike.

Textile investment

After World War I, profits from the textile industry in New England mill towns such as Lewiston, Biddeford, Manchester, New Hampshire, Waterbury, Connecticut, and Fall River, Haverhill, Lawrence and Lowell, Massachusetts began to decline. Businesses began moving to the South due to lower costs of power from more modern technologies (Lewiston's water wheel technology gave way to hydroelectricity, cheaper transportation (as most cotton and materials came from the South), and cheaper labor).

Starting in the late 1950s, many of Lewiston's textile mills began closing. This gradually led to a run-down and abandoned downtown area. Chain stores previously located downtown—Woolworth's, W. T. Grant, S. S. Kresge, JC Penney and Sears Roebuck—shut their doors or moved to malls on the outskirts of Lewiston or Auburn. The city's flagship department store, the four-story B. Peck & Co., closed in 1982 after more than a century in business. As businesses and jobs began to leave the city, people followed. The population stopped increasing at its previous rate and began to slowly decline after 1970, then at a greater rate in the 1990s.

Economic diversification and renaissance

Following a difficult economic period in the 1980s that saw high unemployment and downtown stagnation, several key events have led to a period of economic and cultural growth, including the transformation of the historic Bates Mill Complex. Because the city took over the complex in 1992 after back taxes went unpaid, years of taxpayer frustration in the city's need to maintain the 1,100,000-square-foot (100,000 m2) behemoth led to two referenda (one non-binding vote, the other binding). Voters soundly supported the need to pursue redevelopment by maintaining the property and selling it to private developers. In 2001, the city sold three mill buildings to local developers. In 2003, Platz Associates sold the Bates Mill Complex, with the exception of Mill 5 and a small support building. For the next four years, a number of business enterprises expanded after Platz redeveloped the mill building. The Bates Mill complex was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in December 2010.

In May 2004, the city officials announced a plan for urban renewal near the downtown area. The plan was to demolish several blocks of 19th-century millworker housing, lay new streets with updated infrastructure, construct more owner-occupied, lower-density housing, and build a boulevard through one neighborhood using federal Community Development Block Grant funds provided over a period of ten years. Some residents of the affected neighborhoods felt that the plan was initially announced with little input from them. They formed a neighborhood group called "The Visible Community", which has since been actively involved in the planning process, and resulted in cooperation between neighbors and city officials to redesign Kennedy Park, including input on the location of new basketball courts, and feedback regarding creation of the largest all-concrete skate park in Maine.

Downtown is home to a new headquarters for Oxford Networks, along with a $20 million upgrade in local fiber-optics, a new auto parts store, a campus of the for-profit Kaplan University, the headquarters for Northeast Bank, a parking garage, and the newly renovated Maine Supply Co. building, listed on the National Register of Historic Places. That facility is now called the Business Service Center at Key Bank Plaza, and is home to the local Chamber of Commerce, the Lewiston-Auburn Economic Growth Council, and an arrangement with a number of business service providers.

The area's renaissance has gained local, regional, and national recognition. In 2002 and again in 2006, the L-A area led the state in economic development activity, according to the Maine Department of Economic and Community Development's list of business investments and expansions. In a 2006 KPMG International study measuring the cost of locating and maintaining a business, Lewiston ranked first among the New England communities analyzed, and finished 24th out of 49 U.S. communities analyzed.

Lewiston also earned a 2007 All-America City Award designation by the National Civic League. The national competition "recognizes communities whose residents work together to identify and tackle community-wide challenges and achieve measurable, uncommon results." 10 cities are selected as All-America Cities each year.

Somali and Bantu migration

In 1999, the United States government began preparations to resettle an estimated 12,000 refugees from the Bantu minority ethnic group in Somalia to select cities throughout the United States. Most of the early arrivals in the United States settled in Clarkston, Georgia, a city adjacent to Atlanta. However, they were mostly assigned to low rent, poverty-stricken inner city areas, so many began to look to resettle elsewhere in the U.S.

Word soon spread that Lewiston had a low crime rate, good schools and cheap housing. Somalis subsequently began a secondary migration from other states to the former mill town, and after 2005, many Bantus followed suit.

In October 2002, then-Mayor Laurier T. Raymond wrote an open letter addressed to leaders of the Somali community, predicting a negative impact on the city's social services and requesting that they discourage further relocation to Lewiston. The letter angered some persons and prompted some community leaders and residents to speak out against the mayor, drawing national attention. Demonstrations were held in Lewiston, both by those who supported the immigrants' presence and those who opposed it.

In January 2003, about 32 members of a white supremacist group from Illinois demonstrated in Lewiston to denounce Somali immigrants. This prompted a simultaneous counter-demonstration on the campus of Bates College to demonstrate support of the Somali community. The rally repudiating the white supremacists attracted 4,000 attendees, including governor John Baldacci, Senators Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins and other officials. Mayor Raymond was reportedly out of town on vacation on the day of the protests.

In August 2010, the Lewiston Sun Journal reported that Somali entrepreneurs had helped reinvigorate downtown Lewiston by opening shops in previously closed storefronts. Amicable relations were also reported by the local Franco-American merchants and the Somali storekeepers.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 35.54 square miles (92.05 km2), of which, 34.15 square miles (88.45 km2) is land and 1.39 square miles (3.60 km2) is water. Lewiston is drained by the Androscoggin River, which is located on its western border. The city is bordered by Auburn beyond the river, as well as the towns of Greene, Sabattus, and Lisbon. It is located between Portland, the state's biggest city and cultural center, and the state capital of Augusta.

Neighborhoods

• Downtown: It runs from Oxford Street up to Jefferson Street, and from Adams Avenue to Main Street. This is the most densely settled area of the city, home to about half the population. It contains mostly housing, although on Lisbon Street and Main Street, it is entirely businesses. This neighborhood was once the commercial hub of the whole county, but with the city's economic decline, many downtown stores closed and the former mill housing became run-down, resulting in fallen land values. But like many post-industrial centers, there has followed a period of renovation and revitalization that continues today. This neighborhood includes:

• Lisbon Street Business District
• Country Kitchen Bread Factory
• Kaplan University
• Lewiston City Hall
• Bates Mill Complex
• Lewiston Police Department
• Kennedy Park
• The Public Theatre
• S.S. Peter and Paul Basilica
• Agora Grand Event Center, formerly St. Patrick's Church
• St. Joseph's Church
• Central Maine Medical Center
• Railroad Park
• Androscoggin Bank Coliseé
• Bourque's Central Market
• Farmers Market

Webster Street neighborhood Consisting mostly of suburban mid-income housing, this neighborhood runs between Lisbon and Webster Streets, East Avenue, and Alfred Plourde Parkway. Schools that serve this neighborhood are Farwell Elementary, Martel Elementary, Lewiston Middle School, and Lewiston High School.

Pond Road neighborhood This neighborhood is bounded by the triangle formed by Pond Road, Randall Road, and Sabattus Street (Route 126). This neighborhood is mostly mid-income suburban residential. This area is served by McMahon Elementary, Lewiston Middle School, and Lewiston High School.

Transportation

Public transportation

• City Bus: The city of Lewiston uses the Citylink or Purple Bus system. Passengers use Citylink in collaboration with Auburn and Lisbon. The buses run from 6:00 am to 6:00 pm Monday through Friday and 9:00am to 4:00pm on Saturday. They operate on nine different bus lines.
• Bus Number 1 - Main Street
• Bus Number 2 - Sabattus Street
• Bus Number 3 - Lisbon Street
• Bus Number 4 - New Auburn
• Bus Number 5 - Minot Avenue
• Bus Number 6 - College Street
• Bus Number 7 - Auburn Malls
• Bus Number 8 - Downtown Shuttle
• Bus Number 9 - Central Maine Community College

The downtown shuttle is the only line that requires no fare at all. It runs through the downtown of both Lewiston and Auburn. The Citylink's bus station is located on Bates Street in Lewiston. It maintains only one line that goes into Lisbon. The Citylink services on average approximately 235,000 people a year.

Roadways and major routes

• Interstate 95: Formerly Interstate 495, runs through Lewiston. It is Exit 80 in Lewiston. Exit 80 exits out onto Alfred Plourde Parkway in the Industrial Park. Provides fast connection to Portland being 45 minutes away, Bangor which is two hours away, and Boston which is two hours away.
• U.S. Route 202: Main Street in Lewiston is 202 as well as ME-Route 11, and ME-Route 100. It runs straight through the center of downtown to the business parks outwards of town, and the northern Lewiston suburbs. Connects Lewiston to Auburn and Greene. Provides fast transportation to Augusta and Kennebec Valley.
• Maine State Route 196: Starts in Lewiston at U.S. Route 202, Main Street. In Lewiston it is Canal Street, which turns into Lisbon Street. This route connects Lewiston to Lisbon, and makes easy access to the towns of Topsham, and Brunswick. This route ends on U.S. Route 1 in the City of Brunswick, Maine. It connects to Interstate 295 in Topsham.
• Maine State Route 126: Starts in Lewiston at US Route 202, Maine Street. In Lewiston it is Sabbatus Street. It connects Lewiston to the town of Sabbatus.

Bridges

• Vietnam Veterans Memorial Bridge: Built in 1973 to commemorate the veterans of the Vietnam War. It connects Lewiston to Auburn. It provides fast transportation from Russell Street, and Main Street to Auburn's Mt. Auburn Ave, and shopping centers on Center Street and the Mall Area.
• Governor James B. Longley Memorial Bridge: Connects Main Street in downtown Lewiston to Court Street in Downtown Auburn. Named after Lewiston resident and Governor of Maine James B. Longley.
• Bernard Lown Peace Bridge: Connects Little Canada and New Auburn. Starts in Lewiston as Cedar Street and starts in Auburn as Broad Street. Commemorates former Lewiston resident and Nobel Peace Prize recipient Bernard Lown.

Airports and bus station

• Auburn/Lewiston Municipal Airport: The official airport of the two cities. It currently provides general aviation facilities. Although the city is serviced by an airport, most people use the Portland International Jetport for commercial flights in and out of the state.
• Oak Street Bus Station: Greyhound Lines operates a bus line out of Lewiston. The bus lines go as far as Bangor and Boston. From those two destinations more travel opportunities are available.

Culture

Library

• The Lewiston Public Library has played a major role in the emerging culture of Lewiston. It was renovated and expanded in 1996. The library is located downtown on the corner of Lisbon Street and Pine Street and has over 100,000 books in its collection. Recently, it has opened the Marsden Hartley Cultural Center, holding various events such as concerts and film festivals.

Museums

• Museum L-A: Museum L-A is a museum in a former textile factory building. It honors the people who worked and lived in this community. At Museum L-A visitors can walk through a simulated production line, then view exhibits covering the textile, shoe, and brick industries that once thrived in Lewiston and Auburn. The museum is currently located in Bates Mill Number 4 in the Bates Mill Complex. In June 2009 the museum acquired Camden Mill and plans on moving to those facilities once it is refurbished.
• Bates College Museum of Art: Located on the Bates College Campus, the Bates College Museum of Art features a wide variety of art. The art students at this school create much of this city's art life.
• The Atrium Gallery: Located at the University of Southern Maine campus in Lewiston. This Museum features a wide variety of art.
• Captive Elements Art House: Located at 223 Lisbon Street, displaying a collection of local artists' work.

The Franco Center

The Franco Center, formerly the Franco-American Heritage Center, opened in 2000 in what was formerly St. Mary's Parish. The performing arts center programs events for both Franco-American related performances as well as other cultural displays, such as the Center's Piano and Celtic Series. The diverse programming of the venue hosts both local and international performers. The Center also hosts events and serves as a museum of the city's Franco-American past with historical artifacts and documentation on display as well as a small library.

The Public Theatre

Lewiston also features The Public Theatre, which puts on different plays throughout the year with about six to eight productions per season. It is located downtown on Maple St. It was formerly located on Park street. It features all types of plays, with actors from all over the world. Its offices are located in Auburn at the Great Falls Plaza.

Events

Emerge Film Festival

The Emerge Film Festival was first held in June 2014 in downtown Lewiston and Auburn.

The Great Falls Balloon Festival

The Great Falls Balloon Festival is an event that is held one weekend in August every year. The Festival includes launching of balloons, games, and carnival rides. The launch sites take place at several open parks on the Lewiston-Auburn Androscoggin Riverfront. People come from all around the country and Canada to see the festivities.

Festival Franco

Formerly known as Festival de Joie, Festival FrancoFun is held annually at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee and is a celebration of the city's Franco-American heritage. The festival features performances from French-Canadian musicians as well as native French-Canadian food.

Liberty Festival

Held on July 4 of each year, the festival is the name given to the fireworks event over the Great Falls of the Androscoggin River in between the twin cities. The fireworks are launched in West Pitch Park in Auburn. Major viewpoints of the fireworks are Veterans Park, railroad Park and Great Falls Plaza in Auburn.

Patrick Dempsey Challenge

Lewiston hosts the annual Dempsey Challenge, which began in 2009. The event, hosted by Lewiston-native Patrick Dempsey, in a run/walk and cycling fundraiser for cancer research. In its opening year the event raised over one million dollars. The event has attracted famous athletes from all around including participants in the Tour de France. All the proceeds go to the Patrick Dempsey Center for Cancer Hope at the Central Maine Medical Center.

In popular culture

• The Farmers' Almanac is printed in Lewiston.
• Lewiston is the setting for the fictitious Kingdom Hospital, featured in the thirteen-episode miniseries developed by horror writer Stephen King. In 1999 when King was struck by a car while walking in Lovell, Maine, he was flown by helicopter and treated at Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston. In the mini-series, the hospital is built on the site of a textile mill which made military uniforms during the Civil War, which the Bates Mill and other Lewiston textile factories actually did. King attended elementary school in the nearby town of Durham, Maine and high school in the neighboring town of Lisbon Falls, Maine
• Twins Francis Edgar Stanley and Freelan O. Stanley invented the photographic dry plate process, that they used in their studio on Lisbon Street in the late 19th century. They later sold the patent to a company that became Eastman Kodak. They eventually went on to invent the Stanley Steamer.

National Register of Historic Places listings

• Androscoggin Mill Block
• Atkinson Building
• Bergin Block
• Bradford House
• Captain Holland House
• College Block-Lisbon Block
• Continental Mill Housing
• Cowan Mill
• Dominican Block
• Dr. Louis J. Martel House
• Dr. Milton Wedgewood House
• First Callahan Building
• First McGillicuddy Block
• First National Bank
• Grand Trunk Railroad Station
• Hathorn Hall, Bates College
• Healey Asylum
• Holland-Drew House
• James C. Lord House
• John D. Clifford House
• Jordan School
• Kora Temple
• Lewiston City Hall
• Lewiston Public Library
• Lewiston Trust and Safe Deposit Company
• Lord Block
• Lower Lisbon Street Historic District
• Lyceum Hall
• Maine Supply Company Building
• Manufacturer's National Bank
• Marcotte Nursing Home
• Oak Street School
• Odd Fellows Block
• Osgood Building
• Pilsbury Block
• Saint Mary's General Hospital
• Savings Bank Block
• Second Callahan Block
• Sen. William P. Frye House
• St. Joseph's Catholic Church
• Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul
• Trinity Episcopal Church
• US Post Office-Lewiston Maine
• Union Block