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==History== The area was first explored by the English of the short-lived [[Popham Colony]] in September 1607. Twenty-one years later, English settlers from the [[Plymouth Colony]] settled in the area in 1628 as part of a trading post on the [[Kennebec River]]. The settlement was known by its [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|Native American]] name ''Cushnoc'' (or Coussinoc or Koussinoc), meaning "head of the tide". [[Fur trading]] was at first profitable, but because of Native uprisings and declining revenues, [[Plymouth Colony]] sold the Kennebec Patent{{discuss}}<!--who was the buyer?--> in 1661. [[Cushnoc Archeological Site|Cushnoc]] would remain unoccupied for the next 75 years.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://rootsweb.com/~mehancoc/Augusta/inhabitants.html |date=Jul 17, 1997 |first1=Don |last1=Vickery |website= Augusta, Maine Genealogy Project |publisher=MEGenWeb Project |title=The Forgotten Inhabitants of Cushnoc |access-date=September 25, 2007 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20071116124523/http://rootsweb.com/~mehancoc/Augusta/inhabitants.html |archive-date=November 16, 2007 |url-status=live}}</ref> The area around Cushnoc was inhabited by the [[Kennebec people|Kennebec]], a band of the larger [[Abenaki]] nation. During the 17th century, they were on friendly terms with the English settlers in the region.<ref name= north-present>{{cite web |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=KXuB72zLFUMC |title=The History of Augusta, from the Earliest Settlement to the Present Time: With Notices of the Plymouth Company, and Settlements on the Kennebec; Together with Biographical Sketches and Genealogical Register |year=1870 |last1=North |first1=James W.| page=4| via= Google Books}}</ref> A hotbed of [[Abenaki]] hostility toward British settlements was located further up the Kennebec at [[Norridgewock]]. In 1722, the tribe and its allies attacked Fort Richmond (now [[Richmond, Maine|Richmond]]) and destroyed [[Brunswick, Maine|Brunswick]]. In response, English forces sacked Norridgewock in 1724 during [[Dummer's War]], when the English gained tentative control of the Kennebec. During the height of the [[French and Indian War]], in 1754, the English colonists built a [[blockhouse]] named [[Fort Western]] at Cushnoc on the eastern bank of the Kennebec River. It was intended as a supply depot for [[Fort Halifax (Maine)|Fort Halifax]] upriver, as well as a regional defense from French attack.<ref name="MAGDE">{{cite book |last=Maine League of Historical Societies and Museums |editor=Doris A. Isaacson |title=Maine: A Guide 'Down East' |year=1970 |publisher=Courier-Gazette, Inc. |location=Rockland, Maine |pages=148β152}}</ref> Later, during the [[American Revolutionary War]], [[Benedict Arnold]] and his 1,100 troops would use Fort Western as a staging area before [[Benedict Arnold's expedition to Quebec|continuing their journey]] up the Kennebec to the [[Battle of Quebec (1775)|Battle of Quebec]]. [[File:MaineStateHouse1.JPG|left|thumb|The [[Maine State House]], built 1829β1832]] Cushnoc was incorporated as part of [[Hallowell, Maine|Hallowell]] in 1771. Known as "the Fort", it was set off and incorporated by the [[Massachusetts General Court]] in February 1797 as Harrington. In August, however, the name was changed to Augusta after Pamela Augusta Dearborn, daughter of [[Henry Dearborn]]. In 1799, it was designated as the county seat for the newly created Kennebec County.<ref name="MAGDE" /> Maine became a state in 1820 as a result of the [[Missouri Compromise]]. Augusta was designated as its capital in 1827, over [[Portland, Maine|Portland]], and rival communities Brunswick and Hallowell. The [[Maine State Legislature]] continued meeting in [[Portland, Maine|Portland]], however, until the completion of the [[Maine State House]] in 1832, designed by [[Charles Bulfinch]]. Augusta was incorporated as a city in 1849.<ref name="Coolidge">{{Cite book |last1=Coolidge |first1=Austin J. | first2= John B.| last2= Mansfield |title=A History and Description of New England |publisher=A.J. Coolidge |year=1859 |location=Boston |pages=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_OcoMAAAAYAAJ/page/n67 38]β42 |url= https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_OcoMAAAAYAAJ |quote=coolidge mansfield history description new england 1859. |access-date=November 21, 2015}}</ref> After being named the state capital and the introduction of new industry, the city flourished. In 1840 and 1850, the city ranked among the 100 largest urban populations in the country. During the next decade, however, the city was quickly bypassed by rapidly growing metropolises in the Midwest.<ref name="census">{{Cite web |url=https://www.census.gov/population/www/documentation/twps0027/twps0027.html |title=Population of the 100 Largest Cities and Other Urban Places in the United States: 1790 to 1990 | website= census.gov | publisher=United States Census Bureau |access-date=December 7, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110102182532/http://www.census.gov/population/www/documentation/twps0027/twps0027.html |archive-date=January 2, 2011 |url-status=live}}</ref> Excellent soil provided for agriculture, and [[water power]] from streams provided for the industry. In 1837, a dam was built across the Kennebec where the [[waterfall|falls]] drop 15 feet at the head of a tide. By 1838, 10 [[sawmill]]s were contracted. With the arrival of the [[Maine Central Railroad main line#Kennebec & Portland RR|Kennebec & Portland Railroad]] in 1851, Augusta became an even more productive [[mill town]]. In 1883, the property of A. & W. Sprague Company was purchased by the Edwards Manufacturing Company, which erected extensive brick mills for manufacturing cotton textiles. They imported cotton from the South for processing and export to Europe. In the late 19th century, a paper and pulp plant was constructed.<ref name= "kennebechistorical">{{Cite web |url=http://www.kennebechistorical.org/histevents.htm |title=New Page 2 | website= kennebechistorical.org| publisher= |access-date=April 23, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304025340/http://www.kennebechistorical.org/histevents.htm |archive-date=March 4, 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref> Other Augusta firms produced lumber, [[window sash|sash]], doors, window shutters, broom handles, stone cutters' tools, shoes, headstones, ice and furniture. The city developed as a publishing and shipping center. Today, government and post-secondary education are important businesses.{{cn|date=May 2025}} Since the mid-eighteenth century, there has been a military presence in Augusta. Fort Western has not had troops garrisoned there since the 1790s, but in 1828, the U.S. Government built an arsenal to protect their interests from Britain. During the [[American Civil War|Civil War]], Augusta was a rendezvous point for Union soldiers traveling to the front. Many of the soldiers camped on the green in front of the capitol building. In 1862, Camp E.D. Keyes was established in the northwestern portion of the city. During [[World War I]], Camp Keyes was used as a mobilization and training camp for soldiers. The camp eventually became a headquarters for the [[Maine National Guard]]. In 1929, the state legislature approved the placement of the [[Augusta State Airport]] next to the camp. As the airport grew, the use of the camp as a training facility was no longer possible. Today, it is still used for administrative and logistical purposes by the National Guard. In the 19th century, Augusta got a regular [[steamboat]] service and the railroad. The city installed gas lights in 1859. A telephone service was available in 1880 and a local hospital in 1898. In the early 20th century, Augusta built two movie houses and a film production studio.
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