Editing Limington, Maine (section)

==History==

In 1668, [[Francis Small]] traded goods with the Newichewannock tribe of this area. Their Chief Wesumbe, also known as Captain Sunday, was friendly with Small and warned him of a plot against his life. A group of renegade tribesmen planned to murder Small rather than pay him the [[fur trading|furs]] they owed him. Small escaped after watching his [[trading post]] in what is now [[Cornish, Maine|Cornish]] burn to the ground. The chief made up for the loss by selling Small all the lands bounded by the [[Ossipee River|Great]] and Little Ossipee Rivers, the [[Saco River]] and the [[New Hampshire]] border. Known as the Ossipee Tract, it comprised the present-day towns of Limington, [[Limerick, Maine|Limerick]], Cornish (formerly Francisborough), [[Newfield, Maine|Newfield]], [[Parsonsfield, Maine|Parsonsfield]] and [[Shapleigh, Maine|Shapleigh]] (which then included [[Acton, Maine|Acton]]).<ref name=Coolidge>{{Cite book | last = Coolidge | first = Austin J.|author2=John B. Mansfield  | title = A History and Description of New England| year = 1859| location = Boston, Massachusetts| page = 192| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=OcoMAAAAYAAJ&q=coolidge%20mansfield%20history%20description%20new%20england%201859&pg=PA192}}</ref>

First called Little Ossipee Plantation (after Ossapee, its original [[Abenaki]] name), it was settled by Deacon [[Amos Chase]], who removed here and built a [[watermill|mill]] in 1773 at the mouth of the Little Ossipee River. Ezra Davis and Jonathan Boothby followed him in 1774, and John McArthur and Joshua Small in 1775. Little Ossipee Plantation was incorporated on February 9, 1792, as the town of Limington. It was named after [[Limington]] in [[Somerset]], England, the home county of [[Ferdinando Gorges|Sir Ferdinando Gorges]], Lord Proprietor of Maine. As the surface of the land was rocky and broken, in 1798 nearly {{convert|2,000|acre|km2}} of land were annexed from Little Falls Plantation ([[Hollis, Maine|Hollis]]). In 1870, about {{convert|1,500|acre|km2}} of land were ceded to Limerick.

Soil was fertile and [[farmer]]s yielded good crops. Another important early trade was [[logging]], with the [[timber]] manufactured at various [[water power]] mills into [[lumber]], boxes, [[roof shingle|shingles]] and [[Clapboard (architecture)|clapboard]]s. There were also [[gristmill]]s and a [[Tanning (leather)|tannery]]. Limington Academy was incorporated in 1848, its structure built in 1852. The population in 1870 was 1,630.<ref>[http://www.history.rays-place.com/me/limington-me.htm George J. Varney, "History of Limington, Maine" (1886)]</ref> Davis Memorial Library was built in 1912 to designs of noted [[Portland, Maine|Portland]] architect [[John Calvin Stevens]]. Today, 22 buildings in the town center are listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]].