Editing Warren, Maine (section)

==History==
Part of the [[Waldo Patent]], it was called the Upper Town of St. Georges Plantation. It was first settled by Scots-Irish settlers from Londonderry in 1736 under the auspices of Brigadier-General [[Samuel Waldo]], its proprietor.<ref>{{cite book|last=Eaton|first=Cyrus|title=Annals of Warren|year=1877|publisher=Masters & Livermore|location=Hallowell, ME|pages=53–56}}</ref><ref name=Coolidge>{{Cite book  | last = Coolidge  | first = Austin J.|author2=John B. Mansfield   | title = A History and Description of New England| publisher = A.J. Coolidge  | year = 1859| location = Boston, Massachusetts| pages = [https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_OcoMAAAAYAAJ/page/n378 340]–341| url = https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_OcoMAAAAYAAJ| quote = coolidge mansfield history description new england 1859.  }}</ref> Development was hindered, however, by the ongoing [[French and Indian Wars]]. In 1753, a [[blockhouse]] was built and placed under the command of Captain Thomas Kilpatrick, known by terrified [[Native Americans of the United States|Indians]] as "Tom-kill-the-devil." War raged across Maine between 1754–1758, and local settlers took refuge in the blockhouse or at another in [[Cushing, Maine|Cushing]].<ref>[https://archive.org/details/annalstownwarre01eatogoog/page/n125 <!-- pg=110 quote=Thomas Kilpatrick Blockhouse Warren, Maine. --> Cyrus Eaton, ''Annals of the Town of Warren''; Masters, Smith & Company, Hallowell, Maine 1851]</ref>
Hostilities ended in 1759 with the [[Battle of the Plains of Abraham|Fall of Quebec]]. On November 7, 1776, Upper Town of St. Georges Plantation was incorporated as a town, named after [[Joseph Warren]], a [[American Revolutionary War|Revolutionary War]] hero.<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, Me | pages = 259–260 }}</ref>

[[Hay]] was the principal crop. [[Shipbuilding]] was an important industry, and between 1770–1850, 224 vessels were built, varying from 53 to 1,127 tons. Warren had [[quarry|quarries]] to extract [[granite]] and [[limestone]]. [[waterfalls|Falls]] on the St. George River provided [[water power]], with the first [[sawmill]] built in 1785. [[Woolen]]s were manufactured at the Georges River Mills, and [[snowshoe]]s at the Warren Shoe Factory. The [[Knox and Lincoln Railroad]] opened on November 6, 1871.<ref>{{Citation
  | last = Varney
  | first = George J.
  | title = Gazetteer of the state of Maine. Warren
  | place = Boston
  | publisher = Russell
  | year = 1886
  | url = http://history.rays-place.com/me/warren-me.htm }}
</ref>

The [[Georges River Canal|General Henry Knox Canal]] system (named after [[Henry Knox]], who purchased the [[lock (canal)|locks]] in 1794) was initially built by Charles Barrett in 1793 to connect the tidewaters of the St. George River with St. George Lake in [[Liberty, Maine|Liberty]],  facilitating the shipment of [[lumber]] and [[lime (mineral)|lime]]. But the locks fell into decay following Knox's death in 1806. In 1848, the canal was reopened for navigation by the Georges Canal Company at a cost of $80,000. It again fell into disuse following 1877, rendered obsolete by the [[railroad]]. The canal banks and one lock may still be seen in Warren, however, uncovered as part of a river beautification project in 1966.<ref | name="MAGDE" />

In 1853, Warren elected Olive Rose as County Register of Deeds. She was the first woman to hold elected office in the United States.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Onion|first1=Rebecca|title=Thousands of Women Ran for Office Before They Could Vote|url=http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/history/2015/04/her_hat_was_in_the_ring_a_history_project_reveals_that_thousands_of_american.html|access-date=April 14, 2015|work=[[Slate (magazine)|Slate]]|date=April 14, 2015}}</ref> Warren became a part of [[Knox County, Maine|Knox]] county when it was partitioned in 1860 from parts of [[Waldo County, Maine|Waldo]] and [[Lincoln County, Maine|Lincoln]] counties.

Since 2002, South Warren is home to the [[Maine State Prison]], a 900-bed maximum security facility formerly located in [[Thomaston, Maine|Thomaston]] since 1824. The prison's gift shop, which sells over 600 inmate-made goods, remains in Thomaston at the site of the old prison.<ref>[http://www.maine.gov/corrections/industries/index.html Maine Department of Corrections Industries]</ref>

===Peterborough===
In South Warren was the site of Peterborough, a [[Freedmen's town|black settlement]] first founded in 1782.<ref name="pbh">{{cite book |last1=Price |first1=H. H. |last2=Talbot |first2=Gerald |title=Maine's visible Black history : the first chronicle of its people |date=2006 |publisher=Tilbury House |location=Gardiner, Me. |isbn=9780884482758 |pages=75–82|contribution=The Story of Peterborough 1782-1961|contributor-last=Smith|contributor-first=Marion Barrett}}</ref> Three possible legends try to explain the foundation of this community. 
One suggests that Amos Peters, a black [[American Revolution|Revolutionary War]] veteran from [[Plymouth, Massachusetts]], was working for General [[Henry Knox]]. When Peters married another slave named Sarah, Knox gave the couple land to settle on in what later became Peterborough.<ref name="pbh"/> Following the 1780 [[Quock Walker]] court case, Amos and Sarah Peters were freed from slavery. Another story suggests that General Knox, who served in Virginia during the War, built himself a mansion that matched the style of estates he had seen in Virginia. He recruited blacks to serve as staff for the mansion. As space at the estate and servants quarters shrunk, "Knox sent many of the families to live in the settlement started by Amos and Sarah Peters".<ref name="pbh"/> Another story suggests that many of the original settlers of the community were so-called "limecoasters", black deckhands who were part of the [[Limestone|Lime]] trade from Thomaston to the Southern US.<ref name="pbh"/>

Regardless of the origin, the community grew, having a population of over three hundred people at its peak.<ref name="pbh"/> In 1823, the population of children in the settlement was enough to warrant its own school. In 1845, the town of Warren provided $75 for the building of a schoolhouse in Peterborough.<ref name="pbh"/> The school had both black and white teachers, and attendance averaged between twenty-four and thirty students in a given year.<ref name="pbh"/> The school building also housed church services and social events.<ref name="pbh"/>

The population of the settlement began to decline by the end of the [[American Civil War|Civil War]]. The decline of the shipbuilding industry in the area, coupled with the fact that black people were excluded from factory work, are theorized as some of the factors behind this reduction.<ref name="km">{{cite AV media |people= Kate McMahon|date= January 15, 2021 |title=Land and Liberty: The Historic African American Community of Peterborough |trans-title= |type=video |language=English |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwADqTosPcA |access-date= May 18, 2022 |archive-url= |archive-date= |format= |time=37:31 |location= |publisher= |id= |isbn= |oclc= |quote= }}</ref> The area was populated by descendants of the original settlers until 1961, when William, Grace and Woodrow Peters moved from Peterborough to a house along [[Maine State Route 90|Route 90]].<ref name="pbh"/> Today the area is made up of newer houses with no residents having roots to the original community.