Small town population changes in Maine (Lincoln, Dover-Foxcroft: house, school, camp)

[RMoore007]

I have been wondering what the population of my town was back decades ago compared to today. Here is some info on Dover-Foxcroft (D-F) in Piscataquis County:

Census 1900.....3518
..........1910.....3958
..........1920.....4050
..........1930.....3750
..........1940.....4015
..........1950.....4218
..........1960.....4173

..........2000.....4211

D-F has had only about a 20% increase since the turn of the 20th century. The same population since the 50's. Not too much growth here I'd say.

And as I was researching small Maine town populations, I came upon these at the bottom of the list of 530....

#525 Hibberts Gore.........Lincoln County......1
#526 W Central Franklin...Franklin County.....0
#527 N Hancock.............Hancock County....0
#528 Criehaven..............Knox County.........0
#529 Twombly...............Penobscot County..0
#530 Whitney................Penobscot County..0

Are these bottom five actually towns? Are their ghosts that run them? How about Hibberts Gore? Only one person. Is he or she a king there?

I know that the state itself has added a couple hundred thousand peeps since the early eighties. Maine's population was always under a million until the mid-late 70's. The state has doubled it's population since 1900...694,466. I can only guess that they are all living in the south or near the ocean. They sure didn't come to Dover.

[brava4]

I live in a county with about 220,000 people and it is horrible. I am liking the idea of 1.

[Northern Maine Land Man]

A family with 8 kids moved to the town of Drew. The population went from 28 to 38 and the state declared that Drew was a victim of uncontrolled sprawl with a 36% increase in population, the largest percent increase in the state!. It turns out that the kids were all home schooled and caused no increase in school spending. The family produces very high quality wooden toys. The family is a valuable addition to the community.

[Submariner]

I think it would be great to live in a town with less than 10 in it.

Our town has 250 and I think it is a bit crowded.

[Kiwiluver]

Guess they didn't get the memo with the Maine residency questionaire attached?

[Mike Mc]

" How about Hibberts Gore? Only one person. Is he or she a king there?"

The Gore isn't a town , it's a surveyor's error. I've met the sole resident, they seem quite content in their residency!

[Submariner]

Originally Posted by Mike Mc

" How about Hibberts Gore? Only one person. Is he or she a king there?"

The Gore isn't a town , it's a surveyor's error. I've met the sole resident, they seem quite content in their residency!

Sweet !

[bwap_bonk]

Originally Posted by brava4

I live in a county with about 220,000 people and it is horrible. I am liking the idea of 1.

i live on a small island/county of 1.5 million... i hear ya

[Northern Maine Land Man]

The environmental industry is in a panic over "sprawl". Sometimes it's necessary to point out that if our town continues to grow at its present rate, by the year 2060 we'll be back up to the population we had in 1890.

(Just up to put some wood on the fire at camp. We'll close down the camp this Sunday.)

[BrokenTap]

To answer your question...Criehaven Island is NOT a town. It is a island community and even then only in the summer months. The majority of the people on that island (9) are lobstermen and use it as a base of operations. When I was out there, we lobstered for 4 days and then came in, using the house on the island as a nightly port...that is all.

At one time it was more lively, with a post office and store, but today with a boat run in to Port Clyde taking 3 hours or so, its not a real town.

I would say it has 20 homes, one community hand dug well, an ity bity library and 350 acres of trees and rocks. It also has a grass runway so planes can get in, a meager dock and a cemetery...but that is about it. Being the furthest inhabited island in Maine (but not year around), it gets slammed by the wind pretty hard. All in all Criehaven is about what it does not have that makes it special...no one really knows it exists.

Oh, and by the way, its called Ragged Island on the map which is why most people cannot find it. It is 10 NM's from Matinicus Rock, or 28 NM's from shore.