Waterville History

In 1791 the citizens of Winslow voted to set off the territory on the west side of the Kennebec River.  Ten years later, with a population of 800, this community voted to petition the General Court to incorporate as a separate town.  On June 23, 1802, Waterville was incorporated by an act of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts on June 23, 1802, with Elnathan Sherwin, Asa Soule and Ebenezer Bacon as the first selectmen.

 

In 1792 Asa Redington and Nehemiah Getchell built the first dam on the Kennebec River to develop water rights and construct a large mill.  Local farms were productive.  Several gristmills and sawmills operated successfully, with their product transported to market on the river.  The fisheries were abundant, and this food became an important trade item.  Waterville grew as a regional distribution center for cargoes, such as rum and molasses that came upriver.

 

Following the war of 1812, a lively trade in lumber, farm products, and groceries, etc. continued.   The Maine Literary and Theological Institute, now Colby College, was granted a charter by the General Court of Massachusetts in 1813.   Employment and business expanded.  In 1814 the first bank was chartered and in 1823 the first newspaper, The Waterville Intelligencer, was published.  The town grew rapidly, especially with the construction of the wooden Ticonic toll bridge across the Kennebec.  Waterville Academy (later Coburn Classical Institute) was opened in 1829.

 

By the 1860s minor industries were a thing of the past.  The Ticonic Water Power and Manufacturing Company, chartered by the Maine Legislature, constructed the Lockwood Dam in 1868.   Now, with a source of leased power, a lumber mill, gristmill, iron foundry and the Hathaway Shirt Factory were constructed or expanded their operation.   When the Lockwood Company built a cotton mill in 1873, with as many as 1300 workers, a second wave of French Canadians moved to the area.

 

Steamboat traffic prospered until 1845 when Waterville became the terminus of the Androscoggin & Kennebec Railroad.  Locomotives and some 3900 freight and passenger cars were repaired annually in the Maine Central Railroad shops.  Employing some 250 people in 1901, these shops were rated the best in the country.

 

In 1888 the Town amended its charter to become a City, with the Hon. Reuben Foster elected the first mayor.  In 1892 the Hollingsworth and Whitney Pulp and Paper Mill was established in Winslow and, with some 675 employees, became a major part of the Waterville economy.   Around the turn of the century the Riverview Worsted Mills, later Wyandotte (300 employees), and Keyes Fibre Company, later Chinet (with 900 workers), were added to the list of major manufacturers.   At the same time, Kiest Business College, now Thomas College was established and offered courses in stenography, commercial law and practice and all aspects of business management.

 

With the rapid growth in manufacturing, educational facilities and transportation, downtown Waterville also grew as a center of small business and commerce with 150 stores.  Prosperity was at an all time high at the beginning of the twentieth century.  Unfortunately, a series of uncontrollable events precipitated a gradual slide in the Waterville economy.  The two world wars and the great depression began to this downward trend.   Although Main Street continued to be a center of activity, Colby College moved from its cramped quarters just north of the business district to Mayflower Hill in the late forties.  In the mid-fifties the Lockwood Mills closed.  Large discount chains were located outside the downtown area, and the traditional retail stores with limited parking began to feel the competition.   During the sixties, even with urban renewal projects creating more parking in the downtown, shopping malls continued to draw customers away from Main Street.

 

In the following decades, Waterville experienced a steady loss of manufacturing jobs. The Waterville Iron Works and the Wyandotte Worsted Mills closed, as did the Hollingsworth and Whitney Mill, which had become Scott Paper and later Kimberly Clark. Most recently, hundreds of local jobs were lost with the closing of the Hathaway Shirt Factory in 2002. Today, the only remaining large manufacturing plant is Huhtamaki (formerly Chinet). Waterville’s population has declined from a high of 18,695 in 1960 to the present 15,605 according to the 2000 census. The city’s three largest employers are currently MaineGeneral Health, LL Bean and Huhtamaki. Big-box development along the highway has recently expanded to include a Super Wal-Mart, Staples, Home Depot, Ruby Tuesday's, and several smaller chain entities. In the last two years, Main Street has begun to turn itself around with many new, small, specialty stores that offer products and service not available at the larger chains.