Wayne, Maine, USA
1886 - Wayne

Wayne is one of the most wealthy towns in Kennebec County. It is bounded by Readfield and Winthrop on the east, Fayette on the north, Monmouth on the south, and by Leeds, in Androscoggin County on the south and west. The form of the town is triangular, being broadest at the northern part. About one-third of its surface is water, there being partly or wholly within its limits six ponds of considerable size. The largest of these, Androscoggin Pond, lying on the southwest side, contains 5.75 square miles. Wing's Pond, near the middle of the town, has an area of about one square mile. The Androscoggin Pond empties into the Androscoggin, and is the last of a series of more than a dozen ponds, the first of which lie in the northern part of Vienna. Wilson's Pond, having an area of .90 of a square mile, forms a part of the south-eastern boundary of the town. At North Wayne, on the
stream connecting Lovejoy's with Wing's Pond, are the mills of the North Wayne Paper Company; which, with the dwelling-houses and other buildings belonging to the company, constitute a pleasant little village. At Wayne village, on the stream connecting Wayne and Androscoggin ponds, are a woolen factory, a grist-mill, a shovel handle factory, and a sash and blind factory. Other manufactures at this place are carriages and tinware, machinery and harrows, and marble and granite works. The place is connected by a stage-line with the Maine Central railway at Winthrop.

In the north the soil is sandy, in some parts clayey; in the south the soil is gravelly and the surface hilly. The prevailing rock is granite. The town abounds in bowlders, some of great size. The principal crop is hay. The roads over Morrison's Hill affords some
fine views. At points on the western side the scene afforded by a drive is most impressive and beautiful. At some points the hill rises far and steep above the road while on the other it descends with equal steepness down hundreds of feet to the waters of the pond, here dark and shadowy, there glowing with colors or sparkling with wavelets. Of the two small islands in the pond, one is known to have been an Indian burial place.

Job Fuller, who is believed to have been the first settler, made improvements here as early as 1773. The eastern part was included in the Plymouth proprietary, but the titles of the residue were from Massachusetts. Among the early settlers were the Fullers, Wings, Norrises, Besses, Lawrences, Sturdevants, Washburnes, Maxims, Dexters, Frosts and Bowles. The place was first named Pocasset, and afterward New Sandwich, until its incorporation, in 1798. It was then named for Anthony Wayne, one of Washington's generals. The famous songstress, Annie Louise Cary, was formerly a resident of the town.

The Methodists have two churches, and the Baptists and Free Baptists, one each. Wayne has a high-school; and her public schoolhouses number nine, and are valued at $6,500. The valuation in 1870 was $344,692; in 1880, $338,802. The population in 1870 was 938; in 1880, 950.

A Gazetteer of the State of Maine By Geo. J. Varney Published by B. B. Russell, Boston 1886

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