Brunswick, Maine, United States

🇺🇸 Brunswick is a town in Cumberland County, Maine, United States. Part of the Portland-South Portland-Biddeford metropolitan area, Brunswick is home to Bowdoin College, the Bowdoin International Music Festival, the Bowdoin College Museum of Art, the Peary-MacMillan Arctic Museum, and the Maine State Music Theatre. It was formerly home to the U.S. Naval Air Station Brunswick, which was permanently closed in 2011, and has since been partially released to redevelopment as "Brunswick Landing". Brunswick is located at the north end of Casco Bay, as well as the head of tide and head of navigation on the Androscoggin River.

History Settled in 1628 by Thomas Purchase and other fishermen, the area was called by its Indian name, Pejepscot, meaning "the long, rocky rapids part [of the river]". In 1639, Purchase placed his settlement under protection of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. During King Philip's War in 1676, Pejepscot was burned and abandoned, although a garrison called Fort Andros was built on the ruins during King William's War. During the war, in Major Benjamin Church's second expedition a year later, he arrived on September 11, 1690, with 300 men at Casco Bay. He went up the Androscoggin River to Fort Pejepscot (present day Brunswick, Maine). From there he went 40 miles (64 km) upriver and attacked a native village. Three or four native men were shot in retreat. When Church discovered five captive settlers in the wigwams, six or seven prisoners were butchered as an example, and nine prisoners were taken. A few days later, in retaliation, the natives attacked Church at Cape Elizabeth on Purpooduc Point, killing seven of his men and wounding 24 others. On September 26, Church returned to Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

The 1713 Treaty of Portsmouth brought peace to the region between the Abenaki Indians and the English colonists.

In 1714, a consortium from Boston and Portsmouth bought the land, thereafter called the Pejepscot purchase. The Massachusetts General Court constituted the township in 1717, naming it "Brunswick" in honor of the House of Brunswick and its scion, King George I. A stone fort called Fort George was built in 1715 near the falls. But during Dummer's War on July 13, 1722, Abenaki warriors from Norridgewock burned the village. Consequently, Governor Samuel Shute declared war on the Abenakis. In 1724, 208 English colonial militia left Fort Richmond and sacked Norridgewock during Dummer's War. Brunswick was rebuilt again in 1727, and in 1739 incorporated as a town. It became a prosperous seaport, where Bowdoin College was chartered in 1794.

The Androscoggin River falls in three successive stages for a total vertical drop of 41 feet (12 m), providing water power for industry. Brunswick became a major producer of lumber, with as many as 25 sawmills. Some of the lumber went into shipbuilding. Other firms produced paper, soap, flour, marble and granite work, carriages and harness, plows, furniture, shoes and confections. The town was site of the first cotton mill in Maine, the Brunswick Cotton Manufactory Company, built in 1809 to make yarn. Purchased in 1812, the mill was enlarged by the Maine Cotton & Woolen Factory Company. In 1857, the Cabot Manufacturing Company was established to make cotton textiles. It bought the failed Worumbo Mill and expanded the brick factory along the falls. Needing even more room, the company in 1890 persuaded the town to move Maine Street.

Principal employers for Brunswick include L.L. Bean, Bath Iron Works, as well as companies that produce fiberglass construction material and electrical switches. A number of health services providers serving Maine's mid-coast area are located in Brunswick. The former Naval Air Station Brunswick was a major employer in Brunswick prior to its closure.

Historic Places Brunswick has a number of historic districts recognised on the National Register of Historic Places: • Androscoggin Swinging Bridge • Henry Boody House • Brunswick Commercial Historic District • Parker Cleaveland House • Crystal Spring Farm • John Dunlap House • Federal Street Historic District • First Parish Church • Lincoln Street Historic District • Massachusetts Hall, Bowdoin College • Pennellville Historic District • Richardson House • St. Paul's Episcopal Church • Harriet Beecher Stowe House • Whittier Field.

Geography According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 54.34 square miles (140.74 km²), of which 46.73 square miles (121.03 km²) is land and 7.61 square miles (19.71 km²) is water. Brunswick is located at the north end of Casco Bay, as well as the head of tide and head of navigation on the Androscoggin River.

Education The Brunswick School Department operates the town's public schools, including: • Brunswick High School • Brunswick Junior High School • Kate Furbish Elementary School • Harriet Beecher Stowe Elementary School • REAL School • Region 10 Technical High School

Other local educational institutions include: • Children's School of Arts & Science • Saint John's Catholic School • Bowdoin College • Southern Maine Community College Midcoast Campus

The Growstown School, on Woodside Road, is the last remaining of the town's formerly twenty-six one-room schoolhouses.

Sites of interest • Androscoggin Pedestrian Swinging Bridge • Bowdoin College Museum of Art • Pejepscot Historical Society • Pejepscot Museum • Joshua L. Chamberlain Museum • Skolfield-Whittier House

Transport Amtrak's Downeaster train service terminates at Brunswick Maine Street Station and connects the town to the Portland Transportation Center and Boston's North Station.

Greater Portland Metro provides several trips a day between the Portland Transportation Center and Brunswick Maine Street Station with its Metro Breez bus service. A local bus service is provided by Brunswick Link.