Jay, Maine
Encyclopedia
Jay is a town
in Franklin County
, Maine
, United States
. The population was 4,985 at the 2000 census. Jay, which includes the village of Chisholm
, is the regional commercial center.
) Abenaki Indians
, whose main village was Rockameko, located on Canton Point. They were wiped out by smallpox
in 1757. The township was then granted by the Massachusetts General Court
to Captain Joseph Phipps and 63 others for their services in the French and Indian War
. Called Phipps-Canada, the plantation was not settled until after the Revolutionary War
. On February 26, 1795, Phipps-Canada was incorporated as Jay for John Jay
, the first chief justice
of the Supreme Court. In 1821, Canton
was set off and incorporated as a town.
Farmer
s found the soil to be loamy and productive, yielding great quantitites of hay
, corn
, wheat
, potato
es, oat
s and apple
s. In 1793, a tavern was constructed at Jay Hill. On the Androscoggin River
near Jay Hill was erected a toll bridge
, then in 1839 a sawmill
. At North Jay was built a sawmill, brickyard and granite
quarry
. White granite from the North Jay Granite Company, established in 1884, would be used to construct numerous important buildings throughout the country, including Grant's Tomb
. East Jay had a sawmill, and Bean's Corner a carriage
factory. In 1857, the Maine Central Railroad
reached town.
Jay had a population of 1,490 in 1870. The following years would see papermaking
develop into the town's predominant industry. In 1888, industrialist Hugh J. Chisholm
built at southern Jay the Otis Falls Pulp & Paper Company mill, then the 3rd largest paper mill
in the country. Nearby developed the mill town
village of Chisholm. In 1898, it became one of the founding mills of International Paper
. In 1905, International Paper built a mill on the opposite side of the river, which became known as the Otis mill. In 1978, this mill was sold to Wausau Paper. In 1965, International Paper opened the Androscoggin Mill. It is an integrated pulp and finished paper goods plant employing 990 people operating 5 paper machines. In 1987, it was site of the International Paper strike
. In March 2009, Wausau Paper announced the closing of the Otis mill. Operations there stopped permanently at the end of May, 2009.
, the town has a total area of 49.2 square miles (127.4 km²), of which, 48.5 square miles (125.6 km²) of it is land and 0.8 square miles (2.1 km²) of it (1.58%) is water. Jay is drained by Seven Mile Stream and the Androscoggin River
.
The town is crossed by state routes 4
, 17, 133, 140 and 156. It is bounded by the towns of Wilton to the north, Chesterville
to the east, Livermore
and Livermore Falls
to the south, and Canton
and Dixfield to the west.
of 2000, there were 4,985 people, 2,019 households, and 1,449 families residing in the town. The population density
was 102.9 people per square mile (39.7/km²). There were 2,155 housing units at an average density of 44.5 per square mile (17.2/km²). The racial makeup of the town was 97.91% White, 0.26% African American, 0.46% Native American, 0.22% Asian, 0.06% Pacific Islander, 0.10% from other races
, and 0.98% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.48% of the population.
There were 2,019 households out of which 32.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 55.9% were married couples
living together, 11.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 28.2% were non-families. 22.9% of all households were made up of individuals and 10.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.47 and the average family size was 2.87.
In the town the population was spread out with 26.2% under the age of 18, 6.0% from 18 to 24, 28.2% from 25 to 44, 25.3% from 45 to 64, and 14.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females there were 95.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.5 males.
The median income for a household in the town was $36,746, and the median income for a family was $43,365. Males had a median income of $35,405 versus $20,897 for females. The per capita income
for the town was $17,123. About 8.7% of families and 10.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 12.8% of those under age 18 and 7.9% of those age 65 or over.
in July 2011.
New England town
The New England town is the basic unit of local government in each of the six New England states. Without a direct counterpart in most other U.S. states, New England towns are conceptually similar to civil townships in other states, but are incorporated, possessing powers like cities in other...
in Franklin County
Franklin County, Maine
Franklin County is a county located in the U.S. state of Maine. As of 2010, the population was 30,768. Its county seat is Farmington.Franklin County was established on 9 May 1838.-Geography:...
, Maine
Maine
Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. The population was 4,985 at the 2000 census. Jay, which includes the village of Chisholm
Chisholm, Maine
Chisholm is a census-designated place in the town of Jay in Franklin County, Maine, United States. The population was 1,399 at the 2000 census. It is an industrial village named for Hugh J...
, is the regional commercial center.
History
This was once territory of the Anasagunticook (or AndroscogginAndroscoggin (tribe)
The Androscoggin were a tribe of the Abenaki nation who lived in what now are Maine and New Hampshire. It is assumed that by the 18th century, they had been absorbed by neighboring tribes.- Name :...
) Abenaki Indians
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...
, whose main village was Rockameko, located on Canton Point. They were wiped out by smallpox
Smallpox
Smallpox was an infectious disease unique to humans, caused by either of two virus variants, Variola major and Variola minor. The disease is also known by the Latin names Variola or Variola vera, which is a derivative of the Latin varius, meaning "spotted", or varus, meaning "pimple"...
in 1757. The township was then granted by the Massachusetts General Court
Massachusetts General Court
The Massachusetts General Court is the state legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The name "General Court" is a hold-over from the Colonial Era, when this body also sat in judgment of judicial appeals cases...
to Captain Joseph Phipps and 63 others for their services in the French and Indian War
French and Indian War
The French and Indian War is the common American name for the war between Great Britain and France in North America from 1754 to 1763. In 1756, the war erupted into the world-wide conflict known as the Seven Years' War and thus came to be regarded as the North American theater of that war...
. Called Phipps-Canada, the plantation was not settled until after the Revolutionary War
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...
. On February 26, 1795, Phipps-Canada was incorporated as Jay for John Jay
John Jay
John Jay was an American politician, statesman, revolutionary, diplomat, a Founding Father of the United States, and the first Chief Justice of the United States ....
, the first chief justice
Chief Justice of the United States
The Chief Justice of the United States is the head of the United States federal court system and the chief judge of the Supreme Court of the United States. The Chief Justice is one of nine Supreme Court justices; the other eight are the Associate Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States...
of the Supreme Court. In 1821, Canton
Canton, Maine
Canton is a town in Oxford County, Maine, United States. The population was 1,121 at the 2000 census. Located beside Lake Anasagunticook, Canton is a summer recreational area.-History:...
was set off and incorporated as a town.
Farmer
Farmer
A farmer is a person engaged in agriculture, who raises living organisms for food or raw materials, generally including livestock husbandry and growing crops, such as produce and grain...
s found the soil to be loamy and productive, yielding great quantitites of hay
Hay
Hay is grass, legumes or other herbaceous plants that have been cut, dried, and stored for use as animal fodder, particularly for grazing livestock such as cattle, horses, goats, and sheep. Hay is also fed to pets such as rabbits and guinea pigs...
, corn
Maize
Maize known in many English-speaking countries as corn or mielie/mealie, is a grain domesticated by indigenous peoples in Mesoamerica in prehistoric times. The leafy stalk produces ears which contain seeds called kernels. Though technically a grain, maize kernels are used in cooking as a vegetable...
, wheat
Wheat
Wheat is a cereal grain, originally from the Levant region of the Near East, but now cultivated worldwide. In 2007 world production of wheat was 607 million tons, making it the third most-produced cereal after maize and rice...
, potato
Potato
The potato is a starchy, tuberous crop from the perennial Solanum tuberosum of the Solanaceae family . The word potato may refer to the plant itself as well as the edible tuber. In the region of the Andes, there are some other closely related cultivated potato species...
es, oat
Oat
The common oat is a species of cereal grain grown for its seed, which is known by the same name . While oats are suitable for human consumption as oatmeal and rolled oats, one of the most common uses is as livestock feed...
s and apple
Apple
The apple is the pomaceous fruit of the apple tree, species Malus domestica in the rose family . It is one of the most widely cultivated tree fruits, and the most widely known of the many members of genus Malus that are used by humans. Apple grow on small, deciduous trees that blossom in the spring...
s. In 1793, a tavern was constructed at Jay Hill. On the Androscoggin River
Androscoggin River
The Androscoggin River is a river in the U.S. states of Maine and New Hampshire, in northern New England. It is long and joins the Kennebec River at Merrymeeting Bay in Maine before its water empties into the Gulf of Maine on the Atlantic Ocean. Its drainage basin is in area...
near Jay Hill was erected a toll bridge
Toll bridge
A toll bridge is a bridge over which traffic may pass upon payment of a toll, or fee.- History :The practice of collecting tolls on bridges probably harks back to the days of ferry crossings where people paid a fee to be ferried across stretches of water. As boats became impractical to carry large...
, then in 1839 a sawmill
Sawmill
A sawmill is a facility where logs are cut into boards.-Sawmill process:A sawmill's basic operation is much like those of hundreds of years ago; a log enters on one end and dimensional lumber exits on the other end....
. At North Jay was built a sawmill, brickyard and granite
Granite
Granite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite usually has a medium- to coarse-grained texture. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic...
quarry
Quarry
A quarry is a type of open-pit mine from which rock or minerals are extracted. Quarries are generally used for extracting building materials, such as dimension stone, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, and gravel. They are often collocated with concrete and asphalt plants due to the requirement...
. White granite from the North Jay Granite Company, established in 1884, would be used to construct numerous important buildings throughout the country, including Grant's Tomb
Grant's Tomb
General Grant National Memorial , better known as Grant's Tomb, is a mausoleum containing the bodies of Ulysses S. Grant , American Civil War General and 18th President of the United States, and his wife, Julia Dent Grant...
. East Jay had a sawmill, and Bean's Corner a carriage
Carriage
A carriage is a wheeled vehicle for people, usually horse-drawn; litters and sedan chairs are excluded, since they are wheelless vehicles. The carriage is especially designed for private passenger use and for comfort or elegance, though some are also used to transport goods. It may be light,...
factory. In 1857, the Maine Central Railroad
Maine Central Railroad
The Maine Central Railroad Company was a railroad in central and southern Maine. It was chartered in 1856 and began operations in 1862. It operated a mainline between South Portland, Maine, east to the Canada-U.S...
reached town.
Jay had a population of 1,490 in 1870. The following years would see papermaking
Papermaking
Papermaking is the process of making paper, a substance which is used universally today for writing and packaging.In papermaking a dilute suspension of fibres in water is drained through a screen, so that a mat of randomly interwoven fibres is laid down. Water is removed from this mat of fibres by...
develop into the town's predominant industry. In 1888, industrialist Hugh J. Chisholm
Hugh J. Chisholm
Hugh Joseph Chisholm was a Canadian industrialist who later became a citizen of the United States. He was born in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, to parents of Scottish ancestry. His early years as an entrepreneur in the news distribution business provided a foundation for his later accomplishments...
built at southern Jay the Otis Falls Pulp & Paper Company mill, then the 3rd largest paper mill
Paper mill
A paper mill is a factory devoted to making paper from vegetable fibres such as wood pulp, old rags and other ingredients using a Fourdrinier machine or other type of paper machine.- History :...
in the country. Nearby developed the mill town
Mill town
A mill town, also known as factory town or mill village, is typically a settlement that developed around one or more mills or factories .- United Kingdom:...
village of Chisholm. In 1898, it became one of the founding mills of International Paper
International Paper
International Paper Company is an American pulp and paper company, the largest such company in the world. It has approximately 59,500 employees, and it is headquartered in Memphis, Tennessee.-History:...
. In 1905, International Paper built a mill on the opposite side of the river, which became known as the Otis mill. In 1978, this mill was sold to Wausau Paper. In 1965, International Paper opened the Androscoggin Mill. It is an integrated pulp and finished paper goods plant employing 990 people operating 5 paper machines. In 1987, it was site of the International Paper strike
International Paper strike
The International Paper strike was a strike in 1987 by paper mill workers at a number of plants in the United States owned by the International Paper company....
. In March 2009, Wausau Paper announced the closing of the Otis mill. Operations there stopped permanently at the end of May, 2009.
Geography
According to the United States Census BureauUnited States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau is the government agency that is responsible for the United States Census. It also gathers other national demographic and economic data...
, the town has a total area of 49.2 square miles (127.4 km²), of which, 48.5 square miles (125.6 km²) of it is land and 0.8 square miles (2.1 km²) of it (1.58%) is water. Jay is drained by Seven Mile Stream and the Androscoggin River
Androscoggin River
The Androscoggin River is a river in the U.S. states of Maine and New Hampshire, in northern New England. It is long and joins the Kennebec River at Merrymeeting Bay in Maine before its water empties into the Gulf of Maine on the Atlantic Ocean. Its drainage basin is in area...
.
The town is crossed by state routes 4
Maine State Route 4
State Route 4 is part of Maine's system of numbered state highways, running from the New Hampshire border in South Berwick to Haines Landing on Mooselookmeguntic Lake in the town of Rangeley...
, 17, 133, 140 and 156. It is bounded by the towns of Wilton to the north, Chesterville
Chesterville, Maine
Chesterville is a town in Franklin County, Maine, United States. The population was 1,170 at the 2000 census.-Geography:According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of , of which is land and is water.-Demographics:...
to the east, Livermore
Livermore, Maine
Livermore is a town in Androscoggin County, Maine, United States. The population was 2,106 at the 2000 census. It is included in both the Lewiston-Auburn, Maine Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Lewiston-Auburn, Maine Metropolitan New England City and Town Area. High schools students from...
and Livermore Falls
Livermore Falls, Maine
Livermore Falls is a town in Androscoggin County, Maine, United States. The population was 3,227 at the 2000 census. It is included in both the Lewiston-Auburn, Maine Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Lewiston-Auburn, Maine Metropolitan New England City and Town Area...
to the south, and Canton
Canton, Maine
Canton is a town in Oxford County, Maine, United States. The population was 1,121 at the 2000 census. Located beside Lake Anasagunticook, Canton is a summer recreational area.-History:...
and Dixfield to the west.
Demographics
As of the censusCensus
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...
of 2000, there were 4,985 people, 2,019 households, and 1,449 families residing in the town. The population density
Population density
Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans...
was 102.9 people per square mile (39.7/km²). There were 2,155 housing units at an average density of 44.5 per square mile (17.2/km²). The racial makeup of the town was 97.91% White, 0.26% African American, 0.46% Native American, 0.22% Asian, 0.06% Pacific Islander, 0.10% from other races
Race (United States Census)
Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the Federal Office of Management and Budget and the United States Census Bureau, are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...
, and 0.98% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.48% of the population.
There were 2,019 households out of which 32.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 55.9% were married couples
Marriage
Marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...
living together, 11.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 28.2% were non-families. 22.9% of all households were made up of individuals and 10.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.47 and the average family size was 2.87.
In the town the population was spread out with 26.2% under the age of 18, 6.0% from 18 to 24, 28.2% from 25 to 44, 25.3% from 45 to 64, and 14.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females there were 95.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.5 males.
The median income for a household in the town was $36,746, and the median income for a family was $43,365. Males had a median income of $35,405 versus $20,897 for females. The per capita income
Per capita income
Per capita income or income per person is a measure of mean income within an economic aggregate, such as a country or city. It is calculated by taking a measure of all sources of income in the aggregate and dividing it by the total population...
for the town was $17,123. About 8.7% of families and 10.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 12.8% of those under age 18 and 7.9% of those age 65 or over.
Education
Jay has the only independent school department in Franklin County, and provides full public education K-12 (some independent school districts in Maine only cover K-8). The Jay school district is going to consolidate with RSU 36Livermore Falls High School
Livermore Falls High School is a public high school in Livermore Falls, Maine. It is part of Regional School Unit 36, which includes the neighboring town of Livermore.-Building:The present home of Livermore Falls High School was built in 1968...
in July 2011.