Maine’s Cities in Order From the Newest to the Most Historic

Who doesn't love some good old-fashioned Maine history? Well, thanks to this new invention called the "Internet," I managed to luck into fun info to peruse. Thanks, Al Gore!

I stumbled upon some old Census data, which ended up being rather significant. The data has a chart of every municipality's incorporation date. It's a fascinating look at what Maine towns are considered cities, and where exactly you can find them.

A lot has changed in 200+ years, and many of those changes directly affected city and town categorizations. Whether it was commercial shipping, certain industries, the birth of suburbia, revitalization, economic booms, shifts in manufacturing, or military base openings and closings, all have played their own part in affecting city development.

I decided to chart the 23 municipalities in Maine that are considered cities. I was curious to see how many of them came to get that distinction and when.

There are some interesting surprises on the list. The fact that many cities come from the more major counties, like Cumberland and York, was fully expected. However, there is adequate representation across the central and northern parts of the state. And some of these cities are quite small, especially considering they are, well, cities.

You can find the complete list below. Original incorporation dates are listed as well, mainly to show the time difference between town and city reclassification.

For more info on the Census, you can click here.