Augusta Maine History & Facts

Augusta is the state capital of the U.S. state of Maine and the county seat of Kennebec County.

The city's population was 18,899 at the 2020 census, making it the third-least populous state capital in the United States after Montpelier, Vermont, and Pierre, South Dakota. It is the tenth-most populous city in Maine.

Located on the Kennebec River at the head of tide, Augusta is home to the University of Maine at Augusta. It is the principal city in the Augusta-Waterville Micropolitan Statistical Area. It is 109 miles from the mouth of the Kennebec at the Gulf of Maine.

The area was first explored by Europeans of the short-lived Popham Colony in September 1607. It was first inhabited by English settlers from the Plymouth Colony in 1628 as a trading post on the Kennebec River. The settlement was known by its Native American name Cushnoc (or Coussinoc or Koussinoc), meaning "head of the tide." Fur trading was at first profitable, but because of Native uprisings and declining revenues, the Plymouth Colony sold the Kennebec Patent in 1661. Cushnoc would remain unoccupied for the next 75 years.

This area was inhabited by the Kennebec, a band of the larger Abenaki nation. During the 17th century, they were on friendly terms with the English settlers in the region.

A hotbed of Abenaki hostility toward British settlements was located further up the Kennebec at Norridgewock. In 1722, the tribe and its allies attacked Fort Richmond (now Richmond) and destroyed Brunswick. In response, English forces sacked Norridgewock in 1724 during Dummer's War, when the English gained tentative control of the Kennebec.

During the height of the French and Indian War, in 1754 the English colonists built a blockhouse named Fort Western (now the oldest wooden fort in America) at Cushnoc on the eastern bank of the Kennebec River. It was intended as a supply depot for Fort Halifax upriver, as well as a regional defense from French attack. Later, during the American Revolutionary War, Benedict Arnold and his 1,100 troops would use Fort Western as a staging area before continuing their journey up the Kennebec to the Battle of Quebec.

Augusta is located at 44°18′38″N 69°46′46″W, making it the easternmost state capital in the United States. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 58.03 sq mi (150.30 km2), of which 55.13 sq mi (142.79 km2) is land and 2.90 sq mi (7.51 km2) is water. Augusta is drained by Bond's Brook, Woromontogus Stream and the Kennebec River.

Famous Peoples From Augusta Maine

Melville Weston Fuller
(February 11, 1833 – July 4, 1910) was an American politician, lawyer, and jurist who served as the eighth chief justice of the United States from 1888 until his death in 1910. Staunch conservatism marked his tenure on the Supreme Court, exhibited by his tendency to support unfettered free enterprise and to oppose broad federal power. He wrote major opinions on the federal income tax, the Commerce Clause, and citizenship law, and he took part in important decisions about racial segregation and the liberty of contract. Those rulings often faced criticism in the decades during and after Fuller's tenure, and many were later overruled or abrogated. The legal academy has generally viewed Fuller negatively, although a revisionist minority has taken a more favorable view of his jurisprudence.

Born in Augusta, Maine, Fuller established a legal practice in Chicago after graduating from Bowdoin College. A Democrat, he became involved in politics, campaigning for Stephen A. Douglas in the 1860 presidential election. During the Civil War, he served a single term in the Illinois House of Representatives, where he opposed the policies of President Abraham Lincoln. Fuller became a prominent attorney in Chicago and was a delegate to several Democratic national conventions. He declined three separate appointments offered by President Grover Cleveland before accepting the nomination to succeed Morrison Waite as chief justice. Despite some objections to his political past, Fuller won Senate confirmation in 1888. He served as chief justice until his death in 1910, gaining a reputation for collegiality and able administration.

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