Biddeford Maine History & Facts

Biddeford is a city in York County, Maine, United States. It is the principal commercial center of York County. Its population was 22,552 at the 2020 census. Twin city of Saco, Biddeford includes the resort communities of Biddeford Pool,and Fortunes Rocks. The town is the site of the University of New England and the annual La Kermesse Franco-Americaine Festival. First visited by Europeans in 1616, it is the site of one of the earliest European settlements in the United States.

Biddeford is a principal population center of the Portland-South Portland-Biddeford metropolitan statistical area.

The first European to settle at Biddeford was physician Richard Vines in the winter of 1616–1617 at Winter Harbor, as he called Biddeford Pool. This 1616 landing by a European antedates the Mayflower landing in Plymouth, Massachusetts, (located 100 miles to the south) by about four years, a fact overlooked in much of New England lore. In 1630, the Plymouth Company granted the land south of the River Swanckadocke to Dr. Vines and John Oldham. In 1653, the town included both sides of the river, and was incorporated by the Massachusetts General Court as Saco.

Biddeford was first incorporated as the Town of Saco in 1653. Roger Spencer was granted the right in 1653 to build the first sawmill. Lumber and fish became the community's chief exports. In 1659, Major William Phillips of Boston became a proprietor, and constructed a garrison and mill at the falls. During King Philip's War in 1675, the town was attacked by Indians. Settlers withdrew to Winter Harbor for safety, and their homes and mills upriver at the falls were burned. In 1693, a stone fort was built a short distance below the falls, but it was captured by the Indians in 1703, when 11 colonists were killed and 24 taken captive to Canada. In 1688, Fort Mary was built near the entrance to Biddeford Pool The town was reorganized in 1718 as Biddeford, after Bideford, a town in Devon, England, from which some settlers had emigrated. After the Fall of Quebec in 1759, hostilities with the natives ceased.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 59.08 square miles (153.02 km2), of which 28.99 square miles (75.08 km2) are covered by water. Situated beside Saco Bay on the Gulf of Maine, Biddeford is drained by the Little River and the Saco River. The city proper has very diverse geography, from inland rolling hillside, to urban settlement, to coastal sprawl.

The city is crossed by Interstate 95, U. S. Route 1, and state routes 5, 9, 111, and 208. It is bordered by the city of Saco to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, the towns of Dayton and Lyman to the west, and the towns of Kennebunkport and Arundel to the south. The Little River forms a portion of the border between Biddeford and the Goose Rocks neighborhood of Kennebunkport, in Biddeford's most southerly region (Granite Point). East Point, located on the peninsula of Biddeford Pool, is the easternmost point in York County.

Timber Island, the most southerly point in the City of Biddeford, lies in Goosefare Bay at the mouth of the Little River, and is accessible at low tide from Goose Rocks Beach in Kennebunkport. The island and most of adjacent Timber Point became part of the Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge in December 2011.

Famous Peoples From Biddeford Maine

Alfred Joseph Parent

(November 11, 1875 – November 2, 1972 was an professional baseball player. He played all or part of eleven seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB), between 1899 and 1911, for the St. Louis Perfectos, Boston Americans and Chicago White Sox, primarily as a shortstop. Parent batted and threw right-handed. He was born in Biddeford, Maine.

Listed at 5 ft 7 in (1.70 m), 154 lb., Parent was known primarily for his fielding skills, but he also was a solid hitter and an intelligent baserunner. Twice he hit .300, including a career-high .306 in 1901, and led the American League in at bats in 1902. He broke up three no-hit bids, as he got his club's only hits in these games. At shortstop, defensive play saved Cy Young's perfect game. He also was a member of the Boston team who clinched in 1903 the first World Championship in major league history.

In a 12-season career, Parent was a .262 hitter (1306-for-4984) with 20 home runs and 471 RBI in 1327 games, including 180 doubles, 74 triples, 633 runs and 184 stolen bases. In the 1903 World Series, he hit .281 (9-32) with eight runs and four RBI.

Parent was traded to the Baltimore Orioles in 1911 after a pay dispute with Charles Comiskey. In 1914 Baltimore signed Babe Ruth. Parent coached Ruth more than anybody else at the time. Due to low attendance owner Dunn began to sell players. He visited the Red Sox and closed the sale of Ruth with help of Parent who was trusted by player-manager Bill Carrigan.

In the fall of 1960, Parent appeared on the television program I've Got A Secret alongside Pittsburgh Pirate Tommy Leach, as a commemoration of participating in the first World Series in 1903.

Parent died in Sanford, Maine, at the age of 96. At the time of his death, he was the last surviving participant of the inaugural 1903 World Series.

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