Bath, Maine
Encyclopedia
Bath is a city in Sagadahoc County
Sagadahoc County, Maine
Sagadahoc County is a county located in the U.S. state of Maine. As of 2010, the population was 35,293. Its county seat is Bath. In total area, it is the smallest county in Maine....

, 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...

, in the United States. As of the 2000 census
United States Census, 2000
The Twenty-second United States Census, known as Census 2000 and conducted by the Census Bureau, determined the resident population of the United States on April 1, 2000, to be 281,421,906, an increase of 13.2% over the 248,709,873 persons enumerated during the 1990 Census...

, the city population was 9,266. It is the county seat
County seat
A county seat is an administrative center, or seat of government, for a county or civil parish. The term is primarily used in the United States....

 of Sagadahoc County. Located on the Kennebec River
Kennebec River
The Kennebec River is a river that is entirely within the U.S. state of Maine. It rises in Moosehead Lake in west-central Maine. The East and West Outlets join at Indian Pond and the river then flows southward...

, Bath is a port of entry
Port of entry
In general, a port of entry is a place where one may lawfully enter a country. It typically has a staff of people who check passports and visas and inspect luggage to assure that contraband is not imported. International airports are usually ports of entry, as are road and rail crossings on a...

 with a good harbor. The city is popular with tourists, many drawn by its 19th-century architecture
Architecture
Architecture is both the process and product of planning, designing and construction. Architectural works, in the material form of buildings, are often perceived as cultural and political symbols and as works of art...

. It is home to the Bath Iron Works
Bath Iron Works
Bath Iron Works is a major American shipyard located on the Kennebec River in Bath, Maine, United States. Since its founding in 1884 , BIW has built private, commercial and military vessels, most of which have been ordered by the United States Navy...

 and Heritage Days Festival, held annually on the Fourth of July weekend.

Bath is part of the Portland
Portland, Maine
Portland is the largest city in Maine and is the county seat of Cumberland County. The 2010 city population was 66,194, growing 3 percent since the census of 2000...

South Portland
South Portland, Maine
South Portland is a city in Cumberland County, Maine, United States, and is the fourth-largest city in the state. Founded in 1895, as of the 2010 census, the city population was 25,002. Known for its working waterfront, South Portland is situated on Portland Harbor and overlooks the skyline of...

Biddeford
Biddeford, Maine
Biddeford is a town in York County, Maine, United States. It is the largest town in the county, and is the sixth-largest in the state. It is the most southerly incorporated town in the state and the principal commercial center of York County. The population was 21,277 at the 2010 census...

, Maine metropolitan statistical area
Portland-South Portland-Biddeford metropolitan area
The Portland–South Portland–Biddeford Metropolitan Statistical Area, also known as Greater Portland, as defined by the United States Census Bureau, is an area consisting of three counties in Maine, anchored by the city of Portland and the smaller cities of South Portland and Biddeford...

.

History

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...

 called the area Sagadahoc, meaning "mouth of big river." It was a reference to the Kennebec River, which Samuel de Champlain
Samuel de Champlain
Samuel de Champlain , "The Father of New France", was a French navigator, cartographer, draughtsman, soldier, explorer, geographer, ethnologist, diplomat, and chronicler. He founded New France and Quebec City on July 3, 1608....

 explored in 1605. Popham Colony
Popham Colony
The Popham Colony was a short-lived English colonial settlement in North America that was founded in 1607 and located in the present-day town of Phippsburg, Maine near the mouth of the Kennebec River by the proprietary Virginia Company of Plymouth...

 was established in 1607 downstream, together with Fort St. George. The settlement failed due to harsh weather and lack of leadership, but the colonists built the New World
New World
The New World is one of the names used for the Western Hemisphere, specifically America and sometimes Oceania . The term originated in the late 15th century, when America had been recently discovered by European explorers, expanding the geographical horizon of the people of the European middle...

's first oceangoing vessel constructed by English
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...

 shipwrights, the Virginia of Sagadahoc. It provided passage back to England.

The next settlement at Sagadahoc was about 1660, when land titles were purchased from an Indian sagamore known as Robinhood.
Incorporated as part of Georgetown
Georgetown, Maine
Georgetown is a town in Sagadahoc County, Maine, United States. The population was 1,020 at the 2000 census. Home to Reid State Park, the town is part of the Portland–South Portland–Biddeford, Maine Metropolitan Statistical Area...

 in 1753, Bath was set off and incorporated as a town on February 17, 1781. It was named by the postmaster
Postmaster
A postmaster is the head of an individual post office. Postmistress is not used anymore in the United States, as the "master" component of the word refers to a person of authority and has no gender quality...

, Dummer Sewell, after Bath in Somerset
Somerset
The ceremonial and non-metropolitan county of Somerset in South West England borders Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. It is partly bounded to the north and west by the Bristol Channel and the estuary of the...

, England. In 1844, a portion of the town was set off to create West Bath
West Bath, Maine
West Bath is a town in Sagadahoc County, Maine, United States. The population was 1,798 at the 2000 census. A sub-locality of West Bath is Winnegance...

. On June 14, 1847, Bath was incorporated as a city, and in 1854 designated county seat. Land was annexed from West Bath in 1855.

Several industries developed in the city, including lumber
Lumber
Lumber or timber is wood in any of its stages from felling through readiness for use as structural material for construction, or wood pulp for paper production....

, iron
Iron
Iron is a chemical element with the symbol Fe and atomic number 26. It is a metal in the first transition series. It is the most common element forming the planet Earth as a whole, forming much of Earth's outer and inner core. It is the fourth most common element in the Earth's crust...

 and brass
Brass
Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc; the proportions of zinc and copper can be varied to create a range of brasses with varying properties.In comparison, bronze is principally an alloy of copper and tin...

, with trade in ice
Ice
Ice is water frozen into the solid state. Usually ice is the phase known as ice Ih, which is the most abundant of the varying solid phases on the Earth's surface. It can appear transparent or opaque bluish-white color, depending on the presence of impurities or air inclusions...

 and coal
Coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...

. But Bath is renowned for shipbuilding, which began here in 1743 when Jonathan Philbrook and his sons built 2 vessels. Since then, roughly 5,000 vessels have been launched in the area, which at one time had more than 200 shipbuilding firms. Bath became the nation's fifth largest seaport by the mid-19th century, producing clipper ships that sailed to ports around the world. The last commercial enterprise to build wooden ships in the city was the Percy & Small Shipyard, which was acquired for preservation in 1971 by the Maine Maritime Museum. But the most famous shipyard
Shipyard
Shipyards and dockyards are places which repair and build ships. These can be yachts, military vessels, cruise liners or other cargo or passenger ships. Dockyards are sometimes more associated with maintenance and basing activities than shipyards, which are sometimes associated more with initial...

 is the Bath Iron Works
Bath Iron Works
Bath Iron Works is a major American shipyard located on the Kennebec River in Bath, Maine, United States. Since its founding in 1884 , BIW has built private, commercial and military vessels, most of which have been ordered by the United States Navy...

, founded in 1884 by Thomas W. Hyde
Thomas W. Hyde
Thomas Worcester Hyde was a Union Army colonel who subsequently received brevets of brigadier general of volunteers and major general of volunteers in the American Civil War, a state senator from Maine, and the founder of Bath Iron Works, one of the major shipyards in the United States...

. It has built hundreds of wooden and steel vessels, mostly warships
Naval ship
A naval ship is a ship used for combat purposes, commonly by a navy. Naval ships are differentiated from civilian ships by construction and purpose...

 for the U.S. Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...

. During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, Bath Iron Works launched a new ship every 17 days. The shipyard is a major regional employer, and operates today as a division of the General Dynamics Corporation.

The city is noted for its Federal, Greek Revival, and Italianate architecture, including the 1858 Custom House and Post Office designed by Ammi B. Young
Ammi B. Young
Ammi Burnham Young was an important 19th century American architect whose commissions transitioned from the Greek Revival to the Neo-Renaissance styles. His Second Vermont State House brought him fame and success, which eventually led him to become the first Supervising Architect of the U.S....

. Bath is sister city to Shariki (now Tsugaru
Tsugaru, Aomori
is a city located in northeastern Aomori in Tōhoku region of Japan. As of 2009, the city had an estimated population of 37,957 and a density of 150 persons per km². Its total area was 253.85 km²...

) in Japan, where the locally-built full rigged ship
Full rigged ship
A full rigged ship or fully rigged ship is a sailing vessel with three or more masts, all of them square rigged. A full rigged ship is said to have a ship rig....

 Cheseborough
Cheseborough
The Cheseborough was a 19th-century American ship which wrecked off the coast of Japan in 1889.- History :The full rigged ship Cheseborough was built in Bath, Maine, U.S.A....

was wrecked in 1889. Scenes from the movies Message in a Bottle (1999) and The Man Without a Face
The Man Without a Face
The Man Without a Face is a 1993 drama film starring and directed by Mel Gibson. The film is based on Isabelle Holland's 1972 novel of the same name. Gibson's directorial debut received respectful reviews from most critics.-Plot:...

(1993) were filmed in the city.

Geography

Bath is located at 43°54′59"N 69°49′21"W (43.916293, -69.822565).

According to the United States Census Bureau
United 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 city has a total area of 13.2 square miles (34.2 km²), of which 9.1 square miles (23.6 km²) is land and 4.1 square miles (10.6 km²) (31.12%) is water. Situated at the head of Casco Bay
Casco Bay
Casco Bay is an inlet of the Gulf of Maine on the southern coast of Maine, New England, United States. Its easternmost approach is Cape Small and its westernmost approach is Two Lights in Cape Elizabeth...

, Bath is drained by the Kennebec River
Kennebec River
The Kennebec River is a river that is entirely within the U.S. state of Maine. It rises in Moosehead Lake in west-central Maine. The East and West Outlets join at Indian Pond and the river then flows southward...

.

Demographics

As of the census
Census
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 9,266 people, 4,042 households, and 2,344 families residing in the city. 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 1,016.8 people per square mile (392.7/km²). There were 4,383 housing units at an average density of 481.0 per square mile (185.8/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 94.92% White, 1.60% Black or African American
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...

, 0.58% Native American, 0.47% Asian, 0.13% Pacific Islander, 0.68% 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 1.62% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.76% of the population.

There were 4,042 households out of which 29.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 40.8% 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, 13.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 42.0% were non-families. 34.1% of all households were made up of individuals and
13.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.26 and the average family size was 2.91.

In the city the population was spread out with 25.0% under the age of 18, 8.4% from 18 to 24, 29.5% from 25 to 44, 23.0% from 45 to 64, and 14.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females there were 91.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 86.9 males.

The median household income in the city was $36,372, and the median family income was $45,830. Males had a median income of $35,064 versus $22,439 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 city was $19,112. About 9.3% of families and 11.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 17.5% of those under age 18 and 9.6% of those age 65 or over.

Education

  • Bath School Department
    Bath School Department
    The Bath School Department in Bath, Maine, consists of five public schools: Huse Kindergarten Center, Dike-Knewell Elementary, Fisher-Mitchell, Bath Middle School and Morse High School. As of 2006, the Bath School Department served 1,073 students....

     
    • Dike-Newell Elementary, grades K-3
    • Fisher-Mitchell Elementary, grades 3-5
    • Bath Middle School — serves 430 students in grades 6-8 as of 2006. The school's mascot is the Destroyers, a type of ship built by the Bath Iron Works. The school colors are blue and white.
    • Morse High School
      Morse High School
      Morse High School is the name of several high schools:* Samuel F. B. Morse High School San Diego, California* Morse High School Bath, Maine...

       — The Morse High Shipbuilders (team). Sports include Cross Country, Football, Cheerleading, Swimming, Basketball, Tennis, Indoor/Outdoor Track & Field, Softball, Baseball. Clubs include the International Club, O Ambassadors Club, Anime Club, and more.
  • Hyde School, a private boarding school
    Boarding school
    A boarding school is a school where some or all pupils study and live during the school year with their fellow students and possibly teachers and/or administrators. The word 'boarding' is used in the sense of "bed and board," i.e., lodging and meals...

  • Southern Maine Community College at Bath
  • University College at Bath/Brunswick

Climate

Sites of interest


Notable people

  • Nathaniel S. Berry
    Nathaniel S. Berry
    Nathaniel Springer Berry was an American tanner from Hebron, New Hampshire. He served New Hampshire in both houses of the state legislature and as Governor for two terms. He was born in 1796 in Bath, Maine. During the American Civil War, he played a vital role in state recruitment levels...

    , governor of New Hampshire
  • Georgia Cayvan
    Georgia Cayvan
    Georgie Eva Cayvan was a popular stage actress in the United States in the later part of the nineteenth century.-Early life:...

    , stage actress
  • McDonald Clarke
    McDonald Clarke
    McDonald Clarke was a poet of some fame in New York City in the early part of the 19th century. He was an influence on, and eulogized by Walt Whitman; but widely known as "the mad poet of Broadway", a label with which he identified...

    , poet
  • Edward Davis, buccaneer/engineer
  • Samuel Davis
    Samuel Davis
    Samuel Davis was a U.S. Representative from Massachusetts. He is also the illustrator behind the newer anniversary covers of American Chillers.-Biography:...

    , congressman
  • Claude Demetrius
    Claude Demetrius
    Claude Demetrius was an African American songwriter.Born in Bath, Maine, by his early twenties he was in New York City writing music for and/or with the likes of Louis Armstrong, Jimmy Witherspoon and B.B. King. Demetrius wrote the 1945 musical comedy short film Open the Door, Richard...

    , songwriter
  • Emma Eames
    Emma Eames
    Emma Eames was an American soprano renowned for the beauty of her voice. She sang major lyric and lyric-dramatic roles in opera and had an important career in New York, London and Paris during the last decade of the 19th century and the first decade of the 20th century.-Early life:The daughter of...

    , singer
  • Francis H. Fassett, architect
  • Henry Gannett
    Henry Gannett
    Henry Gannett, M.E.; LL.D. was an American geographer who is described as the "Father of the Quadrangle" which is the basis for topographical maps in the United States.-Life:...

    , geographer
  • Charles Frederick Hughes
    Charles Frederick Hughes
    Charles Frederick Hughes was an admiral in the United States Navy and served as Chief of Naval Operations.-Biography:...

    , admiral
  • Thomas W. Hyde
    Thomas W. Hyde
    Thomas Worcester Hyde was a Union Army colonel who subsequently received brevets of brigadier general of volunteers and major general of volunteers in the American Civil War, a state senator from Maine, and the founder of Bath Iron Works, one of the major shipyards in the United States...

    , general, senator, and founder of Bath Iron Works
  • John Adams Jackson
    John Adams Jackson
    John Adams Jackson was a noted American sculptor.Jackson was born in Bath, Maine, and apprenticed to a machinist in Boston, where he gave evidence of talent by modelling a bust of Thomas Buchanan Read. There he studied linear and geometrical drawing and produced crayon portraits...

    , sculptor
  • Robert Jaffe
    Robert Jaffe
    Robert L. Jaffe is an American physicist and the Jane and Otto Morningstar Professor of Physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology . He was formerly director of the MIT Center for Theoretical Physics.-Biography:...

    , physicist
  • William King
    William King (governor)
    William King was an American merchant, shipbuilder, army officer, and statesman from Bath, Maine. A proponent of statehood for Maine, he became its first Governor when it separated from Massachusetts in 1820....

    , governor
  • George F. Magoun, first president of Iowa College (now Grinnell College
    Grinnell College
    Grinnell College is a private liberal arts college in Grinnell, Iowa, U.S. known for its strong tradition of social activism. It was founded in 1846, when a group of pioneer New England Congregationalists established the Trustees of Iowa College....

    )
  • Edward Page Mitchell
    Edward Page Mitchell
    Edward Page Mitchell was an American editorial and short story writer for the New York Sun, a daily newspaper. He became that newspaper's editor in 1897, succeeding Charles Anderson Dana. Mitchell retired in 1926, a year before dying of a cerebral hemorrhage...

    , editorial and short story writer
  • Charles W. Morse
    Charles W. Morse
    Charles Wyman Morse was a notorious businessman and speculator on Wall Street in the early 20th century.-Early life:...

    , businessman
  • Freeman H. Morse
    Freeman H. Morse
    Freeman Harlow Morse was a United States Representative from Maine. He was born in Bath on February 18, 1807. He attended private schools and the academy in Bath. He engaged in business as a carver of figureheads for ships....

    , congressman and mayor
  • Amos Nourse
    Amos Nourse
    Amos Nourse was a medical doctor and U.S. Senator for a very short term from the state of Maine. Born in Bolton, Massachusetts, he graduated from Harvard College in 1812 and from Harvard Medical School in 1817. At first settling in Wiscasset, and subsequently in Hallowell, Maine, he finally...

    , physician and senator
  • Maury Povich
    Maury Povich
    Maurice Richard "Maury" Povich is an American TV talk show host who currently hosts his self-titled talk show Maury.-Personal background:...

    , TV personality
  • William LeBaron Putnam
    William LeBaron Putnam
    William LeBaron Putnam was a lawyer and politician in Maine and later served as a United States federal judge....

    , lawyer and politician
  • William Maxwell Reed
    William Maxwell Reed
    William Maxwell Reed , a.k.a. W. Maxwell Reed, was a pioneering U.S. author of illustrated science books for children.Reed was born in Bath, Maine in 1871...

    , author of children's science books
  • Harold M. Sewall
    Harold M. Sewall
    Harold Marsh Sewall was an American politician and diplomat.Sewall was born in Bath, Sagadahoc County, Maine, on January 3, 1860. He was a member of the Maine state house of representatives, 1896, 1903–07; and delegate to Republican National Convention from Maine, 1896...

    , ambassador
  • Sumner Sewall
    Sumner Sewall
    Sumner Sewall was a U.S. Republican politician and airline executive who served as the 58th Governor of Maine from 1941 to 1945. He began his aviation career during World War I as a fighter ace.-Biography:...

    , governor
  • William Smith
    William Smith (Medal of Honor, 1869)
    William Smith was a private in the United States Army who received the Medal of Honor for gallantry in action at Chiricahua Mountains, Arizona Territory on October 20, 1869 during the Indian Wars.-Biography:...

    , Medal of Honor
    Medal of Honor
    The Medal of Honor is the highest military decoration awarded by the United States government. It is bestowed by the President, in the name of Congress, upon members of the United States Armed Forces who distinguish themselves through "conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his or her...

     recipient.
  • Silas Soule
    Silas Soule
    Silas Stillman Soule was a Massachusetts abolitionist, Kansas Territory Jayhawker, and a soldier in the Colorado infantry and cavalry during the American Civil War. Captain Soule, as commander of Company D, 1st Colorado Cavalry, was present at the Sand Creek Massacre on November 29, 1864...

    , abolitionist and soldier
  • Francis B. Stockbridge
    Francis B. Stockbridge
    Francis Brown Stockbridge was a U.S. Senator from the state of Michigan.Stockbridge was born in Bath, Maine and attended the common schools. He clerked at a wholesale house in Boston 1843-1847. He moved to Chicago and opened a lumber yard. He then moved to Saugatuck, Michigan in 1851 and engaged...

    , senator
  • Peleg Tallman
    Peleg Tallman
    Peleg Tallman was a United States Representative from Massachusetts. He was born in Tiverton, Rhode Island on July 24, 1764 and attended public schools. He served in the Revolutionary War on the privateer Trumbull, and lost an arm in an engagement in 1780. He was captured and imprisoned by the...

    , congressman
  • William Zorach
    William Zorach
    William Zorach was a Lithuanian-born American sculptor, painter, printmaker, and writer. He won the Logan Medal of the arts.-Life and career:...

    , sculptor

Further reading


External links

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