City/Town

Milo (1896)

Map Title

Milo, Me. Piscataquis Co. 1896.

Artist

George E. Norris

Preview

Publication Date

1896

County

Piscataquis

Artist

George E. Norris

Dimensions

41.7 x 58.2 cm

Owner

Milo Historical Society

Population of City/Town at Time of Publication

1,150

Description of City/Town

The community was first known as Township Number 3 in the seventh range north of the Waldo Patent. It was settled by Benjamin Sargent and his son, Theophilus, from Methuen, Massachusetts, on May 2, 1802. On January 21, 1823, it was incorporated as Milo, named after Milo of Croton, a famous athlete from ancient Croton in Magna Graecia, Italy. It would become a trade center, with Trafton's Falls providing water power for early industry. In 1823, Winborn A. Swett built a dam at the 14-foot (4.3 m) river drop and erected the first sawmill. Thomas White soon added a carding and fulling mill. The Joseph Cushing & Company built a woolen textile mill in 1842, but it burned six years later.

The Bangor and Piscataquis Railroad arrived in 1868–1869, and Milo developed into a small mill town. It produced numerous lumber goods, and in 1879 the Boston Excelsior Company built a factory to manufacture excelsior. The American Thread Company built a factory with a narrow gauge industrial railway in 1901–1902, moving its equipment from Willimantic, Connecticut.

Historic Newspaper References

Piscataquis Observer, Dover, April 30, 1896

Mr. Geo. E. Norris of Brockton is making a survey and sketch of Milo which later will be published in the form of a photogravure.

Usage Rights

All requests to commercially publish and/or distribute reproductions of high-resolution images in the Milo Historical Society Museum collection must be submitted via e-mail to the Milo Historical Society Museum. Some images in the Museum’s collections may be protected by copyright or other intellectual property rights. Additional permission may be required. Low resolution images are freely available for personal research or educational uses. All image requests, regardless of their intended purpose, must be submitted via email to amonroeart@gmail.com

Recommended Citation

Milo Historical Society Museum