Mexico (town), Maine
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mexico is a town in Oxford County, Maine, United States. The population was 2,959 at the 2000 census. It was incorporated as a town in 1818.
Mexico is located on several hills overlooking the Androscoggin River. It is located across that river from the neighboring town of Rumford, which town has a large paper mill. The Swift River is also important to the town and empties into the Androscoggin River at Mexico's southwest corner and its historic business center. While the large Androscoggin River forms Mexico's southern boundary with Rumford, the smaller Swift River more or less follows its western boundary with that town. Due to Mexico's business center being located here on land formed by the northeast corner of the right-angle junction of the two rivers, and prior to the development of Rumford Falls on the Androscoggin River, and the subsequent boom in manufacturing mills and residential population which took place around that power source near the end of the 19th century, Mexico was primarily a farming community and locally known as Mexico Corner. These low lying banks along the Swift and Androscoggin Rivers in Mexico have been flooded many times. In the 20th century, major floods occurred in 1936, 1953, and 1987.
The United States Census Bureau provides additional demographic detail for the more densely populated central village area within the town. Those details are included in the aggregate population and area values reported here. See: Mexico (CDP), Maine.
Contents |
[edit] Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 61.3 km² (23.6 mi²). 60.7 km² (23.4 mi²) of it is land and 0.6 km² (0.2 mi²) of it (0.93%) is water.
[edit] Demographics
As of the census2 of 2000, there were 2,959 people, 1,298 households, and 820 families residing in the town. The population density was 48.8/km² (126.3/mi²). There were 1,448 housing units at an average density of 23.9/km² (61.8/mi²). The racial makeup of the town was 97.84% White, 0.24% Black or African American, 0.88% Asian, and 1.05% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.27% of the population.
There were 1,298 households out of which 28.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 44.5% were married couples living together, 13.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 36.8% were non-families. 31.5% of all households were made up of individuals and 15.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.27 and the average family size was 2.80.
In the town the population was spread out with 24.0% under the age of 18, 6.7% from 18 to 24, 27.9% from 25 to 44, 21.8% from 45 to 64, and 19.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females there were 95.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.4 males.
The median income for a household in the town was $27,406, and the median income for a family was $33,776. Males had a median income of $38,214 versus $23,298 for females. The per capita income for the town was $16,322. About 10.9% of families and 15.9% of the population were below the poverty line, including 22.0% of those under age 18 and 5.1% of those age 65 or over.
[edit] Trivia
The town was settled in the early 19th century with the name of Holmanstown. In 1818, Holmanstown petitioned its incorporation with the name of Mexico because in those years, the current country of Mexico was fighting for its independence from Spain, and many of the townspeople at that time recalled their own country's fight for independence less than 50 years prior and so were sympathetic to the Mexican's cause [1]. Soon after that point, the town had been divided into two parts, a wester section, and an eastern section called Ridlonville. They have merged back into one town since.
