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DiscoverMaineMagazine.com
Three Lisbon Villages, One Community More than Moxie to survive by Charles Francis
L
isbon is one of the most unique communities in Maine. One of the things that makes it so unique is, with a population of some nine thousand, it is one of the most populous municipalities in New England that maintains a town meeting form of government. Lisbon is also the host community for the famous Moxie Festival, which celebrates what many Maine and New England diehards consider the state’s (and the region’s) official soft drink. However, more than anything else, the one thing that really makes Lisbon unique is that it is a community comprised of three distinct villages. If you were to ask a resident of Lis-
bon where he or she lived, you would most likely get one of three answers: Lisbon Falls, Lisbon or Lisbon Center. Lisbon Falls is the largest of the town’s three villages. It is also the most southerly, bordering on Topsham. Lisbon is the oldest of the three. It borders on Lewiston and Sabattus. Between the two, on the highland overlooking the Sabattus River where it joins the Androscoggin, is Lisbon Center. As a town, Lisbon is something of a contradiction. While the community is bordered by the four small towns of Bowdoin, Topsham, Durham and Sabattus, in addition to the city of Lewiston, it also has something of the flavor
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of an urban center. Over a hundred thousand people live within twenty miles of it. Back in the Roaring 20s, Lisbon was a transportation center for much of the lower Androscoggin Valley. It was here that the Androscoggin and Kennebec Trolley Line made its connection with the Lewiston-Bath Branch of the Maine Central Railroad. While the trolley line went out of business during the Great Depression, and passenger service on the Maine Central Railroad ended almost sixty years ago, Route 196, which traverses the entire length of the town, is a major connector between Interstate 95 and Interstate 295. Because of the readily available wa(cont. on page 8)
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