Minot

[MY-nut] is a town in Androscoggin County, settled in 1769 and incorporated on February 18, 1802 from a portion of Poland. In 1842 it set off land to form Auburn and adjusted that boundary in 1844 and ceded more land in 1873.

 

 

 

 

 

In 1893 it set off land to form part of Mechanic Falls, finally reaching its current size.

Martin and Moses Crafts established the Minot Shoe Company in 1835 in a portion of the town that was to become part of Auburn. In the mid-19th century, Horatio Bonney and Samuel Merrill were also operating a shoe making business.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Minot a growing community in recent decades, has become a residential commuter area for nearby Lewiston-Auburn with its location just west of Auburn. Minot village is located in the extreme south of the township at the junction of Maine routes 119 and 11/121, across the Little Androscoggin River from Poland.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

West Minot village is tucked away at the northwest edge of the community at the junction of Maine routes 119 and 124, adjacent to Hebron. The village once had an active railroad station and a grist mill.  The old grange hall, community church, and railroad station keep the flavor of earlier times.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photos above are from the Woodman Hill Road as it approaches West Minot. The village is in a small valley surrounding Bog Brook, which once powered the grist mill.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Town government facilities are on the Woodman Hill Road (Route 119), south of West Minot Village. The now retired snow plow moves on crawler tracks, like a bulldozer.

 

 

 

 

 

The Minot Center Congregation Church is on the Center Minot Road, literally in the south center of the town near the Jackson Hill Road. William Ladd is memorialized as “The Apostle of Peace” on the plaque posted on the bolder near the church.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

William Ladd memorial. 

See Text Above

 

 

 

 

 

Form of Government: Town Meeting-Select Board-Administrator.

Additional resources

Letts, Elizabeth “The Ride of Her Life: The True story of a Woman, Her Horse, and Their Last-Chance-Journey Across America.” A story of a Minot woman, Annie Wilkins, affectionately known locally as “Jackass Annie” because she was so poor she had to ride a donkey in her struggles on her declining farm.[2021] 

 

Butler, Elbridge O. Diaries: 1869-1870, 1874-1882, 1889-1892, 1895-1903, 1906-1908, 1911-1912, 1914-1921, 1925-1929: Account books, 1888-1893, 1869-1929. Maine State Library. 21 volumes. Library use only. Author was in Dexter, Iowa, in 1869; worked in textile mills in Lawrence, Mass., 1870-1892, and Grosvenor Dale, Conn., 1892-1895, and was engaged in farming in Minot, Me., 1895-1929.

Hemond, Noella. Short Stories of Some Minot Residents: Life & Times, Past & Present: Notable’s [sic] of the Town… : in Celebration of Minot’s Bicentennial. Norway, Me. L. Hodsdon. 2002.

Hodsdon, Lucille Hemond. Minot Homesteads Then & Now: Also Granges, Schools, Churches: Minot’s Bicentennial. Norway, Me. L. Hodsdon. 2002.

Jumper, Anne Susan. The Diary of Anne Susan Jumper: Revelations of a Rural Woman, 1844-1846. Thesis (M.A.)–University of Southern Maine. 1992.

Merrill & Bonney (Firm). Ledger, 1846-1853. (Cataloger Note: Ledger listing work done for customers by Horatio Bonney and Samuel Merrill, shoemakers in Minot, Maine.) [University of Maine, Raymond H. Fogler Library, Special Collections]

Noyes, Crosby Stuart. The Crown of New England: The Grand Old Town of Minot, Maine. Washington. Press of Judd and Detweiler. 1904.