Phippsburg, Maine
Phippsburg, Maine Location within the state of Maine
Coordinates: 43°47′35″N 69°49′4″W / 43.79306, -69.81778
Country	United States
State	Maine
County	Sagadahoc
Area
- Total	43.9 sq mi (113.7 km²)
- Land	28.9 sq mi (74.8 km²)
- Water	15.1 sq mi (39.0 km²)
Elevation	128 ft (39 m)
Population (2000)
- Total	2,106
- Density	73.0/sq mi (28.2/km²)
Time zone	Eastern (EST) (UTC-5)
- Summer (DST)	EDT (UTC-4)
ZIP codes	04562, 04567
Area code(s)	207
FIPS code	23-58515
GNIS feature ID	0582675

Phippsburg is a town in Sagadahoc County, Maine, on the west side of the mouth of the Kennebec River. The population was 2,106 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Portland–South Portland–Biddeford, Maine Metropolitan Statistical Area. The town contains Bates-Morse Mountain Conservation Area and Popham Beach State Park.

As the site of the ultimately unsuccessful Popham Colony in the seventeenth century, Phippsburg was one of the first sections of Maine to be settled by Europeans. While the colony was in existence, colonists built Virginia of Sagadahoc, the first ship in Maine's long history of shipbuilding.

The principal industries of Phippsburg today are fishing and tourism.

History

Following the abandoning of the Popham Colony in 1608, European settlement of the area around the mouth of the Kennebec river (present-day Phippsburg, Georgetown, Bath, Woolwich, and Arrowsic) began in 1653. Gradual settlement continued until 1676, when Native American attacks on the east side of the Kennebec led to European desertion of the entire area.

Re-settlement began in 1679, at "New Town" on the southern end of Arrowsic Island (across the Kennebec from present-day Phippsburg Center,) but the area was deserted again following the Second Indian War in 1689.

In 1714, the New Town site was reestablished, as was another in the Small Point Harbor area of Phippsburg. The New Town site won recognition as a Township under the name Georgetown, but again in 1724 the area was deserted briefly under Indian pressure. By 1751, slow resettlement found ten farms along the Kennebec river and five more on the Casco Bay side of the Phippsburg peninsula.

In 1738, the boundaries of Georgetown were enlarged to include most of present-day Phippsburg and Bath, as well as West Bath, Woolwich, Georgetown and Arrowsic. Today's towns began splitting away in 1759, when Woolwich withdrew, followed by Bath and West Bath (as one unit) in 1781. Phippsburg was born as an independent town in 1814, when the Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts granted the town's petition for incorporation under the name "Phipsburgh." The town was thus named after Sir William Phips, actually a native of Woolwich, even though the original petition had requested that the town be named "Dromore" after one of its oldest sections.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 43.9 square miles (113.8 km²), of which, 28.9 square miles (74.7 km²) of it is land and 15.1 square miles (39.0 km²) of it (34.29%) is water.

Demographics

As of the census^[1] of 2000, there were 2,106 people, 859 households, and 622 families residing in the town. The population density was 73.0 people per square mile (28.2/km²). There were 1,554 housing units at an average density of 53.8/sq mi (20.8/km²). The racial makeup of the town was 98.53% White, 0.28% African American, 0.24% Native American, 0.24% Asian, and 0.71% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.57% of the population.

There were 859 households out of which 28.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 62.5% were married couples living together, 5.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 27.5% were non-families. 21.8% of all households were made up of individuals and 8.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.45 and the average family size was 2.82.

In the town the population was spread out with 22.4% under the age of 18, 5.3% from 18 to 24, 26.5% from 25 to 44, 30.7% from 45 to 64, and 15.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 43 years. For every 100 females there were 105.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 101.7 males.

The median income for a household in the town was $46,739, and the median income for a family was $53,631. Males had a median income of $33,214 versus $26,250 for females. The per capita income for the town was $22,205. About 5.8% of families and 9.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 8.8% of those under age 18 and 14.4% of those age 65 or over.

Sources

Phippsburg-Fair To The Wind, Compiled by the Phippsburg Historical Society, 1964.

External links

• Town of Phippsburg website
• Maine's First Ship - A project to reconstruct the Virginia

Coordinates: 43°49′14″N, 69°48′53″W