Bangor is a city in Penobscot County, Maine, United States. Bangor had a population of 31,753 in 15,900 households in an area of 89.59 km² as of the 2020 US Census. This makes Bangor the third largest city in Maine and Shire Town of Penobscot County.
According to the United States Census Bureau, Bangor has a total area of 89.59 km², of which 88.73 km² is land and 0.85 km² is water.
Bangor is situated at
the point where the Kenduskeag Stream flows into the Penobscot
River, some 90 km from the sea. Bangor has a harbor that is also
accessible to larger ships. A 400 m long bridge connects it to
Brewer. Bangor is located in southern Penobscot County. The surface
is flat, with no elevations worth mentioning.
neighboring
communities
All distances are given as the crow flies between the
official coordinates of the 2010 census locations.
Northeast:
Orono, 7.1 km
East: Veazie, 4 miles
South: Brewer, 4 miles
Southwest: Hampden, 13.0 km
West: Hermon, 9.1 km
Northwest:
Glenburn, 5 miles
city outline
The City of Bangor is
divided into several settlement areas: Bangor, East Bangor, North
Bangor, North Bangor Station, Six Mile Falls, Stillwater Avenue and
West Bangor.
The mean average temperature in Bangor ranges from −7.8°C (18°F) in January to 21.1°C (70°F) in July. This means that the place is about 9 degrees cooler than the long-term mean of the USA. Snowfall between October and May is up to eight feet, more than twice the mean snow depth in the United States; the daily sunshine duration is at the lower end of the value spectrum for the USA.
The first settlement of European immigrants in present-day Bangor was
established around 1769 by Jacob Buswell. At that time, Maine was not
yet an independent state, but part of Massachusetts. The settlement was
a large plantation named Kenduskeag after the river of the same name on
which it was situated. In 1787 the place was briefly named Sunbury, in
1791 it was finally renamed to its present name, probably under the
influence of the vicar Seth Noble. During the British-American War, the
plantation was occupied by the British for a few days in September 1814
and completely burned down, but rebuilt. On February 24, 1834, Bangor
was raised to the status of a municipality, and on March 26, 1853, it
was declared a town.
The economic rise of Bangor was closely
linked to the development of the timber industry. The first sawmill went
into operation in 1772. By the mid 1830s there were over 300 sawmills
and Bangor had become a center for the timber industry. Up until the
1870s, Bangor was the capital of the timber industry: up to 350 million
linear meters of timber planks were shipped out of its port every year.
Towards the end of the 19th century, Bangor lost its prominent position
as it faced competition from the development of wooded areas in the
western United States, particularly in the states of Minnesota and
Oregon. Today there are no more sawmills in Bangor.
In April
1911, Bangor experienced its greatest catastrophe when a major fire
destroyed large parts of the city. The fact that most of the buildings
were made of wood allowed the fire to spread quickly. Almost 300 houses
were destroyed and another 100 badly damaged. The reconstruction changed
the face of the city significantly.
Until the conclusion of the
US-Canadian Customs Treaty in 1854, Bangor was an important port,
including for timber.
Museums
Bangor is home to a number of museums, including the Maine
Discovery Museum, a children's museum. The Cole Land Transportation
Museum specializes in vehicles. The University Of Maine Museum of Art is
an art museum and the Maine Forest and Logging Museum is dedicated to
the logging industry.
buildings
In Bangor, numerous structures
and six districts have been listed as historical monuments and placed on
the National Register of Historic Places.
as district
Bangor
Theological Seminary Historic District, 1977 under register no.
77000080.
Broadway Historic District, 1973 under registration no.
73000244.
Great Fire of 1911 Historic District, 1984 under
registration no. 84001479.
Mount Hope Cemetery District, 1974 under
registration no. 74000187.
West Market Square Historic District, 1979
under registration no. 79000161.
Whitney Park Historic District, 1988
under registration no. 88001844.
as a building
Adams-Pickering
Block, 1974 under register no. 76000110.
All Souls Congregational
Church, 1992 under register no. 92000790.
Bangor Children's Home,
1975 under register no. 75000103.
Bangor Fire Engine House No. 6,
1988 under the register no. 88000394.
Bangor Hose House No. 5, 1997
under the register no. 97001130.
Bangor House, 1972 under register
no. 72000076.
Bangor Mental Health Institute, 1987 under registration
no. 87000420.[Bangor Standpipe, 1974 under registration no. 74000185.
Battleship Maine Monument, 1999 under registration no. 99001187.
Blake House, 1972 under register no. 72000077.
Charles G. Bryant
Double House, 1986 under register no. 86001338.
Building at 84-96
Hammond Street, 2005 under registration no. 05000797.
Colonial
Apartments, 2012 under register no. 12001067.
Connors House, 1983
under register no. 83003669.
Samuel Farrar House, 1974 under register
no. 74000186.
Godfrey-Kellogg House, 1973 under register no.
73000136.
Grand Army Memorial Home, 1972 under registration no.
72000105.
Hannibal Hamlin House, 1979 under register no. 79000160.
Hammond Street Congregation Church, 1982 under register no. 82000774.
Charles W. Jenkins House, 1990 under registration no. 90001469.
Jonas
Cutting-Edward Kent House, 1973 under the register no. 73000137.
Joseph W. Low House, 1973 under register no. 73000138.
Morse & Co.
Office Building, 1973 under register no. 73000139.
St. John's
Catholic Church, 1973 under register no. 73000142.
Sargent-Roberts
House, 1996 under register no. 96001476.
Zebulon Smith House, 1974
under register no. 74000189.
Symphony House, 1972 under register no.
72000078.
Jones P. Veazie House, 1988 under register no. 88000890.
Wardwell-Trickey Double House, 1992 under register no. 92000795.
Wheelwright Block, 1974 under registration no. 74000191.
Gen. John
Williams House, 1978 under registration no. 78000195.
Penobscot
Expedition Site, 1973 under register no. 73000140.
Interstate 95 runs parallel to the Penobscot River through Bangor. To
the south, Interstate 395 branches off toward Holden. Also running
parallel to the Penobscot River is the U.S. Hwy 2 through Bangor. Coming
from the north, Maine State Route 222 and Maine State Route 15 join it.
From 1889 to 1945 Bangor had an electric tramway.
The former
military airfield Dow Air Force Base was converted into the civil Bangor
International Airport in 1968, where large aircraft can still land. The
airport continues to be used by the military, especially for transports
to Europe. Bangor International Airport is one of the most important
airports for troops returning from Iraq. Therefore, there is a dedicated
office for welcoming returning soldiers. This airport serves as one of
the major stopover airports for refueling and technical problems on the
route between North America and Europe. Five lines with 60 daily flights
are scheduled to be handled at the airport.
In 2005, this place
hit the headlines because airliners stopped here to disembark passengers
suspected of terror (the so-called no-fly list) and interrogate them
more closely.
A local daily newspaper, the Bangor Daily News, and the same
publishing house, a national weekly newspaper, The Weekly, appear in
Bangor.
Public facilities
Bangor is home to several medical
facilities and hospitals, which are also available to residents of the
surrounding communities.
The Bangor Public Library has its
origins in 1830. At the time it consisted of seven books in a small box.
Over time, the collection expanded, and in 1883 the city took over
$100,000 from the estate of Samuel F. Hersey, all of which benefited the
library. The money was used to buy 20,000 books. In 1911 the library
held 70,000 books and was the largest public library in the state until
a fire in April 1911 destroyed the library. The library opened in May
1911 with a stock of 29 rescued books, 1,330 books on loan at the time
of the fire and 46 books returned by the bookbinder. The cornerstone for
a new building was laid in June 1912 and the building opened on December
20, 1913.
The Bangor School Department is responsible for education. The
schools in Bangor are:
Abraham Lincoln School with classes from
pre-kindergarten to 3rd grade
Downeast School with classes from
pre-kindergarten to 3rd grade
Fourteenth Street School with classes
from pre-kindergarten through 3rd grade
Fruit Street School with
classes from pre-kindergarten to 3rd grade
Vine Street School with
classes from pre-kindergarten through 3rd grade
Fairmount School with
classes from kindergarten to 5th grade
Mary Snow School with school
classes from kindergarten to the 5th grade
James F. Doughty School,
Middle School with classes from 6th to 8th grade
William S. Cohen
School, Middle School with classes from 6th to 8th grade
Bangor High
School, high school with classes from 9th to 12th grade
Just outside
of Bangor in the town of Orono is the University of Maine, the main
campus of the University of Maine System.