Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
1885Sheet 1 of 1
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Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Abenaki Indians called the falls Anmecangin, meaning "much fish". The area was once part of Little River Plantation, a portion of which was incorporated in 1799 as Thompsonborough, then renamed in 1802 after Lisbon, Portugal. In 1806, Lisbon annexed the remainder of Little River Plantation. With water power from the Androscoggin River, Lisbon Falls became a small mill town. Before it burned down in 1987, the Worumbo Mill was the main mill in Lisbon Falls. It had been incorporated in 1864, and was world-famous for its woolens. Especially well known were its vicuña wool products, which became famous when President Eisenhower's Chief of Staff, Sherman Adams, received a vicuna sport coat as a gift from a wealthy industrialist and had to resign due to the resulting scandal. The town's primary employment was at a gypsum mill, which closed in 2009. Another large employer is Bath Iron Works, in…
Passages that mention Lisbon Falls, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Androscoggin County, Maine ..1891 · page 434Read the page →
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northeasterly from Portland, and thirty southwesterly from Augusta. Thompsonborough was so named in honor of the Thompson famil}'-, who were large owners of land in Little River Plantation, adjoining Thompsonborough and Bowdoin. Little River Plantation, now called Lisbon Falls, was a part of the Pejepscot purchase, being a gore between Little Androscoggin and Sabattus rivers, adjoining the old town on its southern extremity, and was annexed to Lisbon (after considerable opposition) March 4, 1808. In 1840 Webster was set off from the northern part. The soil and surface are admirably adapted to
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Timeline
Lisbon Falls, 1864 to 1942
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →
From Wikimedia Commons (6), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
1906
2016
2012
2012
