The Town of Brunswick
Brunswick defies labeling as a college town, a navy town, a manufacturing town, a shopping center, a professional center, a transportation center, an urban community, a rural community or a bedroom community. It is all of these, a blend with none being enough more important than the others to become dominant.
Brunswick is among the larger population centers in the state, numbering about 21,000 residents. In area Brunswick is 47 square miles within irregular boundaries, it measures nearly 12 miles across at it’s widest and about three miles at it’s narrowest point from the Androscoggin River on the North to Maquoit Bay on the South. Brunswick has a long irregular shoreline measuring about 66 miles on Casco Bay and another 12 miles on the Androscoggin River. Brunswick’s coastal areas include a number of small uninhabited islands.
Maine Street is one of Brunswick’s more distinctive features because of its great width in the downtown area. The Pejepscot proprietors obviously were not thinking of modern traffic needs when they laid it out in 1717 at a width of 12 rods (198) feet. With a cleared swath and a footpath in the center, anyone traveling between the fort on the river and Maquoit Bay would be nearly 100 feet from the woods on each side, providing some protection from an ambush by marauding Indians.
The flat sandy ground Southeast of Maine Street became the site of a small airport in the 1930s, that site attracted the Navy during World War II and was expanded to become the Brunswick Naval Air Station which is still a prominent feature in Brunswick.
Brunswick is also home to Bowdoin College. Established in 1794 it was the first college in the State of Maine, The Medical School of Maine was established at Bowdoin in 1820 and continued there until 1921. Bowdoin College continues to grow today and has been one of the more important influences in making Brunswick what it is.
Brunswick is also a transportation hub with major highways and rail lines splitting here to serve the states two largest cities, Portland and Lewiston, and the capital city of Augusta all within 30 miles, as well as the coastal downeast area.
Brunswick enjoys a mix of retail, professional and arts along with light to medium industrial businesses. Traditional farming, foresting and commercial fishing are also still found in Brunswick.