Town of Norway Maine,Town Office, History of Norway Maine

all of your questions about our beautiful hills and welcoming lakes and our historic downtown.

We hope you will visit us, vacation in our Community, seek a home here, and even open a business in Norway. We are prepared to assist you in every way that we can, starting with this web site that hopefully provides you with the answers you seek.

Historic Norway

The Town of Norway is almost as old as the nation. Main Street

Five men from Gray, Maine purchased land near Pennesseewassee Lake, about 50 miles northwest of the seaport of Portland, in 1786.

The first house built was by Jonas Stevens around 1787. It was a 16 by 20 foot frame structure with a large stone fireplace. The first child born in Norway was Sarah Stevens, born October 17, 1787. The first boy born here her brother, Joseph, born May 31, 1788.

The community grew rapidly. When the 1790 census was taken, a total of 448 people lived in what was to become Norway. The community was incorporated as a town on March 9, 1797. Why it was called Norway remains unclear. But it was not unusual for communities in Maine to take the names of cities and nations around the world.

The first road was contructed in 1796, and in 1789 Mrs. Peter Everett opened a school in her home.

In a history written in 1800, it is reported that in addition to farm homes, the town had a saw mill, corn mill, blacksmith shop, and one store sold salt, molasses, tea, coffee, rum, maple syrup, salt fish and tobacco, as well as calico, cotton sheeting, and bags of "cotton-wool". A tavern was opened by William Hobbs in 1809.

In 1801 the town had its first post office. By 1878 there were 32 stores in Norway. The norway Grange was established in 1884. The town library was opened in 1885. The Norway-Paris Street Railway was organized in 1894, and the first passengers rode between the towns in July of 1895. It ceased operation in 1918, apparently thanks to Henry Ford's successful assembly plant in Detroit.

One of the town's worst disasters came in May of 1894 when a fire started in the C. B. Cummings Mill and, driven by a strong wind, swept down Main Street, destrying the Opera House, the tannery, the Congregational Church, and some 80 homes and other structures, plus 120 shade trees. During the same year much of the downtown was rebuilt, including several brick structures.