Permission to settle the tract of land along the Androscoggin River where Lewiston and Auburn now stand was granted by the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1768 to agents of a group referred to as the proprietors. Under the terms of the grant, fifty families in as many houses were to settle in the area, which was to be called Lewiston, by 1774. It is doubtful that these terms were complied with; the first settler, Paul Hildreth, did not build his log cabin until 1770 on the east bank of the river. Although Lewiston opened its first woolen mill in 1819 and its first cotton mill in 1844, it and neighboring Auburn grew very slowly. It is said that Auburn took its name from Oliver Goldsmith's poem "The Deserted Village."
The growth of the Twin Cities, as they are often called, began in 1836 with the exploitation of the water power of the Androscoggin River. Lewiston grew up as a textile center, Auburn as a shoe-manufacturing center, and both cities attracted workers of French-Canadian origin to work in the factories. By the 1870s several large textile mills were operating in Lewiston, and Auburn's twenty-one factories were turning out more than two million pairs of shoes annually. Friction between the two cities broke out in 1937 during a bitter shoe strike. Many residents of one city worked in the other, and during the strike police sought to prevent strikers from crossing the bridges that connect the two cities.
By the 1960s the economy of the two cities was still dominated by the textile and shoe industries, but mills were beginning to close and shoe shops were being badly hurt by foreign competition. Into the late 1970s the cities engaged in a rivalry to attract new businesses until it was recognized that cooperation would be beneficial to the development of both. During the 1980s Lewiston and Auburn experienced a building boom; the cooperative spirit that grew up between them was marked by such factors as the sharing of economic development councils, a newly rebuilt hydroelectric facility, and the tax revenues generated by the development of industrial land. Lewiston's vitality and cultural richness were factors in its selection as the national headquarters of the forum Francophone des Affaires, an international trade group of French-speaking nations. Today Lewiston continues to be a city enriched by a strong cultural heritage, diverse economy, active artists' community, and beautiful natural resources.
Historical Information: Androscoggin Historical Society, Court Street Door, County Building, Auburn, ME 04210; telephone (207)784-0586