Maine Forest Service

About forestry service, 4220, Buckfield, ME, US, Maine

West Paris is a town in Oxford County, Maine, United States. Originally settled in 1771 for land that what was deemed "superior for pasturage, hay crops, and orchards", West Paris became a center of Finnish (Finnish: suomalaiset, IPA: [ˈsuo̯mɑlɑi̯set]) immigrant settlement in the 19th century, with many if the town's current residents being descendants of the original Finnish settlers. Once part of the neighboring town of Paris, Maine, West Paris seceded from Paris and was incorporated in September 1957. The population was 1,766 at the 2020 census. == History == It began as part of Paris, granted by the Massachusetts General Court in 1771 to Captain Joshua Fuller and his company of 64 soldiers as payment for their service to the colony. First settled in 1779, the land was considered superior for pasturage and hay crops, and orchards were large and productive. Mills were built along the Little Androscoggin River. The Paris Manufacturing Company, which was started modestly by Henry Franklin Morton in 1861 at West Sumner, grew into an important manufacturer. Near the Grand Trunk Railway depot in West Paris, it built a factory to make products including sleds, skis, wagons, step ladders, wheelbarrows, ironing boards, children's rolltop desks and other furniture. On November 4, 1773, when the Proprietors were lotting out the township, they held a meeting at Coolidge Tavern in Watertown, Massachusetts and they voted that there be reserved for the use of the proprietors their heirs and assigns forever two rods in width on the eastward side of every range line through the length of the township for the conveniency of ways if it shall be needed, establishing rangeways to prevent landlocking and segregation in the township of Paris and West Paris.