Town Office of Appleton, Maine

A Brief History
of Appleton, Maine:

Appleton is a rural town in Knox County. It was incorporated on January 28, 1829 from the former Plantation of Appleton, which appeared on maps as early as 1786. To the original town, on February 20, 1843 the legislature added the St. George's River valley from the Town of Hope. This brought a major resource of water power to the young town, and spurred its growth in the years before the Civil War. The plantation and town were named for Nathaniel Appleton, who for more than 20 years was an officer of the Twenty Associates, the original Proprietors of Appleton, as well as Camden, Hope, Liberty, and Montville.

The original village in town was Burkettville, in the southwestern part of town, where Andrew Burkett had a mill on the Medomak River, and around that industry grew a settlement and a store, on Route 105, the Augusta Road. The Medomac Valley Grange No. 175 is still a thriving center of activity in Burkettville.

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