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Biddeford

Biddeford, Maine
City
City Hall
City Hall
Official seal of Biddeford, Maine
Seal
Nickname(s): Twin City
Motto: "A Proud City Rising Where the Water Falls"
Biddeford is located in Maine
Biddeford
Biddeford
Location within the state of Maine
Coordinates: 43°28′27″N 70°26′46″W / 43.47417°N 70.44611°W / 43.47417; -70.44611Coordinates: 43°28′27″N 70°26′46″W / 43.47417°N 70.44611°W / 43.47417; -70.44611
Country United States
State Maine
County York
First Landing 1616
Settled 1631
Incorporated (town) July 5, 1653
Incorporated (city) February 10, 1855
Government
 • Mayor Alan Casavant
Area
 • Total 59.08 sq mi (153.02 km2)
 • Land 30.09 sq mi (77.93 km2)
 • Water 28.99 sq mi (75.08 km2)
Elevation 69 ft (21 m)
Population (2010)
 • Total 21,277
 • Estimate (2016) 21,362
 • Density 360/sq mi (140/km2)
Time zone EST (UTC-5)
 • Summer (DST) EDT (UTC-4)
ZIP codes 04005, 04006, 04007
Area code(s) 207
FIPS code 23-04860
GNIS feature ID 0562119
Website http://www.Biddefordmaine.org

Biddeford is a city in York County, Maine, United States. It is the principal commercial center of York County. The population was 21,277 at the 2010 census. Twin city of Saco, Biddeford includes the resort community of Biddeford Pool, Fortunes Rocks and Granite Point. The town is the site of the University of New England and the annual La Kermesse Franco-Americaine Festival. First visited by Europeans in 1616, it is the site of one of the earliest European settlements in the United States.

Biddeford is a principal population center of the Portland-South Portland-Biddeford metropolitan statistical area.

Abenaki Indians, whose main village was upriver at Pequawket (now Fryeburg), once hunted and fished in the area. The first European to settle at Biddeford was physician Richard Vines in the winter of 1616-17 at Winter Harbor, as he called Biddeford Pool. This 1616 landing by a European predates the Mayflower landing in Plymouth, Massachusetts, (located 100 miles to the south) by approximately four years, a fact that is overlooked in much of New England lore. In 1630, the Plymouth Company granted the land south of the River Swanckadocke to Dr. Vines and John Oldham. In 1653, the town included both sides of the river, and was incorporated by the Massachusetts General Court as Saco.


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