Rangeley is a town in Franklin County, Maine, United States. The population was 1,052 at the 2000 census. Rangeley is the center of the Rangeley Lakes Region, a resort area. The town includes the villages of Oquossoc, Haines Landing and South Rangeley.
It is named after an Englishman, Squire James Rangeley, Jr., who inherited a 31,000-acre (130 km) tract bought from Massachusetts in 1796 by his father. He arrived in 1825 to establish an estate ba...
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Rangeley is a town in Franklin County, Maine, United States. The population was 1,052 at the 2000 census. Rangeley is the center of the Rangeley Lakes Region, a resort area. The town includes the villages of Oquossoc, Haines Landing and South Rangeley.
It is named after an Englishman, Squire James Rangeley, Jr., who inherited a 31,000-acre (130 km) tract bought from Massachusetts in 1796 by his father. He arrived in 1825 to establish an estate based on the English system of landlord and tenants, also giving extensive land to settlers. He built a sawmill, a gristmill, a 2-story mansion, and a ten mile (16 km) road to connect his property with the rest of the world. Rangeley resided here for 15 years, then sold the property and moved to Portland.
Farms produced hay, wheat, oats, barley and potatoes, with cattle grazing the hills. Logging became a principal industry, with booms of logs towed by steamboat across the Rangeley lakes, then guided down rivers in log drives. On March 29, 1855...
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