'Madawaska' is a town in
Aroostook County,
Maine,
United States. The population was 4,534 at the 2000 census. Madawaska is opposite
Edmundston in
Madawaska County in
New Brunswick,
Canada. Today, many of its residents speak
French, 83.4% of the population speak French at home. Madawaska is the
northernmost town in New England and is the northeastern most town in the continental United Sates. It has the same
latitude as
Seattle,
Washington, but is significantly colder in the winter.
Madawaska is a rural town whose main industry is
wood pulp for the paper industry.
Fraser Paper has a large facility located in Madawaska. Madawaksa retailers include K-mart, a Marden's, McDonalds, Subway, Shop-n-Save and Rite-Aid and many other small local businesses.
Madawaska is the home of a large annual
Acadian festival.
History
Madawaska was at the center of the bloodless
Aroostook War.
See the
★
Madawaska Historical Society.
Geography
According to the
United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 146.2
km² (56.5
mi²). 144.2 km² (55.7 mi²) of it is land and 2.1 km² (0.8 mi²) of it (1.42%) is water.
Demographics
As of the
census2 of 2000, there were 4,534 people, 1,993 households, and 1,301 families residing in the town. The
population density was 31.5/km² (81.5/mi²). There were 2,362 housing units at an average density of 16.4/km² (42.4/mi²). The racial makeup of the town was 98.08%
White, 0.15%
Black , 0.44%
Native American, 0.68%
Asian, 0.09% from
other races, and 0.55% from two or more races.
Hispanic or
Latino of any race were 0.20% of the population.
There were 1,993 households out of which 26.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 56.8% were
married couples living together, 6.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 34.7% were non-families. 30.8% of all households were made up of individuals and 13.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.22 and the average family size was 2.77.
In the town the population was spread out with 20.4% under the age of 18, 5.2% from 18 to 24, 25.3% from 25 to 44, 30.1% from 45 to 64, and 19.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 44 years. For every 100 females there were 91.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.1 males.
The median income for a household in the town was $30,994, and the median income for a family was $42,269. Males had a median income of $46,117 versus $22,361 for females. The
per capita income for the town was $18,552. About 7.5% of families and 11.5% of the population were below the
poverty line, including 13.9% of those under age 18 and 11.8% of those age 65 or over.
Schools
Madawaska's schools serve Madawaska, St. David, and Grand Isle. The Madawaska Elementary School has students from
pre-kindergarten through the fifth grade. Madawaska Middle/High School contains grades 6 through 12.
★
Madawaska School Department
HVDC back-to-back station
In Madawaska there is an
HVDC back-to-back station for electric power exchange with Canada. It was built by
General Electric in
1985 and can transfer a maximum power of 350 megawatts at 140 kV DC
See also
★
Madawaska (CDP), Maine
★
Madawaska School Department
External links
★
Town of Madawaska