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Hartland. is situated in the south-eastern part of
Somerset County. St. Albans and Palmyra bound it on the east, Harmony on the north, Pittsfield and Canaan on the
south, and Cornville on the west. The town is irregular in form, its greatest length, north and south, and east
and west, being about 7½ miles. The surface is very uneven, but it is without high hills. Huff Hill is the
most elevated land in the town, being about 200 feet above the surrounding country. The underlying rock is chiefly
granite. The soil, in parts, is clayey loam, in others sandy loam, somewhat stony, but fertile. The crops are chiefly
hay, and the common variety of Maine farms.
The ponds in this town bear the names,-Moose, Stafford, Morrill, Starbird, Bog and Withee. The first of these,
lying on the northern and eastern border, is the largest, having an area of 12 miles. Black Stream and Sebasticook
River, the outlet of Moose Pond are the largest streams. The principal water-power of the town is on the Sebasticook,
at Hartland Village, near the eastern border of the town. There is here a factory manufacturing shawls and cassimeres,
a satinet and carding factory, a grist-mill, two lumber-mills, a door, sash and. blind factory, a furniture-factory,
two tanneries, one for sole and one for upper leather, a carriage-factory, etc. The shawl-factory employs about
75 hands, and the two tanneries 50. The East Somerset Agri. cultural Society has for many years held its fairs
in this town, where they have ample grounds and a good building. Hartland Village is 19 miles east of Skowhegan.
Pittsfield Station, on the Maine Central Railroad, 7 miles southward, is the nearest railroad connection. The stage-line
from Pittsfield to Harmony runs through the town.
Hartland was formerly called Warrenstown, No. 3, from Dr. John Warren, of Boston, who was the first private proprietor
of the township; and from him the settlers derived their titles. The settlement was organized as a plantation in
1811, and incorporated as a town under its present name Feb. 17, 1820.
There are Baptist, Free Baptist and Methodist societies in the town, and the first has a church-edifice. The Hartland
Academy has furnished a good portion of the education of many prominent and successful men, and is still sustained.
The number of public schoolhouses in the town is eleven; and the value of the school property is $2,500. The valuation
of estates in 1870 was $264,180. In 1880 it was $366,221. The rate of taxation in the latter year was 1 and 3/10
per cent. The population in 1870 was 1,120. In 1880 it was 1,047.
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