Bethel

Bethel is a town in Oxford County, Maine, United States. The population was 2,504 at the 2020 census. The town is home to Gould Academy, a private preparatory school, and is near the Sunday River ski resort. An Abenaki Indian village was once located on the north side of the Androscoggin River, but had been abandoned before its subsequent English settlement. In 1769, the township was granted as Sudbury-Canada by the Massachusetts General Court to Josiah Richardson of Sudbury, Massachusetts and others (or their heirs) for services at the Battle of Quebec in 1690. It was first settled in 1774 when Nathaniel Segar of Newton, Massachusetts started clearing the land. In 1802, a trade road (now Route 26) was completed from Portland to Errol, New Hampshire, passing through Bethel and bringing growth. In 1947 Bethel became the site of "pioneering work" in organizational development, led by psychologist Kurt Lewin. Although NTL moved its headquarters to Alexandria, Virginia in 2008, it continues to maintain a small summer presence in Bethel. The name Bethel is taken from the Book of Genesis and meaning "House of God" Bethel House, a large hotel, was built in 1833. The Atlantic and St. Lawrence Railroad opened to Bethel, carrying freight and summer tourists eager to escape the noise, heat and pollution of cities. Between 1897 and 1926, a number of figures in the music world performed at the Maine Music Festivals organized by William Rogers Chapman.

History

Bethel is the primary city name, but also Albany Twp, Gilead, Mason Twp are acceptable city names or spellings. The official name is Bethel, Maine. An Abenaki Indian village was once located on the north side of the Androscoggin River, but had been abandoned before its subsequent English settlement. In 1769, the township was granted as Sudbury-Canada by the Massachusetts General Court to Josiah Richardson for services at the Battle of Quebec in 1690. On June 10, 1796, the town was incorporated as Bethel, the name taken from the Book of Genesis and meaning "House of God" In 1802, a trade road (now Route 26) was completed from Portland to Errol, New Hampshire, passing through Bethel and bringing growth. Between the Civil War and World War I, Bethel was a fashionable summer resort. But with the advent of the automobile, tourists were no longer restricted by the limits of train service, but were free to explore. Many big hotels built near the tracks lost patrons, declined and were eventually torn down. The Prospect Hotel was largely destroyed by fire in 1911. Although transportation patterns and preferences in vacation accommodations have changed, Betchel remains a tourist destination for its natural setting, history and recreation resources. The Bethel House, a large hotel, was built in 1833. Between 1897 and 1926, a number of figures in the music world performed at the Maine Music Festivals organized by William Rogers Chapman. Tally-ho coaches provided tours through wilderness landscapes of the White Mountains and Maine. In winter, farmers found work logging, with the lumber cut at sawmills operated by water power from streams.

Organizational development

In 1947 Bethel became the site of "pioneering work" in organizational development. Research was conducted that helped lay the foundation for organizational development's theory and practice. T-groups and sensitivity training were refined to apply behavioral science to individual self-awareness and group functioning. Although NTL moved its headquarters to Alexandria, Virginia in 2008, it continues to maintain a small summer legacy presence in Bethel. The National Training Laboratories (NTL) was organized by Kurt Lewin to lead this work, with much or it conducted during summer seasons at Gould Academy. These seasonal research and training sessions were well attended, attracting participants from across the country and around the world. Increasingly, NTL became an important part of Bethel's economy, especially as the traditional wood product mill industries went into decline. The NTL is now based in Alexandria, VA, but continues to have a small legacy presence at the Gould Academy during the summer months. It continues to provide training and research on organizational development, as well as other topics, such as self-management and self-esteem. It was founded by Lewin and colleagues like Ken Benne and Ron Lippitt in 1947, and is still going strong today. It is now located at the University of Wisconsin-Bethel, with a summer campus in the heart of the town's historic downtown area.

Geography

Bethel is located on the western edge of the Oxford Hills and on the southern rim of the rugged Mahoosuc Range. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 65.91 square miles (170.71 km²) of which, 64.60 square miles of it is land. Bethel and the surrounding area is drained by the Androscoggin River and its tributaries the Alder, Pleasant and Sunday Rivers. The north edge of Songo Pond lies within Bethel's boundary. Just south of the boundary are located South Pond, North Pond and Bryant Ponds. The town is part of the Portland, Maine, Miccosukee County, New Hampshire, area, which is in the Eastern Seaboard region of the United States. It is also in the White Mountains, a subrange of the Northern Appalachian Mountains, and the Maine Coast Ranges, which are in the Southern Appalachian Mountains. It has a population of 2,816. It was founded in 1803. It became a town in 1805. It received its first post-secondary education in 1808. It lost its first Post-secondary School in 1809. It had its first high school in 1811. It opened in 1815. It closed in 1820. It suffered a fire in 1822. It reopened in 1823. It got its current name in 1826. It also had a post-school in 1828.

Demographics

As of the census of 2010, there were 2,607 people, 1,121 households, and 707 families living in the town. There were 1,861 housing units at an average density of 28.8 per square mile (11.1/km²) The racial makeup of the town was 97.2% White, 0.5% African American, 0,2% Native American, 1.0% from two or more races, and 1.4% Hispanic or Latino. The median income for a household in theTown was $33,803, and the median income. for a family was $38,669. The per capita income for the town is $17,458. About 8.0%. of families and 10.2%. of the population were below the poverty line, including 11.2. of those under age 18 and 5.7% of those age 65 or over. The town is located on the U.S. Census Bureau's West Virginia-New Hampshire border. It has a population of 2,637, up from 2,411 as of the 2000 census. It is located near the junction of the New Hampshire Turnpike and the West Virginia Turnpikes. It was the site of a World War II-era battle between the United States and the Soviet Union. The Battle of the Bulge took place in the late 1800s and early 1900s, when the town's population was at its lowest. The current mayor is the son of a former mayor, who was killed in the battle.

Arts, culture and recreation

Maine Mineral Museum {https://mainemineralmuseum.org/} Bethel Inn Resort and Sunday River Ski Resort. Middle Intervale Meeting House and Common. Maine Historical Society. Maine Library Association. Maine Museum of Natural History. Maine State Museum of Archaeology. Maine Art Museum. Maine Museums of Nature and Science. Maine County Museum of Art and Culture. Maine Science Museum and Nature Center. Maine Arts Council. Maine College of Arts and Sciences. Maine University of Maine. Maine's Museum of History and Archaeology, Maine State University of the Arts and Science, and Maine State College of the Sciences, are located in the town of Bethel. Bethel is a small town in the central part of the state. The town has a population of about 2,000. It is located on the shores of the Piscataqua River, which runs through the center of the town. It also has a number of small lakes, some of which can be reached by boat. It has a small number of historic sites, such as the Bethel Historical Society Museum and the Maine Mineral Museum, which is located near the town center. The state's only public library is located in Bethel, which has a collection of more than 100 books and other historical artifacts. The Bethel Library Association has a library that is open to the public. There is a museum of natural history, the Maine state museum of archaeology, and a state museum for the history of the arts and culture.

Education

Gould Academy is a private coeducational preparatory school in Maine. The school is part of the Maine School Administrative District 44 (MSAD 44) The district also includes Telstar Regional Middle/High School, Crescent Park Elementary School, and Crescent Park High School. The district is located in the state's largest city, Bangor, and has a population of more than 100,000 people. It is the largest school district in Maine, with more than 1,000 students. It also includes a number of smaller schools, including a middle/high school and an elementary school. It's located in Maine's largest county, Maine's biggest city, Maine, and its largest school is in the city of Bangor. The state's population is more than 700,000. It has the highest percentage of students attending private schools in the U.S. than any other state. In Maine, the school district has more than 500 students, the highest proportion of students in the United States, and one of the highest percentages in the nation. The highest percentage in Maine is in Brunswick, where the district also has a large number of private schools. The lowest percentage is in Lewiston, where there are fewer than 50 students in each of the district's four elementary and high schools. In the state, the average school attendance rate is less than 50 per cent, compared to the national average of 60 per cent. The average high school graduation rate is also lower than in the rest of the nation, at 58 per cent for Maine.

Air Quality, Water Quality, Superfund Sites & UV Index

The Air Quality index is in Bethel, Oxford County, Maine = 92.6. These Air Quality index is based on annual reports from the EPA. Higher values are better (100=best). The number of ozone alert days is used as an indicator of air quality, as are the amounts of seven pollutants including particulates, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, lead, and volatile organic chemicals. The Water Quality Index is 64. A measure of the quality of an area’s water supply as rated by the EPA. Higher values are better (100=best). The EPA has a complex method of measuring the watershed quality, using 15 indicators such as pollutants, turbidity, sediments, and toxic discharges. The Superfund Sites Index is 99. Higher is better (100=best). Based upon the number and impact of EPA Superfund pollution sites in the county, including spending on the cleanup efforts. The UV Index in Bethel = 2.8 and is a measure of an area's exposure to the sun's ultraviolet rays. This is most often a combination of sunny weather, altitude, and latitude. The UV Index has been defined by the WHO (www.who.int/news-room/questions-and-answers/item/radiation-the-ultraviolet-(uv)-index) and is uniform worldwide.

Employed

The most recent city population of 2,504 individuals with a median age of 42.8 age the population grows by 10.83% in Bethel, Oxford County, Maine population since 2000 and are distributed over a density of 39 residents per square mile of area (15.0/km²). There are average 2.24 people per household in the 1,191 households with an average household income of $37,349 a year. The unemployment rate in Alabama is 9.70% of the available work force and has dropped -11.00% over the most recent 12-month period and the projected change in job supply over the next decade based on migration patterns, economic growth, and other factors will increase by 8.30%. The number of physicians in Bethel per 100,000 population = 108.4.

Weather

The annual rainfall in Bethel = 40.5 inches and the annual snowfall = 73.4 inches. The annual number of days with measurable precipitation (over .01 inch) = 114. The average number of days per year that are predominantly sunny = 200. 80 degrees Fahrenheit is the average daily high temperature for the month of July and 8.9 degrees Fahrenheit is the average daily low temperature for the month of January. The Comfort Index (higher=better) is 54, where higher values mean a more pleasant climate. The Comfort Index measure recognizes that humidity by itself isn't the problem. (Have you noticed nobody ever complains about the weather being 'cold and humid?) It's in the summertime that we notice the humidity the most, when it's hot and muggy. Our Comfort Index uses a combination of afternoon summer temperature and humidity to closely predict the effect that the humidity will have on people.

Median Home Cost

The percentage of housing units in Bethel, Oxford County, Maine which are owned by the occupant = 53.07%. A housing unit is a house, apartment, mobile home, or room occupied as separate living quarters. The average age of homes = 34 years with median home cost = $138,700 and home appreciation of -2.36%. This is the value of the years most recent home sales data. Its important to note that this is not the average (or arithmetic mean). The median home price is the middle value when you arrange all the sales prices of homes from lowest to highest. This is a better indicator than the average, because the median is not changed as much by a few unusually high or low values. The property tax rate of $12.42 shown here is the rate per $1,000 of home value. If for simplification for example the tax rate is $14.00 and the home value is $250,000, the property tax would be $14.00 x ($250,000/1000), or $3500. This is the 'effective' tax rate.

Study

The local school district spends $1,994 per student. There are 11.9 students for each teacher in the school, 448 students for each Librarian and 235 students for each Counselor. 5.02% of the area’s population over the age of 25 with an Associate Degree or other 2-year college degree, 15.38% with a master’s degree, Ph.D. or other advanced college degree and 9.58% with high school diplomas or high school equivalency degrees (GEDs).