GARDINER

gardiner, a city of kennebec county, maine, u.s.a., at the confluence of cobbosseecontee river with the kennebec, 6 m. below augusta. pop. (1890) 5491; (1900) 5501 (537 foreign-born); (1910) 5311. it is served by the maine central railway. the site of the city is only a few feet above sea-level, and the kennebec is navigable for large vessels to this point; the water of the cobbosseecontee, falling about 130 ft. in a mile, furnishes the city with good power for its manufactures (chiefly paper, machine-shop products, and shoes). the city exports considerable quantities of lumber and ice. gardiner was founded in 1760 by dr sylvester gardiner (1707-1786), and for a time the settlement was called gardinerston; in 1779, when it was incorporated as a town, the founder being then a tory, it was renamed pittston. but in 1803, when that part of pittston which lay on the w. bank of the kennebec was incorporated as a separate town and new life was given to it by the grandson of the founder, the present name was adopted. gardiner was chartered as a city in 1849. the town of pittston, on the e. bank of the kennebec, had a population of 1177 in 1900.