AUGUSTA — Lawmakers who settled on Augusta for the state capital in 1827 because of its central location might have had it right. It turns out that the state's population center is in Augusta, just three miles from the State House, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. To be precise, the location of the "centroid," as it's described in census parlance, is about 400 feet from Route 105, by a yellow house with a "No Trespassing" sign in a woodlot across from the city dump. So the decision made in 1827 still made some sense in 2001, even though it might seem unfair that the commute of northern lawmakers is so much longer than those of their southern counterparts. Democratic Sen. John Martin, of Eagle Lake, the former speaker of the House, has been making the trip from Aroostook County each year but two since 1964. Based on an average of 25 trips per year, all that traveling has added up to 630,000 miles over a 34-year legislative career. "You get used to it," Martin said. "You just get in the car and drive." From the Capitol, the path to the centroid crosses the Kennebec River, goes through Memorial Circle and follows Route 105 through a residential neighborhood and the woods before stopping short of the Hatch Hill landfill. "So this is the center, the Augusta dump?" Jim Dodde said from his home across the street. "I'll put a sign out there: 'Center of the State.' " The population centroid is the spot where the state would balance perfectly if all the 1,274,923 residents that the U.S. Census Bureau counted last year had the same weight. In Maine, the population center has been moving southwest as the population shifts away from the north to southern and coastal counties. In 1980, it was about seven miles away in Webber Pond, next to the Natanis Golf Club in Vassalboro. Augusta's location was one factor that helped it win and hold on to the state capital after Maine separated from Massachusetts and became a state in 1820. Portland had been the temporary capital, and other communities, including Belfast, Brunswick, Hallowell, Waterville and Wiscasset, also considered themselves contenders. At the time, few communities beyond Bangor had been settled. "People thought of Augusta as the center of the state from a population standpoint," said Earle G. Shettleworth, director of the Maine Historic Preservation Commission. "The largest city is often located on a major body of water, and not necessarily located geographically, or in terms of population, in the center of the state." Even after the Legislature chose Augusta, Portland didn't give up its efforts to win the seat of state government. Two measures that would have moved the capital to Portland were defeated narrowly in 1837 and 1860 after Portland offered buildings, including its City Hall, for the purpose. Portland made other failed attempts later, including in 1889, when the State House needed further renovations and enlargement. In the days before the arrival of the railroad and the Maine Turnpike, Augusta's central location was important because people had to travel by horseback or coach or by water to the State House, Shettleworth said. Another factor against Portland was the concern that its coastal location made it vulnerable. Maine's largest city was destroyed three times in warfare. "People voted by their geography, and that's what kept Augusta the capital all those times Portland tried to make that change," Shettleworth said. In 2000, the Census Bureau located the population center in the woodlot owned by the family of Sylvia Becker, who was surprised by the designation. "Well, isn't that something?" Becker said. While the population centroid is less than one-third of a mile from the clearing where she lives and runs Wooded Acres Kennel, Becker sometimes feels far from the center of Maine. When she moved to Augusta in 1982, the power lines stopped up the road. Becker had to sign a contract with the utility company saying she would use a certain amount of power each month before poles were installed. Cable TV isn't available because the homes are too far apart, so she had to install a satellite dish, she said. And she remembers vividly the hardships brought on by the ice storm of 1998. "Can you imagine — three miles from the Capitol and no power for eight days?" Winters like that are one reason that Becker is thinking of migrating southwest herself. In her case, she's looking at Arizona.
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