Severe Long-Term Economic Depression
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9/10/2009
Rumford, Maine is and has been a seriously economiclly depressed area for more thirty years. The single major employer except for toen government and schools has been one paper mill which is all but shutdown. With the steady termination of machines, removal of equipment, and operations the community has also lost the bulk of ancillary positions and enterprises in trucking and timber harvesting. Most management pior to elimination of onsight management did not live within the town but communited from Bethel, Lewiston/Aoborn and other more culturally and educationally developed communities in Maine. The population is currently comprised of 1/3 retires, 1/3 disabled or unemployed and 1/3 low income working poor. In 1980 Rumford operated its own school system with a high school graduating class of 289. Today Rumford is part of RSU 10 and there are fewer thann 400 students in grades 9-12. There is a glut of residential and commercial property for on the market as has been the case for more than 20 years.
Candice | Wellesley, MA