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Place Name
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Augusta
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Pronunciation
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uh-GUHST-uh
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Place Status (Type)
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city
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Capital Of
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Maine and Kennebec County
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Population
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21,325 (1990)
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Location
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Kennebec County, Maine (ME), United States, North America
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Latitude
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44°19'N
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Longitude
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69°43'W
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Augusta
(uh-GUHST-uh), city (1990 pop.
21,325),  Maine and Kennebec co., SW Maine, on the Kennebec R.;
44°19'N 69°43'W. Business center of a tourist region; mfg. (shoes,
computers, electronic equip., paper prods.). Traders visited the site,
long known as Cushnoc, even before 1628, when the Plymouth Co.
established a trading post. Fort Western was built in 1754, and
Benedict Arnold's expedition to Quebec gathered at the fort in 1775
(garrison house restored as a mus., 1921). The settlement around the
fort developed with shipping and shipbuilding on the Kennebec; mfg.
began in 1837, when a dam was built across the river. The capitol bldg.
(1829) was designed by Charles Bulfinch but has been considerably
enlarged and remodeled. James G. Blaine's early-19th-cent. home is the
governor's mansion. Branch of the Univ. of Maine is here. Inc. as a
town 1797, as a city 1849.
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