OLD ORCHARD BEACH, MAINE

'Old Orchard Beach' is a town in York County, Maine, United States. The population was 8,856 at the 2000 census. Located on the inner side of Saco Bay on the Atlantic Ocean, the town is a popular summer beach destination, with an amusement park called Palace Playland (including a large seaside ferris wheel). The downtown contains many tourist-oriented businesses, including clam shacks and t-shirt shops. A wooden pier on the beach contains many other tourist businesses, including a variety of souvenir shops. The seven mile long beach stretching away from the downtown is lined with many beach residential properties, condominiums, motels and bed and breakfasts.

Contents

Early History

Geography

Twin Cities

Immigration and Foreign Affairs

Demographics

See also

External links

Early History

The Old Orchard Beach area began appearing in historical records around the time of 1653. The area was first officially settled in 1657 by Thomas Rogers, who dubbed it "The Garden By The Sea".

Geography

Old Orchard Beach is located at (43.513714, -70.385363).
According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of 19.6 km² (7.6 mi²). 19.3 km² (7.4 mi²) of it is land and 0.3 km² (0.1 mi²) of it (1.32%) is water.

Twin Cities

Old Orchard Beach is the twin city of the French seaside resort of Mimizan, as a reminder of the pioneer aircraft crossing of the Atlantic by Assolant, Lefèvre and Lotti in 1929.

Immigration and Foreign Affairs

Old Orchard Beach, during tourist season, is home to Lithuanian and many foreign exchange students as far as Russia looking for summer work. Many Canadians come down for summer vacations, and one of the major languages spoken among them is French.

Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there were 8,856 people, 4,294 households, and 2,254 families residing in the CDP. The population density was 459.0/km² (1,188.8/mi²). There were 6,222 housing units at an average density of 322.5/km² (835.3/mi²). The racial makeup of the CDP was 97.54% White, 0.56% Black or African American, 0.28% Native American, 0.46% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 0.23% from other races, and 0.89% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.02% of the population.
There were 4,294 households out of which 22.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 38.7% were married couples living together, 10.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 47.5% were non-families. 38.6% of all households were made up of individuals and 11.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.05 and the average family size was 2.73.

In the CDP the population was spread out with 19.1% under the age of 18, 6.5% from 18 to 24, 33.2% from 25 to 44, 26.2% from 45 to 64, and 14.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females there were 96.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 94.0 males.
The median income for a household in the CDP was $36,568, and the median income for a family was $47,952. Males had a median income of $36,089 versus $26,429 for females. The per capita income for the CDP was $20,929. About 7.7% of families and 11.0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 14.7% of those under age 18 and 15.1% of those age 65 or over.

See also

★ Old Orchard Beach (Amtrak station)

★ ShopOOB - A guide to shopping, current events and getting around Old Orchard Beach

★ An online version of ''The Good News'' - our community newsletter for Old Orchard Beach, Maine

External links

★ Town of Old Orchard Beach

★ Vintage Images of Old Orchard Beach