Saco, Maine

Originally part of Massachusetts; land grant established by Plymouth Company, 1630. Settled 1631. Organized and named Saco, 1653. Boundary surveyed, 1659. Incorporated as town and named Pepperellborough, 1762. Renamed Saco by Massachusetts state legislature, 1805. Became part of Maine upon state’s formation, 1820. Population in 1820 about 2,500; in 1830 about 3,200; and in 1840 about 4,400. First Latter-day Saint missionaries, Orson Hyde and Samuel H. Smith, preached in town, Sept.–Nov. 1832. First convert baptized in Saco, 31 Oct. 1832. Branch of Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints established in town, 1832. Wilford Woodruff and Jonathan Hale preached in town, summer 1837, en route to Fox Islands.