Maine Town Asks Where 2,000 ‘Newcomers’ Went
The latest federal census says this tiny Canadian border town more than quadrupled in size in the 1980s. If that’s true, local officials would like to know where the more than 2,000 newcomers went.
The town had 586 people in 1980, and preliminary U.S. Census Bureau figures for 1990 found that dropped to about 440, said Frederick St. Pierre, one of the town’s three selectmen.
But final census figures released Friday said the population had ballooned to 2,743.
“I think there’s something screwed up in the bread box,” said Victor St. Pierre, cousin of Frederick and husband of the town’s part-time clerk, Doris St. Pierre. “It’s just got to be a computer mistake.”
Frederick St. Pierre noted that Caswell has no industry to attract newcomers. Most town residents are potato farmers or work at Loring Air Force Base in Limestone, 6 miles south. The town has only place for shopping, a country store, and one elementary school, with 39 students.
Census spokesman Fred Gatlin acknowledged “a major discrepancy” in the count.
“People always complain about an undercount, but not about an overcount,” Gatlin said from Washington.
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