COMMUNITY PROFILE -- BETHEL, MAINE
 

Location

            Bethel is located astride the Androscoggin River in the western mountains of Maine, 70 miles northwest of Portland and 15 miles from the New Hampshire border. 

The town comprises 67.2 square miles.

Population

            The population of Bethel is 2360. Including the surrounding school district communities, the population swells to near 6,000. 

Transportation

            US Route 2 and Maine Routes 5 and 26 converge in Bethel. Colonel Dyke Field, one mile from the town center has a 3818’ by 75’ asphalt runway. The St. Lawrence and Atlantic Railroad passes through Bethel connecting Portland and Montreal.  Primarily used for freight, the railroad is occasionally utilized for passenger foliage tours.  A van service, motorcoach charter company, and free winter-season public transit bus serve Bethel.

Climate

            Bethel has four distinct seasons.  The temperature averages 75 in the summer and teens to low 20’s in winter.  Fall foliage season occurs between mid-September and mid-October with peak usually the first week of October.

Economy

            The Bethel area has a broad based economy providing jobs in manufacture of wood products, forestry and agriculture, education, retail trade and services, and recreation-based tourism.

Community Resources

            For a community of only 2400 people, Bethel enjoys many resources found only in larger towns.  Bethel is home to a public library, historical society, arts council, public high school and college preparatory school, full service health center staffed by two physicians: dentist, chiropractor, physical and mental health therapists, pharmacy, weekly newspaper, local cable TV channel, three Internet service providers, three banks and a four-screen movie theater.  There are nine churches in Bethel and nine in the surrounding community.  Over seventy organizations from the Bethel Area Poets Society to the American Legion, outing club, Rotary, Cross Country Quilters, Mahoosuc Arts Council Grange, and snowmobile clubs make Bethel an active and vibrant community.

Missing

            Nationally recognized retail and restaurant chains such as McDonald’s (25 miles) or Wal-Mart (28 miles), street light (nearest red light-22 miles), zoning, and neighbors you’ve never spoken to.  “If you can’t get it in Bethel, you don’t need it!”

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