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(pronounced "LIM-rick") is a town in York County, Maine, United States. It is part of the Portland–South Portland–Biddeford, Maine Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 2,240 at the 2000 census. Known for its historic and scenic charm, Limerick is a popular tourist destination.
This was territory of the Newichewannock Abenaki Indians, whose village was located on the Salmon Falls River. In 1668, Francis Small of Kittery, a trader, bought from Chief Captain Sunday (or Wesumbe) a large tract of land, for which he exchanged 2 blankets, 2 gallons of rum, 2 pounds of gunpowder, 4 pounds of musket balls and 20 strings of beads. Small thereupon sold half of his interest to Major Nicholas Shapleigh of Eliot, one of the wealthiest merchants in the Piscataqua region.
Settlement was delayed, however, by the ongoing French and Indian Wars, which finally ended with the 1763 Treaty of Paris. In 1773, the heirs of Francis Small and Nicholas Shapleigh promised a township to lawyer James Sullivan of Biddeford if he defended their larger claims. Sullivan accepted and in 1775 helped settle Limerick Plantation, named after Limerick in Ireland, his father's birthplace. It would be incorporated on March 6, 1787. Among the early settlers was Dr. Joshua Leavitt, for whom Leavitt Brook in Limerick is named. The town of New Limerick in Aroostook County would be settled by people from Limerick, Maine.
The village grew along the old Sokokis Trail (now Route 5), which connected the Sokokis village at Pequawket (now Fryeburg) to the tribe's coastal encampment at what is today Saco. Endowed with good soil, Limerick became a thriving farming community. Chief crops included hay, apples, grapes and cranberries. Cattle and dairy products were important. In addition, the town had 4 blacksmith shops, 4 shoemakers, 2 hatmakers, 2 harness makers and 3 tanneries. Various brooks provided water power for industry, including 4 furniture factories and a clothing factory. There were also gristmills, shingle mills and lumber mills. In 1846, James Bradbury established the Limerick Manufacturing Company at Brown Brook. It was bought in 1857 by Joshua Holland. The firm produced the nationally famous Holland Blankets, which were supplied to troops during the Civil War. A village once called Hollandville developed around the mill.