Did You Know...

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• Maine's oldest newspaper, The Advertiser Democrat, is located in Norway. The paper's history extends back to 1826, when it was known as the Oxford Observer.

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• In 1894 the Great Fire of Norway destroyed a large portion of the business district. Over 80 buildings and homes, including the opera house, were destroyed in a blaze that was carried down Main Street by a strong wind. The community responded quickly with a rebuilding effort that saw many structures reborn in brick rather than wood.

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• From 1895 to 1918 a trolley connected Norway's Main Street to Market Square in South Paris

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• In 1787, Captain Henry Rust of Salem, Massachusetts, purchased 6000 acres of land from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts (Maine was a part of Massachusetts until 1820), the first of four tracts of land that would become Rustfield, then Norway.

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• Many of Norway's first settlers had served as soldiers in the Revolutionary War, and came to the area seeking land and fortune, drawn here by good soil, healthy woodlots, and abundant fish and game.

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• The area's first hospital was Central Oxford County Hospital, located on Deering Street in Norway, and was replaced by Stephens Memorial Hospital in 1957. Stephens currently employs over 700 trained professionals and in 2009 was recognized as one of three top rural hospitals in the country for its delivery of quality care based on results from The Leapfrog Hospital Survey. The survey is the only national public comparison of hospitals on key quality measures.