Emergency Biohazard Cleanup Near Biddeford Pool Biddeford, ME

Biddeford is a city in York County, Maine, and the principal commercial center of York County, with a population of 22,552 at the 2020 census and 9,507 households.

Physician Richard Vines first settled at Winter Harbor, now Biddeford Pool, in the winter of 1616-17, a European landing about four years before the Mayflower reached Plymouth.

The settlement was incorporated by the Massachusetts General Court as the town of Saco in 1653 and reorganized as Biddeford in 1718, named after Bideford, a town in Devon, England.

Biddeford was incorporated as a city on February 10, 1855, after the Saco River's two falls, which drop 40 feet, powered a major textile mill town.

The Laconia Company built a textile mill in 1845 and the Pepperell Company followed in 1850, and at their height the mills employed as many as 12,000 people before the industry declined and the last textile company closed in 2009.

Biddeford is home to the University of New England, whose College of Osteopathic Medicine is Maine's only medical school, and to MaineHealth Maine Medical Center Biddeford.

Saint Joseph's Church in Biddeford is the tallest building in Maine.

The city is the twin city of Saco across the Saco River and includes the resort communities of Biddeford Pool and Fortunes Rocks along its Atlantic coastline.

Wood Island Light, a lighthouse about a mile offshore from Biddeford Pool, stands in the waters off the city.

Part of Timber Point and Timber Island at the mouth of the Little River became part of the Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge in December 2011.