Monday
Lewiston is a city with an interesting history. Lewiston was incorporated in 1795 and by the 1860s, three massive textile mills had risen along Lewiston’s upper canal to take advantage of the areas abundant hydropower. They were manufacturing cotton fabric into sheets, bedspread and other cotton sheeting products , wool, and rubber coated fabrics. Also it had a foundary for making parts to repair machinery in the mills. A sudden demand for factory workers caused mill owners to look north to recruit French-Canadian laborers. As a result, Lewiston's population nearly doubled within a decade. These immigrants sought a spiritual leader of their own and in 1871 a French Catholic parish, St. Peter’s, was established. Within a decade, the Dominican order from France began staffing the parish, now called St. Peter and St. Paul. As the congregation continued to grow, the original church was deemed inadequate and plans began by the turn of the century for a grand French style cathedral church. The original church was demolished and 1895 and work on the lower portion of the new church began in 1905. They managed to get the basement finished so the congregation could meet there in 1906 but it took many years for completion. Between 1906 and 1938 devoutly Catholic parents, grandparents and other ancestors labored, toiled and donated their hard earned nickels and dimes to erect this imposing monument to their faith. The resulting church, named a minor basilica in 2004, became the largest parish in the state, larger than some entire dioceses in other parts of the country. Text by Donat Boisvert. http://www.lachance.org/lewiston/church/church.html The stained glass windows were installed in 1948.

Starting in the late 1950s, lower production costs elsewhere led to the closure of many of Lewiston's textile mills, which were the city's economic base and once produced a quarter of American textiles Many of the old mill buildings are still standing empty and in disrepair. Lewiston has 50 buildings on the National Register of Historic Places and many others with historical significants.