Etna is a town in Penobscot County, Maine, United States. The population was 1,012 at the 2000 census.

History

Etna is named for the famed Mt. Etna in Italy. It was originally known as "Crosbytown" after its first proprietor, Gen. John Crosby of Hampden, Maine. It was incorporated as a town in 1820. By 1859 it had a population of 802.

Camp Etna

Etna is an important site in the religion called spiritualism. One of the first spiritualist summer meetings, Camp Etna was founded here in 1876 and continues as an annual event today. Harrison D. Barett from nearby Canaan, Maine, and the first president of the National Spiritualist Association, was one of its founders. New York spirit medium May Scannell Pepper Vanderbilt was the camp's president for 10 consecutive summers, and was eventually buried there. The two other spiritualist summer camps in Maine were/are at Madison, Maine (1879) and the Temple Heights Spiritual Association at Northport, Maine (1882).

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 24.6 square miles (63.8 km²), of which, 24.4 square miles (63.3 km²) of it is land and 0.2 square miles (0.5 km²) of it (0.81%) is water. The deer are also bigger on the west side of town but the antlers are bigger on the east.

Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there were 1,012 people, 392 households, and 295 families residing in the town. The population density was 41.4 people per square mile (16.0/km²). There were 427 housing units at an average density of 17.5/sq mi (6.7/km²). The racial makeup of the town was 99.11% White, 0.20% African American, 0.20% Native American, 0.30% Asian, and 0.20% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.10% of the population.

There were 392 households out of which 32.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 61.2% were married couples living together, 8.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 24.7% were non-families. 17.6% of all households were made up of individuals and 6.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.58 and the average family size was 2.89.

In the town the population was spread out with 24.3% under the age of 18, 7.9% from 18 to 24, 31.6% from 25 to 44, 26.2% from 45 to 64, and 10.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females there were 92.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 94.4 males.

The median income for a household in the town was $33,681, and the median income for a family was $37,750. Males had a median income of $30,057 versus $21,250 for females. The per capita income for the town was $14,633. About 13.5% of families and 18.1% of the population were below the poverty line, including 26.7% of those under age 18 and 14.9% of those age 65 or over.

References