Androscoggin County, Maine
Androscoggin County · Auburn is the seat · Lewiston is not a second county · the river is not Portland
Two cities on one falls — not a beach and not a capital
Androscoggin is a geographic county whose county government still sits. Voters here still elect county commissioners and a Sheriff. Under the county charter, treasurer and register of deeds are appointed. Municipal police, fire, schools, and trash remain city and town services.
The map is Auburn (seat), Lewiston (larger city), and the river towns: Lisbon, Sabattus, Poland, Minot, Durham, Greene, Leeds, Livermore, Livermore Falls, Turner, Wales, Mechanic Falls. Lewiston is not the county. Auburn is not Lewiston.
Cumberland County is Portland and Casco Bay. Kennebec County is Augusta, which is the capital. Oxford is South Paris and the western foothills. Do not file an Androscoggin paper in those counties.
This page is Side One civic teaching. It is not legal advice and not an official government notice. The Sheriff’s job is taught at Office of the Sheriff — Androscoggin County.
Land — mill water, not a harbor
The Androscoggin River cuts the twin cities at the Great Falls. Brick mills, canal remnants, and a winter ice jam are the land facts. There is no ocean on this map. Bridgton’s lakes are Cumberland. Rangeley is Franklin. A January freeze here is a river crossing and a Pleasant Street generator, not a Casco Bay ferry.
No Augusta dome. No Portland waterfront. No Aroostook potato field. Staff who write “Maine’s port” on every Androscoggin sentence are not doing the teaching.
Politics — a charter county that still elects a Sheriff
The Secretary of State’s 27 February 2026 county-office table lists Androscoggin treasurer and deeds as appointed. Sheriff is elected, and 2026 is the oval. Commissioners run on staggered four-year seats; several districts are 2026. They do not run the jail. The Sheriff is a separate elected officer.
City charters govern Auburn and Lewiston. Town meetings and select boards govern the rest. Confirm the charter split on the SOS table and on androscoggincountymaine.gov.
Courts, technology, who learns the work
Courts still say Androscoggin. Superior and district sessions sit in Auburn. Each city and town has its own site. The county site speaks for commissioners, not for Lewiston Police. A student who wants a civic job looks at that municipality’s employment page, the county’s page, or the Sheriff’s employment page — not at a campaign site.
Justice on the river, outreach past downtown, rights that do not stop at the falls
Crime and fire are city and town. Jail and civil process are the Sheriff. Prosecution is Prosecutorial District 3 — still another office, and it also covers Franklin and Oxford. A resident’s rights do not change at the Lisbon line. Remedy for a city police issue is that city’s professional-standards door. Remedy for a jail issue is the Sheriff’s door on Pleasant Street. Relief in a river flood is mutual aid among the two cities and the towns plus the State. Service of a court paper is still a person at a door in Wales in March.
Place snapshot (verify official sources)
- State: Maine · Seat: Auburn · Larger city: Lewiston
- Land: Androscoggin River mill cities · not Portland, not Augusta
- Sheriff: elected, four-year, SOS 2026 · office 2 Turner Street · jail 40 Pleasant Street
- Charter: treasurer and deeds appointed · commissioners elected
- Look up androscoggincountymaine.gov
What this is not
- Not Portland. Not the capital. Not Cumberland. Not Kennebec.
- Not Auburn Police. Not Lewiston Police.
- Not District 3’s prosecutor as a county department.
- Not a campaign flyer.