Fort Western is a former British colonial outpost at the head of navigation on the Kennebec River at modern Augusta, Maine, United States. It was built in 1754 during the French and Indian War, and is now a National Historic Landmark and local historic site owned by the city. It is the oldest surviving wooden fort in America, which still stands today. Its main building, the only original element of the fort to survive, was restored in 1920 by William H Gannett and Guy P Gannett and now depicts its original use as a trading post. The Gannett's then gifted the building back to the City of Augusta, and it opened as a museum on July 4th, 1922.
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Fort Western in the context of Augusta, Maine
Augusta is the capital city of the U.S. state of Maine. The city's population was 18,899 at the 2020 United States census, making it the 12th-most populous city in Maine, and third-least populous state capital in the United States. Augusta is the seat of and most populous city in Kennebec County.
English settlers from the Popham Colony at the mouth of the Kennebec River explored the area in 1607. Before European settlement, Algonquian-speaking Indians lived in the area. In 1625, representatives of Plymouth Colony chose the east shore of the Kennebec for a trading post, which was likely built in 1628 and became known as "Cushnoc". The Kennebec Proprietors, successors to the Plymouth Company, built Fort Western near the site of the abandoned trading post in 1754 and began settlement efforts. The new village was incorporated as Hallowell in 1771, and the upriver part of town separated in 1797 to form the town of Harrington. On June 9, 1797, Harrington changed its name to Augusta and, in 1827, it was designated capital of Maine.