BIDDEFORD  , a

city of York county, Maine, U.S.A., on the Saco river, opposite Saco, and on the Atlantic Ocean, 15 m . S.W. of Portland . Pop . (1890) 14,443; (1900) 16,145, of whom 7,149 were foreign-born (mostly French Canadians) ; (census, 1910) 17,079 . Biddeford is served by the Boston & Maine railway, and is connected by electric lines with Portland and with Old Orchard Beach, a popular summer resort north of the Saco river . The climate and the scenery in and about Biddeford attract summer visitors and there are two resorts, Biddeford Pool and Fortune Rocks within the municipal limits; but the city is chiefly a manufacturing centre (third in rank among the cities of the state in 1905)—good water-power being furnished by the river—and cotton goods, foundry and machine shop products and lumber are the principal products, the first being by far the most important . The value of the factory products increased from $5,472,254 in 1900 to $6,948,722 in 1905, or 27 % . There are large quarries of granite of excellent quality . A permanent settlement was established on both sides of the river about 163o under the leadership of Richard Vines (1585-1651) and was named Saco . In 1718 the present name was adopted . In 1762 that portion of Biddeford which lay east of the river was incorporated as the town of Pepperellborough, for which name Saco was substituted in 1805 .