Welcome to the third edition of the Insider, a guide to the communities of Westbrook, Gorham, and Buxton.

We hope this guide will be a helpful resource to those new to the community and a handy reference tool for those who have been here for years. It contains contact information for elected officials and government employees who can help residents access or understand how to use the services their local government provides.

These are three growing communities to live or work in. For the last two decades, Westbrook has been rebuilding as its paper mill, which provided for this community in so many ways for so many years, was slowly becoming a smaller and smaller part of life and the overall economy in this city. The odor once associated with the pulp mill and this city for so long are gone, and the city is beginning to attract new residents and jobs.

In recent years, business growth in Westbrook has begun to accelerate. New restaurants have moved to the downtown, all of them helping to cater to the hundreds of people who work at the Dana Warp Mill and One Riverfront Plaza, which is home to Disability RMS, a company that administers disability insurance for other companies. Another of the city’s large employers, Idexx, a company that develops veterinary equipment, announced a large expansion in recent years. And, in recent weeks, a developer has proposed building what would be the largest retail development in the state off the Westbrook Arterial.

Many of the city’s old mill buildings have been torn down or renovated. Westbrook Housing has been turning the city’s old school buildings into affordable homes. The city has come a long way since the mill started downsizing in the early 1990s.

Once farming communities, Gorham and Buxton have had to face the challenges of dealing with growing residential populations in recent years, as sprawl continues its steady march out from Portland. Young families who want to raise their children in small communities with good schools have understandably flocked to these towns.

In addition to building a new middle school, Gorham has been focused on improving its roads and highways in recent years. The long-awaited Gorham bypass is now under construction. Once it’s complete, it’s expected to remove thousands of cars from gridlock that plagues the Gorham Village on a daily basis.

Buxton has also seen plenty of growth in recent years. A new Hannaford grocery store opened there this fall. Construction is under way on a new Public Works garage, and the town has plans for a new elementary school to replace the four existing elementary schools.

It appears as though these communities will continue to grow residentially and commercially, and that will undoubtedly bring more changes, as the services the town and schools provide will be stretched to meet the needs of a growing public.

This guide is designed to help the public navigate the services available to them and the community around them. Keep it as a reference guide. It’s filled with local parks, festivals and helpful phone numbers.