Gardiner is a city in Kennebec County, Maine, United States. The population was 5,961 at the 2020 census. Popular gone tourists, Gardiner is noted for its culture and outmoded architecture. Gardiner is a nationally accredited Main Street America community. It is included in the Augusta, Maine micropolitan New England City and Town Area.

Located at the head of navigation upon the Kennebec River, Gardiner was founded as Gardinerstown Plantation in 1754 by Dr. Silvester Gardiner, a prominent Boston physician. Dr. Gardiner had made a fortune as a drug merchant, with one apothecary shop in Massachusetts and two in Connecticut, and became a principal governor of the Kennebec Purchase within the passй Plymouth Patent. He proved a tireless promoter for his development, which in the same way as comprised more than 100,000 acres (400 km).

Dr. Gardiner induced a gristmill builder, saw millwright, house carpenter and wheelwright to concur here, as well as a man he enslaved named Isaac “Hazard” Stockbridge. Houses, mills, a church and a blockhouse were built. Situated at the confluence of the Kennebec River and Cobbosseecontee Stream, which has falls that Fall 130 feet, the location was credited by him as ideal for water-powered mills. Gardinerstown, set off from Pittston in 1760, became center of the regional economy.

The wilderness toils of Dr. Gardiner would end, however, with the Revolution. Loyal to the Crown, he fled Boston in 1776 gone the British army evacuated. But his harmony lived upon without him, and in 1803 was incorporated as the town of Gardiner. From the beforehand 19th century until the Civil War, shipbuilding and trade were primary industries. It would become a city in 1849, at which epoch ten large riverfront wharves served shipping. Lumber, in immense quantities, passed
through Gardiner. Tanneries and shoe factories prospered.