The area was first explored by members of the ill-fated Popham Colony in September 1607. It was first inhabited by English settlers from the Plymouth Colony in 1625 as a trading post on the Kennebec River. Their settlement was known by its Indian name -- Cushnoc (or Coussinoc or Koussinoc), meaning "head of tide." Fur trading was profitable, but the area would be abandoned by King Philip's War and into the French and Indian Wars.

Peace returned following the Treaty of Portsmouth in 1713. But in 1722 the Abenaki Indians upriver at Norridgewock were again at war. Fort Richmond (now Richmond) was attacked and Brunswick destroyed. In response, Norridgewock was sacked in 1724 during Dummer's War, when English forces gained tentative control of the Kennebec. In 1754, a blockhouse named Fort Western (now the oldest wooden fort in America), was built at Cushnoc on the eastern bank. It was intended as a supply depot for Fort Halifax upriver, as well as to protect its own region.[1] In 1775, Benedict Arnold and his 1100 troops would use Fort Western as a staging area before continuing their journey up the Kennebec to the Battle of Quebec.

Cushnoc was incorporated as part of Hallowell in 1771. Known as "the Fort," it was set off and incorporated by the Massachusetts General Court in February 1797 as Harrington. In August, however, the name changed to Augusta after Augusta Dearborn, daughter of Henry Dearborn. In 1799, it became county seat for newly created Kennebec County.[1] Maine became a state in 1820, and Augusta was designated its capital in 1827. The Maine State Legislature continued meeting in Portland, however, until completion in 1832 of the new Maine State House designed by Charles Bulfinch. Augusta was chartered as a city in 1849.

Excellent soil provided for agriculture, and water power from streams provided for industry. In 1837, a dam was built across the Kennebec where the falls drop 15 feet at the head of tide, and by 1838 10 sawmills were contracted. With the arrival of the Kennebec & Portland Railroad in 1851, Augusta became a mill town. In 1883, the property of A. & W. Spague Company was purchased by the Edwards Manufacturing Company, which erected extensive brick mills for manufacturing cotton textiles. Other Augusta firms produced lumber, sash, doors, shutters, broom handles, stone cutters' tools, shoes, cemetery monuments, ice and furniture. The city developed as a publishing and shipping center. Today, government and post-secondary education are important businesses.