Androscoggin County /

Androscoggin County is a county located in the U.S. state of Maine. As of the 2010 U.S. census, the county's population was 107,702. Its county seat is Auburn. It is included within the Lewiston-Auburn, Maine, Metropolitan Statistical Area and partially included within the Lewiston-Auburn, Maine, Metropolitan New England City and Town Area. Bates College is located in the Androscoggin County city of Lewiston. Demand for a new county emerged when the rapidly growing town of Lewiston complained of the long distance it had to travel to reach Wiscasset, the county seat of Lincoln County, which Lewiston was originally in. It was also an unpractical circumstance as Lewiston's neighbor, Auburn, was part of Cumberland County. As the growing partnership of the two towns emerged, the case for the towns to be in the same county grew. Different plans were discussed, including Lewiston joining Cumberland County. Eventually, the idea of a new county came to the table. At this point in time there was a debate between which town the new county would be its center. With Bath, Brunswick, and Lewiston each pining for a county in which it was the center, Lewiston would eventually win the debate.