[4] It is included in the Augusta, Maine micropolitan New England City and Town Area.

Dr. Gardiner had made a fortune as a drug merchant, with one apothecary shop in Massachusetts and two in Connecticut, and became a principal proprietor of the Kennebec Purchase within the old Plymouth Patent.

[5] Dr. Gardiner induced a gristmill builder, saw millwright, house carpenter and wheelwright to settle here,[5] as well as a man he enslaved named Isaac "Hazard" Stockbridge.

Situated at the confluence of the Kennebec River and Cobbosseecontee Stream, which has falls that drop 130 feet, the location was recognized by him as ideal for water-powered mills.

From the early 19th century until the Civil War, shipbuilding and trade were primary industries.

It would become a city in 1849, at which time ten large riverfront wharves served shipping.

Each winter men cut large blocks from the Kennebec River, then covered the ice with sawdust in warehouses to keep it frozen into summer.

It was loaded year-round on large vessels for shipment throughout the United States and world.

Gardiner was noted for its pristine Kennebec ice, harvested at the furthest point upriver that deep-draft vessels could reach.

The city is endowed with a great deal of antique architecture, much of it beautifully restored.

Gardiner is located south of Augusta on the west side of the Kennebec River at the confluence of the Cobbesseeconte Stream.

Voters elect a mayor, and seven council members, one for each of Gardiner's four districts and three at-large.

In the 2012 Presidential election, Barack Obama received 1,699 of the town's votes to Mitt Romney's 1,158.

[18] Political affiliation is roughly split into thirds between Democrats, Republicans, and Independents.