Rumford is a town in Oxford County, Maine, United States. The population was 5,841 at the 2010 census. Rumford is home to both Catalyst Paper's Rumford Mill and the Black Mountain of Maine ski resort.

Originally called New Pennacook Plantation, the township was granted in 1779 to Timothy Walker, Jr. and associates of Concord, New Hampshire. Both Pennacook and Rumford are former names of Concord, from which many early settlers arrived. The first pioneers, however, were Jonathan Keyes and his son Francis in 1782 from Shrewsbury, Massachusetts. Incorporated in 1800, the town would later annex land from Peru and Franklin Plantation.

Located in the foothills of the White Mountains, Rumford is the site of Pennacook Falls, called by historian George J. Varney "the grandest cataract in New England," where the Androscoggin River drops 177 feet (54 m) over solid granite. Bands of St. Francis Indians once hunted and fished here, where salmon spawn in the 13-acre (5.3 ha) pool below Upper Falls, a barrier that fish cannot pass. The river is home to a large population of the finless brown variety of trout. Indians also came here to trade furs brought from the lakes region. Sawmills and gristmills were built to harness water power from the falls, although Rumford would remain primarily agricultural during its first 100 years.

In 1882, industrialist Hugh J. Chisholm recognized the falls' potential for the manufacture of paper. Chisholm directed construction of the Portland and Rumford Falls Railway connecting Rumford to the national rail network in 1892. The first paper mill began operation in 1893, drawing an infusion of people and money into the sleepy community of about 200 residents. Oxford Paper Company, owned by Chisholm, would dominate Rumford's riverfront and economy.

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