Northern Maine History

Native Americans, both Micmacs and Maliseets, inhabited the area in pre-colonial times. Early 17th century French explorers, led by Samuel de Champlain and Sieur de Monts, first visited what is now Aroostook County in 1604. During the colonial period, the area was intermittently occupied by the French, British and their respective allies among the region's native residents until final French surrender in 1763.

During the Revolutionary War, the sparsely populated area was visited by expeditions from both American and British Canadian forces seeking to establish sovereignty. The 1783 Treaty of Versailles established Maine's eastern boundary at the St. Croix River. However, neither this agreement nor the subsequent 1815 Treaty of Ghent ending the War of 1812 established the northern and western borders satisfactorily, resulting in nearly a half-century of conflict -- the Aroostook War.

Aroostook War In 1837, Maine became the only state ever to declare war unilaterally when, in response to the arrest of a Maine official conducting a census in a disputed border area by New Brunswick officials, the legislature dispatched a force of 200 to the area which is now Aroostook County. Although tensions and actions escalated (Congress eventually appropriated $800,000 and raised 10,000 militia), the dispute was resolved bloodlessly with the negotiation of the Webster-Ashburton Treaty (adopted in 1842) finally establishing the border between the U.S. and Canada/Maine and New Brunswick, today the longest demilitarized boundary on Earth.

A large Franco-American community, with emigres from Acadia and Quebec, the St. John Valley provides a strong cultural influence on the entire region. While many Loyalists resettled from the area to New Brunswick and elsewhere in British Canada, a wave of settlement by Revolutionary War veterans seeking to establish farms brought the area's first boom in the early 19th Century. This was followed by a subsequent out-migration as even more fertile areas of the west opened to settlers.

Aroostook County's history is inextricably linked with its bounty of natural resources. "The Garden of Maine," The County offers significant crops of broccoli and peas, as well as its renowned potato crop. In addition to the role of agriculture, the forests and rivers of the region provided both raw material and energy to a nascent forest products industry which has evolved into a multi-million dollar economic bulwark. Today, both agriculture and forest products remain critical to the economy, but commercial competition from neighboring Canadian businesses and from agricultural and forest products industries in the Pacific Northwest has greatly affected the markets for Aroostook products.

While Aroostook County troops fought with distinction in the Civil War and all subsequent conflicts, the area's strategic significance became most critical during the Cold War. As the point in the continental U.S. closest to Western Europe and Eastern Bloc nations, Aroostook emerged as an important staging area for military preparations. With the tempering of relations between the U.S. and former Cold War enemies, the value of the region's strategic position diminished.

Distinguished Aroostook County citizens have included eight speakers of the Maine House of Representatives (from Llewellyn Powers in 1895 to Speaker, John L. Martin); six presidents of the Maine Senate; four governors of Maine (most recently John H. Reed of Fort Fairfield, 1959-66); five members of the U.S. House of Representatives and two U.S. Senators (Arthur R. Gould, 1926-31 and Susan Collins, 1999-present).