Daily Kennebec journal., 1890-03-22

Nah = shshkSE soputr ptSuiuc 1CVuBfntfk
and be placed At his ease, and in no villAg,
will hat, passed around for worthy OBJ
ject. be more generously filled than here
At this time J. b. Hall WAS postmaster q
Presque Isle and had small apothecsr,
store not far from where DIR. Freeman'
store now is. Rowe 4 Freeman boush
Hall on, aud cortinued the spothecsry bust
ness for soma time. In 1886 Hiram Brsck
ct, came 10 P.esque Is.e aud bought the
Winslos Hall sore and went int,
ID. Jea,tt Co buils the slor,
owned ard occupied by Freemsn & Co
AT the time Of tho IRE in 1851 Here
Bracket commenced trading again. opening
stock of genetal nerchan,ise. Ia 1855.
Rowe Freeman built u new store nes,
where NJ. c, Smith now trades and Nath'l
Cannon built for harness shop he build
ing afterwards occuaied as store by War
rsn p, Pratt In 1857. the old Academy
was built near where nov stands the resi-
dence of Col. c. p. Allen. About the came
time the Aroostook Pioneer, the first news
paper published in the county, was estab-
lished by W. 5 Gilman and JOSEPH b.
Hall Gilman afte r~ards bought Hail out
and Hall started the Aroostook Herald max
lrg' for syear or two. two pspers in PresQue
Isle. This proving unremunerative, Mr..
Hall removed TO Portland aud in company
with Mr. Gilman of Bath started the Port
land Press
In 1855 came to the first editorial excur.
sion to which we have alluded in 70 -mer
letter. The North Aroostook Agricultural
Socie was then in its infancy. but Is had
already commenced the good wIrk of aiding
int q. .l,.st -
in which work il has been factor Of in
creasing importance ever since. The glow
ing accounts given by the members Of the
press ON their return from the Aroostook
excursion directed general attention to this
section ard immigration began rapidly to
increase. New buildings were erected in
Presque Isle and business began to be live
ly. About this time c. T. A. johnson
came to the town and bought out Hiram
Bracket and laid the foundation Of
the business which afterwards increased
to such an extent under the firm Of johnson
Judd, and later that of johnson L Phair.
In 1860 the village met with its first dis
aster, the entire lower part of the town be-
ing, in that year, consumed by dre. Moth
ing daunted however by this severe blow,
the citizens went coursgeously to work and
rebuilt the burnt district and business con.
tinued to increase.
During the war immigration WAS almost
wholly stopped and Presque Isle sent a
goodly number Of her stalwart sons to fight
for the Old Flag During the war. John
Allen bought the mills in the village, but
they were soon after burned, and the site
and privilege were sold to Sidney Cook who
bu 1t the mills now standing.
In 1860, the first bridge WAS built across
the Aroostook, in Maysville, at a cost Of
$4,000, one half of which was paid by the
State, and the remainder by the citizens of
the towns. At the close of the var settlers
again began to flock into Aroostook and
many farms were taken up and the popula-
ton of Presque Isle again began to increase.
The town was incorporated April 4th,
1869, and the census of 1860 showed a
population of 1913 This in 1870 had in
creased to go, and in 1880 to 1905. In
1860 the total valuation Of the town was
but s79,s74 This considerably more than
doubled in the next decade and in 1870 the
valuation was SlS0,7s6. and IN 1880
it had increased to $3.50 1928. About
the time of the close of the
war the Loyal Sunrise" was estab-
lished in Presque Isle, the Pioneer having
removed to Houlton. The Sunrise was
owned and edited by Daniel Shckney, an
able and forcible writer. v ho by his energy
and the vigorous and persistent manner
in which he represented the claims of
Aroostook, did much toward the develop.
ment of this section of the county. Pro-
jects for direct line of railroad to connect
with the European and North American road
at Mnttawamkeag, nov began to be agitated
and it was ardently hoped at the time that
the road would be built and the Aroostook
Valley thus BE- directly connected with the
outside world These hopes, however,
were doomed 10 be long unr.alized. bur the
prospect is now bright for" us that the
long wished for line of conmunica.ipn will
he compl. ted in the rear fu'lte InIS74 the
tic-t starch tac'o'y vas bniit in prosquc I.le
bv Mr. Wh-s lcf of New Hrmp-hirp Tn.
factory WAS l"ca'ed 'ar the grlst mill and
Was rul wholly hy water The farmers in
the yiclri ' crnra ,ted to plant a satisfsc
tory number of acres for tiv. years and 10
deliver the potatoes at the fac;ory for TWEEN
ty five cents per bushel. The bu-ines, va.
remurerstive one 10 the owners of the
factory, as starch brought a hi th price tbs,
year and the profit On the years make paid
the entire cost Of the psnt. 1t wa, also a
profitable business for the farmers and hn.
so continued until the present day. The
next year t1e Aroostook Starch Co, a
stock company at the head of which was
the enterprisirg Arm of johnson & Phair
of Presque Isle. built the Maysville fac
tory at the Aroostook bridge, and large
quantities of potatoes were raised for the
two factories The business has continued
to increase until now Hon Thos. II Phair
Of Presque Isle owns and operates seven
factories in this an adjoining towns and
last year at these seven factories manufac-
tired nearly 1000 tons Of starch. This in
dustry gave De~ impetus to business, and
not only largely benefited the farmers but
aided to q great extent in building up the
business of this now prosperous and grow
ing village.
Early in 1881 the project Of railroad
communication by means of connection
with the New Brunswick Railway began to
be agitated. A narrow guage spur had al
ready been run up the Aroostook river a.
far as Caribou, and it was proposed to con-
tir ue this branch TO PresQue Isle. Previous
to this time the North Star had been pur.
chased by 4. g. Parker & Co and moved
from Caribou to Presque Isle. This paper
was ably edited by DIR. =. q. Parker, who
entered heartily into the project Of the
proposed extension and aided much in
AWAKENING public sentiment in its favor
proposition was made by the N. b Rail
way Co. to extend their line to Pre.que
I.le upon payment of 81, 900 by the towns
interested and also 4 guarantee Of the
right Of way. A railroad mass meeting
Of the citizens of the towns to be imme-
diately benefited vas held at Presque
Isle, April 2. 1881, At which the
matter was fully discussed With the
general feeling in favor Of accept
ing the proposition. The result Of the
meeting was that on April 8. 1881 the town
Of Presque Isle voted $40, 900, and on the
follo-ins day Maysilie voted S5 900 in aid
Of the extension. Individuals in adjoining
to Ens subscribed tosards the expense Of
the right Of way. On the 28th Of MAY.
Hons. Isaac and z. r. Burpee, Directors
of the N b. Railway, accompanied by r.
A. Wilson, Esq Of Bangor, as attorney for
the company, and Liewellyn Powers, Esq
Of Houlton, as attorney for the towns, came
TO Presque Isle and the contract vas com.
pieted. Work vas at once commenced and
energetieally pushed. and on Thursday
| Dec. l, 1881, the first train steamed into
| Presque Isle. The Messrs. Burpee and
other gentlemen interested in the road were
| upon the train and were accorded q mos,
hearty and enthusiastic reception by the
| citizens assembled. On Jan. G. 1882. tht
telegraph Vas completed TO the to~1 snt
Presque Isle Sas connected with the outeI
world both by rail and wire. Since tha
Continued on fourth page)