Aroostook

Formed May 1, 1839 (13^th county)

Aroostook County (67,107), Houlton* (4,743), Presque Isle (8,789)

The 1859 red brick Italianate and Colonial Revival facility was enlarged in 1895 and remodeled in 1928.  The courthouse is on Court Street south of Main Street.  United States Highway 1 is one block to the west of the site.  Gridley James Fox Bryant is the courthouse designer.  Caribou also had an augmenting courthouse dating from 1895 and Presque Isle has a 1991 District Courthouse.  The county’s name is Native American for “beautiful river.”  The county seat was named settler Joseph Houlton.  Houlton has been the only county seat.  Aroostook County was the birthplace of 2 Maine Governors, Edwin C. Burleigh and John H. Reed. 

Aroostook Couty government consists of an administrator, a sheriff, a treasurer, and a coroner (executive).  It has 3 Commissioners (legislative.)  Six District Court Judges, Two Superior Court Judges, One Probate Court Judge and a court clerk serve Aroostook County (judicial.) The county is in the extreme northeast part of Maine on three borders with Canada.  The county was established on May 1, 1839 from parts of Penobscot and Washington counties as the 13^th county.  The county center is 70.4 miles Northwest of Houlton nearer Portage Lake.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Canada and Washington, Penobscot, Piscataquis, and Somerset counties. 

The area of the county is 6829 square miles.  It is 1 out of 16 in the state.  It ranks 6 out of 16 in population in the state.  It has a density of 9.8 persons per square mile making it 14 out of 16 in the state.  Aroostook County has 24.1% of its population in its incorporated areas.  Interstate Highway 95 originates at the Canadian border and travels southwest into Penobscot County.  United States Highway 1 originates in the county and goes south into Washington County.  United States Highway 2 parallels Interstate Highway 95 from its origin in the county to Penobscot County.  United States Highway 2 Alternate splits away from United States Highway 2 and rejoins it again all within the county.  The county is shaped like the number 9.  Houlton is in the southeast corner on the Canadian border.  Presque Isle is in the northeast corner.  Houlton is the county seat and Presque Isle is the largest city.  Houlton is 7.1% of the county population while Presque Isle is 13.5% of the county population.  The county is pronounced A-ROOS-TIK.  The county seat is pronounced HOEL-TON.  The largest city is pronounced PRESK IEL.