Limestone, Maine

According to George Varney’s, Gazetteer of the State of Maine, published in 1881, Limestone lies on the eastern border of Aroostook County near the northeastern angle of the State. It is on the stageline from Fort Fairfield to Van Buren, 56 miles north of Houlton. It is bounded on the north by Pleasant Ridge Plantation, south by Fort Fairfield, west by Caribou, and east by the town of Grand Falls in New Brunswick. The principal streams are Limestone River and Greenlow Brook. The first runs entirely through the town from north to southeast, furnishing several waterpowers. On these are two sawmills manufacturing long and short lumber. There are also two starch factories. The highways are kept in very good condition. The nearest railroad connections are those of the adjoining towns of Caribou and Fort Fairfield, or at Limestone on the St. John’s in New Brunswick, all about equally distant. The surface of the town is rolling, and the principal rock is limestone. The soil yields potatoes, wheat and oats. The first are the chief crop, finding a market at the starch factories in the town. Maple, birch, beech, spruce, pine and cedar [create markets] from the forests.

Limestone was incorporated February 26, 1869. Among the first settlers were Benj. Eastman, Barry McLaughlin, Gen. Mark Trafton and Geo. A. Nourse. The religious societies in the town are the Free Baptist, Christian and Presbyterian. There are six public schoolhouses; the total value of the school property being $2,100. The value of estates in 1870 was $27,847. In 1880, it was $76,583. The rate of taxation in the latter years was 11 mills on the dollar. The population in 1870 was 263. In 1880, it was 655.