Mapleton, Maine

According to George Varney’s, Gazetteer of the State of Maine, published in 1881, Mapleton is a new town situated on the south bank of the Aroostook River. Washburn bounds it on the north, Maysville and Presque Isle on the east, Chapman Plantation on the south and Castle Hill on the west. The surface is uneven, but without high hills. Sprague Hill is the highest elevation. The soil is a sandy loam, and quite fertile and easily worked. Potatoes are the crop chiefly cultivated. There is a starch factory in the town that consumes bushels of tubers annually. The machinery is run by a 16 horsepower engine. 

The Aroostook River, in passing, cuts off the northeastern angle of the town; and through the southern parts runs, in a circuitous course, the Presque Isle of the Aroostook. This and two or three of the smaller streams have falls suitable for carrying machinery. The principal business center is in the southwestern part of the town, at the junction of Libby Brook with Presque Isle Stream. There is on the latter, near this point, a sawmill with a rotary saw, cutting about 10,000 feet per day, and two shingle machines, making about 20,000 [shingles] per day. There is also a potash factory. The forest trees in this township are chiefly maple and beech. 

This town is 47 miles north of Houlton, via Presque Isle. It is on the stageline from Presque Isle to Ashland. The nearest railroad station is that of the New Brunswick Railway at Fort Fairfield, 15 miles distant. The town has two cedar bridges, one 273 feet, the other 213 feet in length.

Among the prominent and esteemed citizens may be mentioned: Freeman L. Ball, Thomas Griffin, Josiah McLaughlin, and Francis Hatch. Mapleton was incorporated March 1, 1880, being named, perhaps, from the tree which is most numerous in its forests. The principal religious society in town is that of the Free Baptists. The number of public schoolhouses is seven and the school property, including the school lots is valued at $1100. The valuation of estates in 1870 was $28,707. In 1880, it was $51,642. The rate of taxation in the latter year was 2 per centum. The population in 1870 was 444. In 1880, it was 705.