| Houlton | |
|---|---|
| — Town — | |
| Motto: Valuing the past, planning for the future | |
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Houlton
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| Coordinates: | |
| Country | United States |
| State | Maine |
| County | Aroostook |
| Settled | 1807 |
| Incorporated | March 8, 1831 |
| Area | |
| • Total | 36.8 sq mi (95.2 km2) |
| • Land | 36.7 sq mi (95.2 km2) |
| • Water | 0.0 sq mi (0.0 km2) |
| Elevation | 390 ft (119 m) |
| Population (2010) | |
| • Total | 6,123 |
| • Density | 166.8/sq mi (64.3/km2) |
| Time zone | Eastern (EST) (UTC-5) |
| • Summer (DST) | EDT (UTC-4) |
| ZIP codes | 04730, 04761 |
| Area code(s) | 207 |
| FIPS code | 23-33980 |
| GNIS feature ID | 0582525 |
| Website | www.houlton-maine.com |
Houlton is a town in Aroostook County, Maine, on the United States – Canada border, located at . As of the 2010 census, the town population was 6,123. It is perhaps best known as being at the northern terminus of Interstate 95 and for being the birthplace of Samantha Smith. The town is home to the annual Houlton Agricultural Fair.
Houlton is the county seat for Aroostook County, and as such its nickname is the "Shire Town" and the Houlton High School sports teams are named "The Shiretowners." The Meduxnekeag River flows through the heart of the town, and the border with the Canadian province of New Brunswick is three miles east of the town's center. Houlton was the home of Ricker College which closed in 1978.
Primary settlement and center of the town is designated as CDP with the same name, Houlton.
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Aaron Putnam and Joseph Houlton started a village and named it for Joseph Houlton, who moved to Maine from the more populated part of Massachusetts in 1807.[1] Maine separated from Massachusetts in 1820. The United States government in 1828 established Hancock Barracks, a military post. Houlton officially incorporated as a town in 1831. When the Aroostook War flared in 1839, three companies of the 1st Artillery Regiment manned Hancock Barracks under Major R. M. Kirby. Major Kirby helped to restrain the twelve companies of militia that Maine sent there from starting a shooting war. The Webster-Ashburton Treaty settled the boundary dispute in 1842, and the Army abandoned Hancock Barracks in 1847.[2]
The U.S. Army installed its first transatlantic[3] Radio Intelligence Station in Hancock, Maine,[4] during World War I. The Houlton Radio Intelligence Station intercepted German diplomatic communications primarily from its Nauen Transmitter Station. MI-8 created the Radio Intelligence Service, using selected Signal Corps personnel for the sole purpose of supporting strategic intelligence through radio intercepts during World War I. The United States intelligence services built Houlton as the first unit of its type, and its success helped to lay the foundation for many more United States long range radio intercept stations.
On 7 January 1927, AT&T initiated the first transatlantic commercial telephone service,[5] linking New York and London. The AT&T Transoceanic Receiver Station was located at the end of Hand Lane, , two miles west of the town center. The massive receiving antenna,[6] over three miles long and two miles wide, straddled Interstate 95 in Maine four miles west of the center of Houlton. The receiver station worked with the massive long wave transmitting facility of AT&T located at RCA [7] in Rocky Point, New York. The receiver station received the longwave telephone signal from the British General Post Office Rugby transmitting station near[8] Rugby, England.
The Army[9] established Houlton Army Air Base in 1941 immediately adjacent to the Canadian border. Prior to the United States's entry into World War II, American army pilots flew planes to the base, but they could not fly the planes directly into Canada, a member of the British Commonwealth, because that would violate the official United States position of neutrality. Local farmers then used their tractors to tow the planes into Canada, where the Canadians then closed the Woodstock highway so that aircraft could use it as a runway. The United States entered the war on 7 December 1941.
Royal New Zealand Air Force Pilot Officer George Newall Harrison,[10] ferrying a Hudson Bomber to Britain[11] on 5 December 1942, crashed 500 yards south of the runway and died. Survivors buried his body in the Evergreen Cemetery plot for veterans. Few other New Zealand casualties from World War II were buried in the United States of America. They buried his 19 year old radio operator, Sergeant Henry Bordewick][12] from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, next to him. The American Legion post in Houlton carefully maintains both these Commonwealth War Graves.
Houlton Army Air Base closed in July 1944. In 1944, the Army made a major part of the Houlton Army Air Base into prisoner of war internment Camp Houlton. At its peak, the internment camp held 3,700 German prisoners of war. Forcing prisoners of war to work violated the Geneva Convention; however, they could volunteer to work. Camp Houlton provided laborers for local farms to harvest peas, to pick potatoes, and to do other work. For security reasons, the government did not allow every prisoner of war to work on the farms. Most prisoners selected to work lacked interest in harming their captors or causing trouble. Many farmers came to see the prisoners of war who worked their fields as good laborers rather than enemy soldiers. They paid the prisoners $1/day in scrip that they could spend at the post exchange, the base store, for toiletries, tobacco, chocolate, and even beer. After the prisoners repatriated, the Army closed Camp Houlton in 1946. The site now hosts Houlton International Airport.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 36.8 square miles (95.2 km²), of which, 36.8 square miles (95.2 km²) of it is land and 0.0 square miles (0.0 km²) of it (0.03%) is water. Houlton is drained by the Meduxnekeag River.
The Houlton/Woodstock Border Crossing, located just east of Houlton, marks the northern terminus of Interstate 95. The town is crossed by U.S. Route 1 and U.S. Route 2.
As of the census of 2000, there were 6,476 people, 2,677 households, and 1,654 families residing in the town. The population density was 176.2 people per square mile (68.0/km²). There were 2,994 housing units at an average density of 31.5 persons/km² (81.5 persons/sq mi). The racial makeup of the town was 94.19% White, 0.29% African American, 4.23% Native American, 0.48% Asian, 0.08% Pacific Islander, 0.09% from other races, and 0.63% from two or more races. 0.43% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.
There were 1,677 households out of which 29.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 47.4% were married couples living together, 11.0% have a woman whose husband does not live with her, and 38.2% were non-families. 34.3% of all households were made up of individuals and 18.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.29 and the average family size was 2.94.
In the town the population was spread out with 23.7% under the age of 18, 7.1% from 18 to 24, 26.0% from 25 to 44, 21.9% from 45 to 64, and 21.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females there were 87.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 82.4 males.
The median income for a household in the town was $26,212, and the median income for a family was $34,812. Males had a median income of $27,623 versus $20,991 for females. The per capita income for the town was $14,007. 17.7% of the population and 13.5% of families were below the poverty line. Out of the total people living in poverty, 21.0% are under the age of 18 and 15.8% are 65 or older.
![[2]](http://www.smecc.org/general_electric_computers/Houltonrepeater06123partial.jpg){kind=link}
![[3]](http://www.smecc.org//general_electric_computers/HoultonTelephone2.jpg){kind=link}
