[LINK-uhn] is a town in Penobscot County, incorporated on January 30, 1829 from River townships number 2 and 3, and a half township granted to J. E. Foxcroft.

Settled in about 1822, a substantial number of families arrived in 1825.

Enoch Lincoln was the major landowner of the area. After he was elected Governor in 1827, the town was named in his honor upon incorporation two years later.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Passing through in 1846, Henry David Thoreau noted that his traveling group “came into the Houlton road again, here called the military road, at Lincoln, forty-five miles from Bangor, where there is quite a village for this country, – the principal one above Oldtown.”

Forty years later, George Varney observed that

The construction of the military road to Houlton, which passed through here, gave the settlements an increased impetus; and this village, being quite central to the lumbering operations of the period, became quite a rendezvous for the lumbermen.

That may have been a polite way of saying that the village was wild and wooly at times!

Lincoln has been a manufacturing center for pulp and paper, shoes and textiles. Recent years have seen a declining population as those economic sectors have faded.

In addition to shops and an apartment house, downtown contain the municipal building and the American Legion Hall.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The 40 turbine Rollins Wind project began operations in 2011. Located about 8 miles east of the town, it consists of 40 1.5 megawatt wind turbines.

Lincoln town government expects to receive about  $250,000 per year from the company.

U.S. Route 2, which now passes through the village, is the successor to the military road that was built in response to the ongoing boundary dispute that resulted in the Aroostook War.

Penobscot Valley Hospital is located south of downtown on High Street (Route 155) toward Enfield.

Lincoln Center, north of the main village on U.S. Route 2, contains a community center, two schools, a church and a small commercial area.

Further north Lincoln becomes more rural and is marked by the 887-foot Bagley Mountain and its array of communications towers in North Lincoln.

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Form of Government: Council-Manager

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Additional resources

Chadbourne, Ava Harriet. Maine Place Names and The Peopling of its Towns.

Thoreau, Henry David. The Maine Woods. Penguin Books, USA. New York, NY. 1988. p. 9.

Varney, George J. A Gazetteer of the State of Maine. 1886. pp. 328-329.

National Register of Historic Places – Listings

Photos, and edited text are from nominations to the National Register of Historic Places researched by Maine. Historic Preservation Commission Full text and photos are at https://npgallery.nps.gov/nrhp 

Gordon Fox Ranch

Between 1924 and 1926 the Penobscot County town of Lincoln experienced a rapid and extensive growth of industrial fur farming. During these years Dr. Frank F. Gordon a dentist in Bangor, and his brother Dr. Fred E. Gordon, an optometrist in Lincoln, developed several fox farms – or ranches as they were called – in Lincoln, and to a lesser extent in other areas of Maine and New Hampshire. Each ranch contained as many as 200 fox in outdoor pens surrounded by a wooden palisade, a house for the caretaker, and an observation tower. Other facilities, including skinning and scalding rooms and food storage buildings, were shared among groups of ranches. The Gordons went bankrupt in 1926 and all their ranches were sold. Over the next decade and a half there continued to be at least two and as many as fifteen fox farming operations or companies in Lincoln.

The Gordon Fox Ranch on West Broadway (South Lincoln Road), is a rare surviving example of a fox ranch which contains a ranch house, observation tower, small office building, and the earthworks which supported the palisade. The distinct form and massing of the observation tower (photo at left)  and ranch house gives the property historic significance, since they show the specific characteristics of a type of company-built architecture. The ranch may yield additional information about ranching activities, specifically the spatial organization and patterning of the animal pens and enclosures that give the property significance. About 1940 is when the property was most likely sold out of farming.

Gordon’s Silver Black Fox Ranch #1. Farm was on the Transalpine Road. View of Mt. Katahdin in distance. Preparing food for foxes. Men building fox house in carpentry shop.

In 1952, fox farming was outlawed in Maine, putting an end to the industry in the state altogether. Today, just 10 states allow foxes to be farmed for their fur. There were other fox farmers in Maine, including, most notably, Robert Moore, who operated a fox ranch near the Piscataquis County village of Onawa. Source: Bangordailynews.com (April 29, 2929)

 

Northeast Historic Film has a video/movie of Gordons and other fox farms.