BUSINESS FOCUS
Presque Isle’s weekly paper
was created by 1890 merger
On the masthead of the Presque Isle Star-Herald, in the lower right-hand corner, reads a small line. Just four words; yet those words have proclaimed the theme of the city’s newspaper for 142 years. “Aroostook County’s Independent Voice.”
From the birth of its predecessors in the mid-1800s, through its growth into a century and up to its present day, the local weekly continues to strive to reflect the concerns of its readers in a resonant, independent manner.
The Star-Herald, which has been published every week since the late 19th century, was preceded by the establishment of several other, relatively short-lived publications, beginning with the Aroostook Pioneer.
Late in 1857, two years before Presque Isle was incorporated as a town, Maine Senate Secretary Joseph B. Hall joined forces with printer William S. Gilman. In offices above Winslow Hall’s store, with a hand press and lead type formerly used by the Bangor Gazette, the first issue of the Pioneer was turned out.
The county’s first newspaper, the Pioneer continued for three years under Hall’s leadership. In 1860, Hall sold it to Gilman, who published it in Presque Isle until 1868 and then moved the operation to Houlton.
At the time of the sale, Hall founded the Aroostook Herald, whose slogan declared, “Independent in All Things; Neutral in Nothing.” Despite its seemingly radical slant, the paper was strictly Republican in platform; under the conventions of the era, most newspapers reflected partisan politics.
After only two years, Hall discontinued the publication and moved to Portland. In 1863, there was the first edition of the Loyal Sunrise, published and edited by Daniel Stickney, who would become one of Aroostook’s most colorful journalists.
Stickney’s prospectus for the new paper, formed as a voice of the Union in Aroostook, declared, “It (the publication) will give an efficient and unconditional support to all measures of the government for suppression of the rebellion. It will advocate the right of all men white and colored to life, liberty and the pursuits of happiness.”
“Literature of questionable moral influence will be excluded from its columns … It will be published every Wednesday … as a sheet a little smaller than the other Aroostook papers with new and small type so that it will contain more reading matter than either of them.”
Stickney’s fierce determination to have the region’s best newspaper laid bare a competitive spirit which erupted with the establishment of yet another paper, the North Star, which was first published in 1871 by F.G. Parker.
Although he sold the Sunrise in 1868 to A.W. Glidden and George S. Rowell, Stickney continued as editor, engaging in a literal “war of words” with Parker, which was based largely on political differences. The two editors used their talents to fling printed abuse upon one another; finally, in 1876, the war abated with the well-liked Parker emerging as the apparent victor. Stickney moved his publication to Fort Fairfield.
For seven years Parker’s North Star held the reins of Presque Isle’s newspaper industry. Then, in 1883, Hall returned to the area and began a second Aroostook Herald. The two papers continued along more similar lines, both advocating the building of a railroad in the county.
Parker sold the North Star to George H. Collins in 1887. The Herald, purchased by F.S. Bickford upon Hall’s death in July 1889, was also sold to Collins, who would merge the papers. January 16, 1890 saw the first edition of the combined papers as The Star-Herald.
Collins’ son-in-law, Charles West, eventually took over the reins and guided the paper until 1946 when he sold the publication to Fort Fairfield native and Colby College graduate, Edward G. Perrier. He published The Star-Herald until late 1962, when he sold the enterprise to Bernard E. Esters of the Houlton Pioneer Times and Charles P. Helfenstein of the Aroostook Republican & News. Four years later, the partnership sold the Caribou, Houlton and Presque Isle weeklies to Northeast Publishing Company, a subsidiary of the Bangor Publishing Company. The firm, which boasted a state-of-the-art offset press, continues to publish the Star City’s weekly newspaper today.
Current staff at the Herald include reporters Scott Mitchell Johnson, Kathy McCarty and Kevin Sjoberg, sales representatives Scott Galipeau and Gary Bowden, and receptionist Joanna Richards. The paper’s managing editor is Mark Putnam, while Pam Lynch is business manager.
The paper is printed and published each Wednesday at Northeast Publishing Co. in Presque Isle’s Skyway Industrial Park. Roger Tremblay is director of operations.
